FAQ

When Doctor Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels), his wife Molly (Harley Jane Kozak) and their two children—Tommy (Garette Ratliff Henson) and Shelley (Marlene Katz)—move into their new home in Canaima, California, they have no idea that their home is the breeding ground for a poisonous spider brought back from the Venezuelan jungle in the coffin of photographer Jerry Manley (Mark L. Taylor). When residents of Canaima begin to die under mysterious circumstances, Jennings calls in renown arachnologist, Dr James Atherton (Julian Sands), for help.

Arachnophobia is based on a story and screenplay written by Don Jakoby, Wesley Strick, and Al Williams.

Avondale spiders (Delena cancerides) from New Zealand. They have a fierce, aggressive appearance although they are not poisonous.

While evacuating his family from their spider-infested house, Ross falls through the rotted wood floor into his wine cellar and discovers the nest where the spider sacs are beginning to hatch. He manages to destroy the queen, the general, and the spider sacs before Delbert the Exterminator (John Goodman) shows up to rescue him. In the final scene, the Jennings family has moved back to San Francisco, where Ross and Molly are enjoying a bottle of Chateau Margaux and extolling the virtue of living somewhere where they can control the events in their lives. Suddenly an earthquake hits. "We should check the kids," Ross says to Molly.