By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
To commemorate the one year anniversary of the death of Julian Sands, we look back at the super spider fest, Arachnophobia.
In 1990 a movie was released that played upon peoples’ paralysing terror of spiders. Arachnophobia, a comedy horror, starred Jeff Daniels as Dr Ross Jennings and Julian Sands as Doctor James Atherton. It also starred Roseanne star John Goodman as the super serious exterminator, Delbert McClintock.
When creating a villain or monster, it’s always good to make them stick in people’s minds. When I designed the Mentara for the Time Warriors books, I always had it in my head to make them arachnids. The Mentara are tarantula like, the size of race horses with human like torsos. They scavenge battlefields through Earth’s history for bodies to feed their thirst for human flesh. However there is much more to them as they are hiding a huge secret. To find out what that is go to Amazon and buy the Time Warriors First Footsteps, Red Water book three, The Moon Once More and the Time Warriors The Belbridge Mystery. Being afraid of spiders is bad enough but imagine one that could run you down and scoop you up. Worse still, imagine it kicking in your front door and getting into your home. Did you know statistically a spider crawls over you when you sleep about 5-6 times a night?
So there was no doubt that the tale of an Venezuelan spider mating with an indigenous American born spider to create deadly venomous offspring will freak people out. We know spiders can get into our homes, silent and determinedly. We find them everywhere and often the first reaction is to kill them or wash them down a sink. Did you know that only for spiders the human race would be consumed by insects in no time? They say a spider spun a web across a cave entrance to save Jesus from Roman soldiers and that a spider in your home is a good thing because it means your home is free from damp. Let’s not forget the money spiders that cross your palm with silver.
I went out to photograph some webs one day and found ten different species of spiders in my back garden including one with a web full of babies. Going about your daily life, you would never know they were there. One was sitting in its web and when I put the macro lens near it it rose up in defiance of this strange object invading its space. It let me know to back off and that this tiny little creature was a lot smarter than I thought. This is the sort of behaviour that Arachnophobia plays on brilliantly.
When photographer Jerry Manley is bitten by a previously unknown aggressive form of spider in a Venezuelan expedition led by Doctor James Atherton (Julian Sands), the spider survives by literally sucking his body dry of all fluids inside the coffin as he is returned home causing the coroner to observe his body looked like a vampire had been at it. The spider escapes into the wild and mates, fathering little mutants that invade the town and start killing the inhabitants. This coincides with the arrival of Doctor Ross Jennings who is due to take over the country practice but just happens to be deathly afraid of spiders. So his timing kinda sucks.
When the country doctor that Ross was due to take over from decides he doesn’t want to retire after all, Ross is left in the wilderness. But when people he has treated start dying he gains the name ‘Doctor Death’. When the old doctor is bitten and dies, it becomes Ross’ worst nightmare as a new type of spider is violating his home. He calls in Doctor Atherton, who upon hearing the town’s name, realises that Jerry Manley’s coffin held more than his body.
Little does Ross know that his home is the epicentre of the spider’s web and that his cellar holds more than his wine collection. The movie shows just how easily spiders can invade our homes and how close of a proximity they really have. One victim reaches to turn off a lamp when the spider drops onto her hand from inside the shade. A football player dies when a spider secrets itself in his helmet and the old country doctor is bitten when he puts his slippers on.
Now I recall years ago putting my foot in my slipper and feeling something scurry against my toes. I tipped the shoe out and a large black spider scuttled away. Even when writing this, I can still feel it moving against my foot. Spiders don’t bother me but I once lived with my aunt and uncle and my cousin had a tarantula in a glass case. He had a brick on top and I wondered why.
I soon found out as I could hear the spider trying to push the lid off its cage but the brick held it in place. Now while I do not fear spiders, the thought of a tarantula somewhere in a dark room with me is unsettling to say the least. So I can only imagine how audiences reacted when the Jennings house is invaded en-masse by the spiders in the final battle. Jennings barn is dead centre as Atherton is attacked and webbed ready for consumption by the new mutant spiders. Luckily like wasps, they die after biting someone. Jennings finds the local coroner and his wife dead on the sofa as a spider crawls out of his mouth where they were eating popcorn while watching their favourite show. Spiders in your food is bad enough without putting one in your mouth where its bite drops you on the spot. Anyone with a genuine severe fear will never watch this movie and for good reason.
Ross falls through his floor into his cellar where his paralysing fear of a spider crawling up his infant body in his crib comes back to haunt him as he faces the same scenario. This time the spider is intelligent and intent on keeping its new domain intact. After centuries of isolation in the Venezuelan jungles, the spider wants this place as its new kingdom. When it rears up at Ross, I can see the spider in the web that did the same to me. Its silent crawling determination makes the arachnid a formidable foe but Ross manages to kill it. He decides in the end to move back to the city. It is the fact this thing made its home and base in the home of a human without their knowledge. The massive webs Ross’ wife photographed were simply thought to be ordinary spider due to the remoteness of the house.
With Delbert the exterminator, we get a comedic side to the infestation. Delbert is played by John Goodman and brings some light-hearted relief to the proceedings. Delbert struts about like a cross between the Terminator, Ghostbuster and the Gunslinger from WestWorld. The defiance of these new spiders is seen when one resists his fluid spray and fights against it proving these are no ordinary spiders.
Overall, Arachnophobia is a rewatchable classic where in the end the lesson is, people would rather face an earthquake than a spider. Awesome stuff.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 