10 Dumbest Ways Movie Characters Got Themselves Killed

Arachnophobia was a thrilling return to classic monster movie mayhem upon its release in 1990, fusing character comedy and a likeable ensemble cast with a classic premise: brought in by man’s meddling with nature, a bevy of eight-legged threats flood an unsuspecting small town in middle America.

That said, Dr James Atherton, an animal “expert” whose search for these creepy crawling creatures sets the plot in motion, must be the dumbest doctor in cinema history, and no amount of residual goodwill for actor Julian Sands can ameliorate this.

Sorry, Merchant Ivory’s Room With a View.

Upon uncovering the huge, infested spider’s nest which houses the locus of the film’s threat, Dr Atherton sees fit to hop up on a wobbly, half-rotten ladder and jump into the belly of the beast. The good doctor begins poking around inside the massive web structure which he knows houses innumerable highly poisonous arachnids, wearing absolutely no protective equipment in the process.

Notably local everyman Delbert, an exterminator who prides himself on his professionalism in the bug business, does not die, thus proving my long-standing belief that Arachnophobia is a metaphor for the humble working man’s triumph over patronizing academia - and, eh, poisonous spiders.