I recently found your site and was amazed no one seems to have mentioned the 1990 film ARACHNOPHOBIA… It wasn't gory, it was a campy comedy horror, but seriously, tiny spiders that kill near-instantly with a single bite. Tiny. Deadly. Spiders.
I've got a zombie plan (as we all should). Nightmare-based killers? Lucid dreaming. Psycho killers? I don't meander into run-down buildings in the middle of nowhere and I'm not a prep or jock so I know I'm not at the top of the kill list. Ancient curses, demonic entities, vengeful ghosts? Always some motivating reason with a means of cleansing, avoiding or placating. Little spider that might not even be noticed until it's too late? You got me there.
I know my brother and sister (roughly 8 and 12 at the time) were fairly traumatized, not by any scene in particular but just how… feasible it is, you could say. Nothing like a film you can watch and laugh at, then over-think once you're in bed and think you saw something on the wall or felt something on your foot.
UNK SEZ: Thanks Patrick! Funny you you should mention the absence of ARACHNOPHOBIA traumas. We found another traumafession concerning that movie crawling around in the KT mailbag and we'll have it up very soon!
I'm glad I'm not the only person who's freaked out by this movie. I saw it opening day, and never had any problems with spiders until walking out of that theater! Since then? I'm a full blown arachnophobe. I even bought the DVD when it came out to help "cure" me, but I watched it once, and now it sits in the waaay back of my DVD collection, daring me to watch once again. Well F-U Arachnophobia! You stay there, alongside The Entity (the only other film that scares me), hidden away from view!
It's funny, but the only thing I remember from seeing it way back when was the two big burly jock guys sitting in front of my family grabbing onto one another and screaming like women at all the spider action. One guy, seemingly close to tears, buried his head in his hands, shaking, and shouted "I wanted to see Days of Thunder, and you took me to this! I hate you!!"
Good times. 🙂
Saw this during a sleepover at a friend's house in middle school. Scarred for life. Yep.
Thrillomedy?
Man, I hope some studio exec got fired over that one…
I watched this one for the first time just last year, expecting to not be scared at all since I'm not at all arachnophobic. Boy, was I wrong! This thing chilled me to the bone! It really goes strongly for the "Nononononono, don't you SEE it!?" factor, which makes it absolutely fantastic. The comedy doesn't even overshine the horror, it goes perfectly hand in hand (other than the very end where it gets pretty hilarious, but oh well).
Anybody remember the scene where they find the obese couple with the popcorn bowl? It is the closest I've ever come to shrieking in terror during a film.
Excellent horror flick!