The older I’ve gotten the less scary this has become, and now I’m at a point where I’m not sure how scary this ever was meant to be. But, it still is effectively creepy and the humor works well. 

More than anything, I’m still impressed with the spiders. The little ones are real, shot at very close angles and filmed in ways so we know where they are placed even when the characters might not. Very Hitchcockian, no joke. The big ones? I’m sure most of it is a puppet but occasionally a big real spider. 

Finally, whether this is meant to be legit scary or campy scary, it gets the most important thing right: the movie has characters. Jeff Daniels, his wife, his neighbors, the town higher ups, the exterminator. If anything, maybe the film spends too much time with them. But I say there is still enough spider murder to go around. 

Arachnophobia has never been more fun for me.