Spiders at the cinema: the 3 best films according to spectators!

The first French film with spiders, Vermines is currently to be seen in your cinemas. Shot with real arthropods, Sébastien Vaniček’s feature film takes place in a building in Noisy-le-Grand. Kaleb, an exotic animal enthusiast, comes home one day with a poisonous spider and accidentally lets it escape. The inhabitants will then have to fight for their survival.

There are many feature films featuring spiders: whether they are giant as in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, King Kong or even The Shrinking Man, whether they are (far too) numerous as in The Horrible Invasion (1978), Asterix and Obelix against Caesar (1999) or both at the same time, as in Arac attack, the eight-legged monsters or even Jumanji, spiders have a bad reputation, and this is largely due to the films . Like shark films, many films featuring spiders have seen the light of day with more or less successful effects.

Here we invite you to discover the 3 of the best films centered on spiders according to AlloCiné spectator ratings. Note that films in which spiders only appear in one scene were not included. Only feature films with more than 100 ratings whose main subject is the famous creature were selected.

Starship Troopers (1998) – Rated 3.7 out of 5 stars

With more than 24,000 ratings and 741 reviews, Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers is in first position in the ranking with an average spectator rating of 3.7 stars out of 5.

This science fiction film led by Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Ironside and Clancy Brown takes place in the 24th century, while a muscular federation reigns order on Earth . At the edge of the galaxy, an army of arachnids rises against the human species. These giant spiders razed the city of Buenos Aires in just a few seconds. Five volunteers just out of high school go on a mission into space to fight the invaders.

Loosely adapted from the novel by Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers is an anti-militarist satire. When promoting the film, Paul Verhoeven explained that Edward Neumeier’s screenplay played with “fascist imagery to point out certain aspects of American society”. The feature film thus takes the opposite view of the novel which was much more patriotic. Paul Verhoeven even admitted to not having finished reading it.

“One of the most surprising films of the late 90s”

For internet user Dougray it is “One of the most surprising films of the late 90s and above all a work unfairly shunned and misunderstood by the public. (Editor’s note: With a budget of $105 million, the film only grossed $121 million worldwide.) Because under its false air of pro-American army propaganda with the “GI Joe” trend, “Starship Troopers” is above all a violent antimilitarist charge and a sharp criticism of American interventionism in the world. Paul Verhoeven, who makes his best film here.”

DR

For the Frogman, Starship Troopers is “Virous in its first part, however, the film suffers from some shortcomings in its second half. Some will criticize this film that the satirical aspect is too little emphasized, I rather criticized it for the fact that it runs out of steam very quickly to leave room for too long for all-out battles. A film which is therefore uneven, but nevertheless provocative and daring.”

Regarding the giant spiders, the majority of the arachnid creatures were generated in post-production using digital effects. During the filming of the fight scenes, however, the actors had as a visual reference point the director, Paul Verhoeven, who moved in front of them while shouting in order to obtain adequate reactions.

Note that several sequels have seen the light of day and that a reboot is currently in preparation.

Tarantula (1955) – Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

DR

With 112 ratings and 21 reviews, Tarantula by Jake Arnold is in second position in this Top with an average spectator rating of 3.5 stars out of 5.

As early as 1955, cinema made spiders into terrible bloodthirsty monsters. In this feature film directed by one of the most important B-movie directors of the 50’s in Hollywood, a giant tarantula, of experimental origin, sows terror in an American country.

Tarantula is also in the Top 3 of Jake Arnold’s films behind The Shrinking Man in which a miniature man also faces a spider) and the cult The Strange Creature from the Black Lake.

Clint Eastwood VS a giant tarantula

The most attentive spectators will also notice that Clint Eastwood appears in the film. At the climax of the film, when a squadron of jets attacks the tarantula, a young Clint Eastwood (uncredited) can be seen as the squadron leader, the one who pilots the plane bombing the spider.

For Internet user chrischambers86, “Tarantula” is one of Jack Arnold’s best films. (…) Very honest cinema from a conscientious craftsman, sure of his work, Jack Arnold signs a very good classic which breathes the 50s with some anthology scenes.” ER9395 gives it a rating of 3.5 and writes ” A good 50’s B series with always the same scenario and nuclear paranoia.”

For Eselce, the film has aged quite well. “Despite the special effects of the time, it remains a good horror film with a tarantula resulting from scientific work. I appreciate Clint Eastwood’s small role in the finale and the credible way in which the story ends . A story with an effective and unadorned script with a credible investigation and carried out above all in good intelligence, which is more appreciable than today’s films.”

DR

The member of the AlloCiné Club Fêtons le cinéma evokes the political subtext and the metaphor of the film. “Tarantula! weaves a large metaphorical web where the excesses of science and the thirst for evolution are successively represented, the fierce fear of the invader felt by the patriotic American who will destroy the threat thanks to a military intervention, the need of an ever-growing, ever-more monstrous monster which, however, finds – and this is the most interesting thing – its counterpart in the person of the professor.

Two scales are put in constant tension, on the one hand the scale of a planetary danger finally having a monster in the image of its grandeur, on the other hand the strictly human scale where men and women are active to channel their own destructive potential. It is in the confrontation of these two scales that Tarantula! takes on the most meaning and offers an interesting reflection on the size of Evil, thus reminding us that the greatest catastrophes can be caused by man, no matter how small.”

Arachnophobia (1991) – Rated 2.7 out of 5 stars

Disney

With 1,225 ratings and 91 reviews, Arachnophobia by Frank Marshall closes the podium with an average spectator rating of 2.7 stars out of 5.

Led by Jeff Daniels, John Goodman, Julian Sands and Harley Jane Kozak, the feature film begins in the Venezuelan jungle. During an expedition, a photographer is stung to death by a monstrous spider which then crawls into his coffin. She was thus repatriated to California. Soon, several suspicious deaths are reported in the small village of Canaima, where only Dr. Jennings (Jeff Daniels) has suspicions about their origin…

First feature film as director, producer Frank Marshall (Poltergeist, Back to the Future, Gremlins, Indiana Jones, The Goonies…) was offered the position of filmmaker on Arachnophobia by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was at this era still at Disney.

“I liked this idea that the spider came back in a coffin from South America. It was a kind of horror film, but it had a lot of humor in it,” says Franck Marshall.

A film with real spiders

Scares, humor and special effects are present in this film which traumatized many spectators. And for good reason since real spiders were used during filming. The film team had selected a species native to New Zealand and Australia: Delena cancerides. These arachnids practice stalking hunting on very fast prey; hence its English nickname Huntsman Spiders.

Internet user FeetLover writes: “This film is a marvel. Creepy, a good atmosphere, effective production, what more could you ask for? The best film about spiders.” For one visitor it is “the best horror film with spiders ever made. Superb scary, stressful and original thriller: it’s a change from stories about giant spiders born from failed scientific experiments!”

Disney

The member of the AlloCiné Club Le Rabzz still warns arachnophobes… “I do not recommend this film to anyone who is terrified of spiders. Everything is good in this feature film, the acting of the casting, the direction , the constant anxiety, the music and the 80/90 atmosphere. We have a great time but we won’t stop looking around at home after watching.”

For ER 9395 – an Internet user obviously a fan of films of the genre – it is “A bad ‘monster’ film which never scares (but rather laughs) where only John Goodman (as often) manages to squeeze a few smiles from us .”

Arachnophobia indeed often leans towards comedy. It will also be noted that it is, with the scene of Jumanjifrom one of the favorite spider films of Sébastien Vaničekthe director of Vermin. The latter confided to us during our meeting: “Unfortunately, spider films suffer from a Nanardesque side. We have a very good Arachnophobia, which is more of a comedy for me and which I haven’t necessarily used as a reference. But it’s true that with spider films we very quickly understood that they wouldn’t have the best role. The spider is made into something that drools and is hairy and is 8 meters high. It quickly becomes a bit stupid.“