Arachnophobia

Welcome.

Dr Atherton, I presume.

- Wait a minute, not so fast.

- We're in a hurry, Mr Manley.

Leave your personal things. Just bring

your equipment. We depart immediately.

Miguel Higueras, our field assistant.

Sorry I'm late. I've been held up in

Caracas for a while with a fever.

Tell the truth, I'm not over it yet.

Be sick on your own time, Mr Manley.

I want close-ups of every specimen

and coverage of the surrounding

rain forests and tepuis.

The what?

Tepui. It's an Indian

word for mountain.

A place where species have survived

in isolation for millions of years.

Any man-eating dinosaurs?

Atherton, you're in luck.

We're hitting a brand-new one today.

Great. Anybody ever get lost?

Legend says men who climb

to the rain desert never return,

but don't worry, we small-game hunters

don't climb, we fly!

He friendly?

I hope so. He's our guide.

Stick close.

Twenty-four hour ant.

They bite?

They kill, Mr Manley,

in sufficient numbers.

So do some of the frogs.

Don't touch any.

Great.

This is where we're going.

We land here, then walk down here.

This is a sinkhole.

A place where thousands of years

of streaming water

have torn away the rock.

It's very deep. 2,000 feet.

And dark at the bottom.

We'll need flash equipment.

Stegolepis.

Edible and nutritious enough

to survive on for weeks.

Thanks, I'll pass.

Plants your specialty?

Insects and spiders

and identifying new ones.

Great. Just what the world needs.

More bugs.

What's your speciality, Manley?

Football.

Let's forget the fact that

no one mentioned poison ants and frogs,

but a 2,000-foot drop? Come on!

This is for the equipment.

Our guide will show us another way down.

What's with him?

This is as far as he'll go.

What?

It's amazing.

The air temp's dropped 10 degrees

in the last 100 meters.

Not far.

Down there.

- You all right?

- Yeah.

I'm fine, I just...

What'd he say?

He says you should be careful.

You're too big for us to carry out.

Wait up!

What does that thing do, anyway?

Did you ever throw a large firecracker

into a pond?

Maybe when I was a kid. Why?

What happened?

All sorts of stuff floated to the surface.

Exactly.

Everybody ready?

Prepare yourselves, gentlemen.

For what?

For pictures, Manley, pictures.

What is it?

I think it's a new species of butterfly.

We could call it... photius manlii.

Extraordinary.

Look at these markings.

Don't just sit there.

Are you sure it's dead?

Yes, quite dead.

Two more.

This is highly unusual.

So many spiders this size

in such a confined area.

Look at the shape of the abdomen.

We must try to find a live specimen.

- What do you think you're doing?

- It was alive.

Don't be ridiculous.

It's just a spider. What's the big deal?

It isn't just a spider.

It was potentially a new species of spider.

Isolated and unchanged

for millions of years.

And all you could do is squash it.

That's impossible. They should be dead.

Very aggressive.

We'll take two back alive and preserve two.

Are you sure that'll do it?

This stuff will kill an elephant.

Millions of years, then we come along.

How long's it gonna take us

to get back to camp?

What's the matter?

You still worried about dinosaurs?

This place just gives me the creeps.

Incredible.

What is?

These spiders have

no reproductive organs.

Almost like worker bees or soldier ants.

Yeah, well, if these are the soldiers,

I'd hate to see the general.

How are you feeling?

Like hell. This fever's killing me.

You don't look so good. Take a rest.

The fever.

Make sure we've got

all his film, Higueras.

Have we notified his family?

I contacted the American consulate.

Okay, seal him up.

I really wish you wouldn't

complain about my driving.

Ready?

You're pushing it. That's all I got to say.

Take it easy, wait.

Can you give me a hand here?

I think I'll go move the hearse.

Dick, I'm sorry to pester you

in this already difficult time.

I know that we already decided

on an open casket,

but we should maybe reconsider.

Because I'm not sure

how they work down in South America,

but let me say that their

preservation methods differ from ours.

No, you'd be welcome

to come down and decide,

but in this already difficult time,

I'm not sure I could do that.

No, you do have the option of...

We could put a photograph

on top of the casket.

No, the one that you had

in the newspaper.

Okay, kids, go stake out your rooms!

Ross, smell that air!

Let's just...

Before we discover what valuables

broke in the move,

and that the breakfront doesn't fit,

let's just chant twice:

"We did the right thing."

- For the kids.

- For us. For all of us.

- Goodbye crime, goodbye grime.

- Right.

Goodbye culture, goodbye friends.

Dad, there's a dead bird over here!

Don't touch it.

Just go on into the house

and find your sister.

Ross, the entire town is yours.

You're the doctor.

Can there be a more respected figure?

Respect is fine, but actually

I've always wanted to be feared.

Easy with that.

You don't want to agitate the sediments.

Chteau Margaux. $127 a bottle.

Tasty, huh?

At that price, who can afford to drink it?

Goes in the basement.

I mean the cellar.

The wine cellar.

I gotta get a big padlock.

Protect my investment.

Dad!

- What's wrong?

- Behind one of the boxes, a spider.

It came at me, it was ugly.

- Bigger than this.

- Okay, calm down.

You're in the country now, okay?

Come on, let's go find that spider.

And let's find your mom

to take care of that spider.

Honey, we're in the living room.

We need you to kill a spider.

All right. Where is it?

Over there, on the box.

Killing a spider, cool!

It's bad luck to kill a

spider in a new house.

You just made that up, didn't you, dear?

Okay. Everything's okay.

Poor thing.

It's more scared of us than we are of it.

Let's give it a home in the barn.

Good idea, Shell.

Mom, how come you're not

afraid of bugs like Dad is?

I'm not afraid of all bugs. Just...

- Be careful of rusty nails.

- Chill out.

How about right here?

You sure you won't miss

being in the thick of things?

With all those stars and those crickets

singing, we are in the thick of things.

I mean work. Strokes from the boss.

Christmas bonuses, office politics,

caffeine, adrenaline,

steady income...

We'll be fine.

Between my severance and all your

potential patients, we'll be fine.

When are you meeting with Dr Metcalf?

Thursday morning.

The old coot passes me the torch

at 10.00 sharp.

Wait.

We can unpack in the morning.

I have some Napoleon brandy

in the basement.

Sorry, cellar.

Ross, I'm exhausted.

It's bad luck not to make love

the first night in a new house.

You just made that up, didn't you, dear?

I have terrific news. At least, I

think, for my patients it's terrific.

Though my wife is less than thrilled.

What's that, Dr Metcalf?

I've decided to postpone retirement.

I don't know for how long, but...

But?

But when I thought really hard about it,

I realised,

there's only one thing left

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