Way back in the heady pre-streaming days of physical media, I worked behind the counter of a suburban video store. Customers would ask video store clerks for advice and recommendations all of the time, and one of the most common scenarios was this: what movie to rent out for a child’s sleepover?

The parent’s requirements were always firm. The kid could rent whatever they liked, as long as it was rated PG. The kid’s requirements were always the same. It had to be scary. That is quite the set of demands to balance, but thankfully there was always an answer. In the middle of the Venn diagram between PG and horror, there is Frank Marshall’s 1990 film Arachnophobia.

By the time Marshall made his directing debut with Arachnophobia, he had pursued a staggeringly successful career as a producer. His catalogue of works included the likes of Paper Moon (1973), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Poltergeist (1982), Empire of the Sun (1986), and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). Along with his wife and partner Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg, he had founded Amblin Entertainment. Not many filmmakers commence directing with such a well-honed sense of commercial cinema, and what mainstream audiences want from their popular entertainment.

In Arachnophobia, a small American town is besieged by a previously undiscovered species of South American spider. As the body count rises, new local doctor Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels) goes on the hunt to identify and overcome the arachnid menace. It is essentially a boilerplate plot for an interchangeable thriller: something is amiss, an outsider to a small community tries to warn people and is mistrusted, and – their warnings unheeded – everything turns to ruin. Swap spiders for a volcano and you have Dante’s Peak. Swap them for a shark and you have Jaws.

Within this broad pulp framework Marshall finds space for a lot of well-crafted Spielbergian scenes of suspense, decent photography by cinematographer Mikael Salomon (The Abyss), and a generally talented cast of actors able to lift the material to a more decent, enjoyable level. It is Jeff Daniels’ first foray into proper blockbuster filmmaking, having earned acclaim for earlier roles in Terms of Endearment (1983), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), and Heartburn (1986). He does an enormously amiable job of it, giving a bit of texture and distinctiveness to a stock “everyperson” character. A range of decent character actors fill out the supporting roles, including (most notably) John Goodman as an eccentric local exterminator as well as Brian McNamara, Roy Brocksmith, Kathy Kinney, and Harley Jane Kozak. There is also British actor Julian Sands in the mix, playing an English entomologist like a pantomime character. It is by far the most egregious element of the film; I guess you can’t have everything.

Arachnophobia does nothing out of the ordinary that makes it more than what it is, but there is a very worthwhile niche for it to fill. The film does precisely what it aims to do, tells its story efficiently, and concludes well before it can outstay its welcome. If only more films were this confident and satisfying. If you’re under 12 and are planning a sleepover, have I got the film for you.