Comic Relief

The upcoming “Arachnophobia”--about poisonous spiders that take over a sleepy California community--could do for arachnids what “Jaws” did for sharks. But don’t look for the studio’s ad campaign to stress the chill factor of the summer’s creepiest, crawliest movie, whose hairy-legged creatures could keep the more squeamish away from theaters.

“We’re emphasizing the movie’s humor,” says a spokeswoman for Walt Disney Studios, parent company of the producing Hollywood Pictures. “We’re being very careful about this.”

The advertising campaign bills the movie as a “thrillomedy,” promising big laughs. TV spots emphasize lighter moments--especially John Goodman’s performance as a Rambo-ish exterminator. Print ads tout “Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude,” and include an image of only an itsy-bitsy spider. The press kit photos are mostly of the human stars, led by Jeff Daniels, who are shown fiddling only with little arachnids.

As for the film’s horrific moments: “We’re certainly not hiding anything. I mean, our title is ‘Arachnophobia.’ And there is a spider in our ad.”

Not shown in any of the promotional materials is the eight- to nine-inch Amazonian bird-eating tarantula, Big Bob, who “stars” as the poisonous Venezuelan spider who initiates the invasion.

“You’re right,” says the spokeswoman. “He’s supposed to be a surprise.”