Are You Afraid of Spiders? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Venezuela

Manley, the photographer, is the first to reference their location when he says he is late as he was stuck in Caracas, which is the capital of Venezuela.
It is then mentioned a few more times by various characters throughout the movie.
Dr James Atherton (Julian Sands) and his team are in the rainforest looking for new insect species when they come across some previously unseen spiders. They appear immune to the chloroform and are highly aggressive. The most fascinating thing for the scientists, however, is that they behave more like organised insects (ants/bees), having one fertile male, a queen and drones (soldiers).
In real life, the Alpha male spider is actually a species of Bird Eating Tarantula and the soldiers are Avondale spiders, a harmless species from New Zealand.

Answer: Canaima

The town's name is said many times in the film but we see it first as the photographers' body is being driven home. The camera pans across a large sign which reads 'Welcome to Canaima'.
Although it is a fictional town in California, Canaima is a real place elsewhere in the world.
It is actually in Venezuela, where the new species is supposed to have originated from in the movie. Canaima National Park is the second largest in the country.
The movie was filmed in Cambria, California.

Answer: The male hitches a ride in a coffin.

While in Venezuela, Jerry Manley, the photographer hired for the expedition, is killed in his tent by the male spider. Thinking he was killed by fever, the team simply put his body in a makeshift wooden coffin. As they place Jerry (Mark L Taylor) inside we see the spider crawl through a hole which is then sealed, trapping the spider inside. It sustains itself on the journey by completely draining Jerry's body of blood (Yummy!)
It then escapes when his body arrives at the mortuary in his home town of Canaima, where it mates with a common house spider, creating the deadly new breed!

Answer: Using the treadmill

Sam Metcalf (Henry Jones) is supposed to retire and hand all of his patients over to Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels). However, after Ross and his family move their whole lives to Canaima, Sam changes his mind.
After one of Sams' patients switches to Ross, he is complaining to his wife Evelyn (Frances Bay) about his methods of practice and public relations skills. We see the spider crawl onto the treadmill towards him only to roll off and scurry into one of his slippers.
Sam then finishes his workout and puts on them on!

Answer: Dr Death

Ross Jennings' only patient, Margaret Hollins (Mary Carver), is the first person to die. As Ross had recently changed her medication, Dr Metcalf openly blames him for her demise.
The local football coach feels sorry for Ross so he hires him to give his team hernia exams. Minutes later, one of the team collapses and dies on the field.
Although Sam Metcalf is already dead when Ross examines him, he still acquires this affectionate nickname!
Sam had previously refused to allow an autopsy to be performed on either of the other bodies so Ross immediately orders them to be exhumed. Sam's wife had seen the spider bite him and Ross said he 'needed to be sure'.

Answer: Wheel Of Fortune

Irv Kendall (Roy Brocksmith) is the town mortician; he and his wife live in the house attached to the mortuary. When Ross and the others believe the nest is there, they call to try and warn them. They cannot get through, however, as the Kendalls always unplug the phone during 'The Wheel'.
The couple snuggle up on the couch under a blanket with some microwave popcorn and as their hands reach in we see a spider crawling along the inside of the bowl. They are so engrossed in the programme, they do not notice until it is too late.
In fact, the last words we ever hear Blaire Kendall (Kathy Kinney) speak are
"Buy a vowel".

Answer: Bugs B Gone

Delbert (John Goodman) is the town exterminator. Kitted out with all manner of gadgets, gas masks and his own recipe insecticides, he provides the excellent comic relief to this movie.
We first meet him when Ross discovers rotten wood in his wine cellar and, suspecting termites, calls Delbert. He tells Ross' wife that it isn't termites, just 'bad wood'. When she asks what they should do, his in depth answer is, "Tear out bad wood. Put in good wood!"

Answer: There are no soldier spiders in the nest.

When Ross calls him, Dr Atherton initially sends his assistant, Chris Collins (Brian McNamara), to investigate as he does not think there is a real problem. Chris explains what a nest would be like, mainly that there would be no other spiders. This is because spiders are cannibals so the queen would not want any near her offspring.
When the soldiers are swarming the house, Ross gets his family out but is trapped upstairs. In the struggle, he falls over the bannister and straight through the floor into the cellar, where the real nest is.

Answer: Shoots it with a nail gun

In the final battle Ross, who has a paralysing fear of spiders is trapped alone in the nest. A heavy wine rack falls, pinning him to the ground as a shadow shows the spider edging downwards towards him on its thread.
He manages to grab a wine bottle and bat the spider across the room. Ross frees himself, only to fall and freeze as the spider begins to crawl slowly up his body. In a moment of sheer terror, using a splintered piece of wood, he manages to catapult the spider into a pile of burning paint supplies. Make no mistake, this spider is tough! It leaps from the flames as a ball of fire and makes one last lunge for Ross who grabs a nail gun.
He then utters the line "Nice shot" as the nail sends the burning spider hurtling towards the newly hatching egg sac where it sticks, causing the whole thing to explode.
(He kills the queen by throwing it into the fusebox).

Answer: Earthquake

The city they move back to is San Francisco!
Having just opened a bottle of wine and made a toast to life in the city, the ground starts to shake and alarms start to sound.
Incidentally, the bottle of wine is referenced a few times in the movie. Ross' dream was to have a wine cellar and his prized posession was a bottle of Chateau Margaux which he said was too expensive to drink. He even protected it in the final battle with the spider!
When he and his wife Molly (Harley Jane Kozak) go to check on the kids there is promptly an aftershock which knocks over the bottle and spills the contents onto the floor. Oh, the irony!