the back of the video box for arachnophobia is deceiving . it markets itself as a horror movie with a comedic side and it's anything but that . what begins as a cool idea for a horror movie ( out in the tropical rainforest ) trying to find old species of spiders and other creepy crawlies ( ok , i admit that word is extremely hokey . ) but once the film gets off to it's interesting start , and the story is set up , it's all down hill from there . ross ( daniels in one of his non-comedic roles ) and molly ( jane kozak ) have just moved to a lovely small town in california from san francisco . but he's frightened when his wife shows him a huge spider web in their barn because he's an arachnophobic , someone who is afraid of spiders . he's destined to become the local doctor when the town's current doctor retires , but when he decides not to throw in the towel yet , his job is insecure . when a throws a party for everyone in the town and someone is killed shortly thereafter he begins to wonder . naturally the spiders take over , killing and sucking the blood of all of the surrounding areas from their house . a spider from south america and a domestic house spider have bred a whole new deadly species who's headquarters is in ross's barn . it takes them more than three fourths of the movie to figure this out , but the movie shows you the solution in minutes . while having it's creepy moments , arachnophobia isn't that scary . hollywood has once again easily taken something that's almost harmless and turned it into the evil villain . everyone in the film realizes that they are in a cheesy movie and they pretty much play it to the limit . the film isn't funny at all ( but the video package won't tell you that . ) if you enjoy a film that will have you checking your bed , shower , or other household appliances for weeks , rent arachnophobia which gets  stars . the young-uns : the film contains some brief graphic spider bites and related goo and gore . it also contains some language . good age : 10 & up , if they can handle spiders a review by frankie paiva the 12 year-old movie reviewer e-mail at swpstke@aol . com visit my website at : http : //expage . com/page/teenagemoviecritic 
