# Fave (?) Arachnid/Bug-Themed Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576 "2008-10-26T00:09:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/1 "2008-10-26T00:09:39Z")
(Inspired by the recent _“Bird Eating Spider”_ and _“Nino del la Tierra”_ threads, and apropos of the Halloween season…) I always liked [“The Black Scorpion”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050197/)…the lead character’s close-ups with the drooling fangs is a classic of B-movie icky-ness! ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/2 "2008-10-26T00:34:22Z")
Not a movie but you might want to check out the lurid [Mars Attacks!](http://www.bubblegum-cards.com/Mars-Attacks/index.html) bubblegum cards. Nearly a third of them- most of cards #27 through #45- aren’t about the Martians but the giant mutated bugs they turn loose to eat humanity. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/3 "2008-10-26T01:37:00Z")
Favorite insect movie would definitely be **Them!**. [Phase IV](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070531/) is also quite good. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/4 "2008-10-26T01:40:36Z")
Cronenberg’s **The Fly**. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/5 "2008-10-26T01:41:16Z")
I found Arachnophobia a funny movie. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/6 "2008-10-26T01:42:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Favorite insect movie would definitely be **Them!**. Mine too. Just rewatched it a few months back and it’s **still** scary. Anyone remember a giant spider movie from the 50’s? There was probably more than one, but in the one I remember, victims were almost instantly desiccated. One scene had a guy driving in a convertible and running into the spider or its web. Blech! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/7 "2008-10-26T01:42:58Z")
_A Bug’s Life_. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/8 "2008-10-26T01:45:14Z")
\*\*Earth Vs. The Spider \*\*had a guy driving his car into a spiderweb. Actually I think it was a pickup truck. **The Giant Spider Invasion** is also a favorite of mine, purely for its treatment on MST3K. _“VAAA-AAANCE!”_ ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/9 "2008-10-26T02:11:56Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > \*\*Earth Vs. The Spider \*\*had a guy driving his car into a spiderweb. Actually I think it was a pickup truck. Yep, I think that was it. _The Spider_ is an alternate title, per IMDB. I’m also remembering a scene in a cave, with a giant web made out of rope. Another good bug movie is the cockroach story from _Creepshow_. I prefer my bugs and spiders large – easier to spot. ---
**Author:** ![Purgatory\_Creek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Purgatory\_Creek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purgatory_Creek)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/10 "2008-10-26T05:12:19Z")
[_The Food of the Gods_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074540/plotsummary) was pretty hilarious. Any movie that includes giant killer chickens is all right by me. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/11 "2008-10-26T07:43:49Z")
When I was a kid, I got really creeped out by a made for TV movie about deadly tarantulas that came to the US as “stowaways” in import shipments from South America. They swarm in this one town and start killing people. It really got to me because we lived in a suburb on the outskirts of town and right across the street from our house (in the middle of a well-developed neighborhood) was a large area the size of about 4 blocks that was completely undeveloped and wild. For a couple of weeks each spring, hundreds of tarantulas (each about 5 inches across) would emerge from the tall grass in the evenings and crawl across the streets toward our houses. Really gave me the heebee jeebees. Here is the movie on IMDB: [Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076798/) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/12 "2008-10-26T07:47:38Z")
Another fan of _Them_ checking in. I also really liked _Arachnophobia_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/13 "2008-10-26T11:36:52Z")
_THEM!!_ is pretty much the _Citizen Cain_ of the Giant Bug genre. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/14 "2008-10-26T11:55:26Z")
Another vote for _Them!_ I love the old drunk guy. The pilot locked up in the loony bin was Fess Parker, of Dan’l Boone fame. (My dad went to college with him! They’re both from West Texas.) The lady scientist was a great role model for girls in the 60’s. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/15 "2008-10-26T14:33:02Z")
[Eight-Legged Freaks!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271367/) It’s got Kari Wuhrer (who I always felt was underrated) and Scarlet Johannson and it’s just a fun film. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/16 "2008-10-26T15:24:33Z")
Love _Them!_ but the scariest spider in movie history is the one from **The Incredible Shrinking Man**. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/17 "2008-10-26T15:47:15Z")
_Starship Troopers_. (Dons flame-retardant suit, helmet. Sends farewell email to family, cat.) Yes, it’s very different from the (excellent) Heinlein novel, but it’s a fun film in its own right. Plus, boobs! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/18 "2008-10-26T15:50:03Z")
Let us not forget the Charlton Heston classic from 1954, [_The Naked Jungle_](http://charltonhestonworld.homestead.com/NakedJungle.html), in which Heston’s cocoa plantation is threatened by a 20-mile-long column of voracious army ants: “He feared only two things on earth…the MARABUNTA…Nature’s deadliest force, and his fiery New Orleans bride!” The movie was based on a short story, _Leiningen Vs. The Ants_, which made a deep impression on me as a child, augmented later by the experience of living in SE Texas, Fire Ant Central. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/19 "2008-10-26T16:45:15Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Let us not forget the Charlton Heston classic from 1954, [_The Naked Jungle_](http://charltonhestonworld.homestead.com/NakedJungle.html), in which Heston’s cocoa plantation is threatened by a 20-mile-long column of voracious army ants: > > “He feared only two things on earth…the MARABUNTA…Nature’s deadliest force, and his fiery New Orleans bride!” > > The movie was based on a short story, _Leiningen Vs. The Ants_, which made a deep impression on me as a child, augmented later by the experience of living in SE Texas, Fire Ant Central. Question though: in what sense was his plantation “threatened” by the ants? Army ants ignore plants, so his cocoa wouldn’t be harmed. Really all they had to do was decided to take a vacation for a week or two and come back to a plantation now completely free of all pests. Was a just a case of stubbornly refusing to be moved? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576/20 "2008-10-26T20:04:40Z")
_[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind)_ For bug lovers–and I definitely qualify–this one’s a winner! Especially the baby Ohmu… awww… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fave-arachnid-bug-themed-movies/469576.md?page=2)