While audiences love a good horror movie, it takes a talented director to understand that merit in a film doesn’t just come from terror.

Though a film like Arachnophobia provides its fair share of frights, there’s also no shortage of comedy. An article for the New York Times compared Arachnophobia to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) with a bit of lightheartedness sprinkled throughout.

“People like to be scared but laughing, like a roller coaster,” said Marshall. “No one wants to be terrified.”

The film served as Marshall’s directorial debut. Though daunting, Marshall said that he took on the film because he felt that the humor lent itself well to his skills as a creator.

“As a producer for 20 years, I know how hard directing is,” said Marshall. “I didn’t want to do anything I’d had no experience with. Disney’s Jeff Katzenberg sent me the script, and I felt it was something I could do. I didn’t want to get into a serious, dramatic piece that might stretch me beyond my capabilities.”

But while the film lacks the precision that so many dramatic films require, it did contain an element that proved challenging: Live animals.

“This film takes a special kind of actor,” said Daniels, who starred in Arachnophobia. “You have to realize from day one of shooting that the spiders come first.”

With the spiders’ unpredictable nature, Marshall revealed that many of the film’s issues came from shooting a reshooting scenes.

“It’s really hard on the actors,” said director Frank Marshall. “They have to be perfect every time; the spiders, only once. Sometimes we have a spider lotto; everyone puts five dollars on the take they think is going to work. Twenty-one takes is the longest we’ve gone.”