Exclusive: ‘Arachnophobia’ director Christopher Landon explains why he’s remaking a classic

Filmmaker Christopher Landon shot to prominence as a regular collaborator of Blumhouse on the Paranormal Activity franchise, before seguing into top-tier horror comedy by way of Happy Death Day and its sequel, along with body swap slasher Freaky.

For his next feature from behind the camera, Landon is broadening his horizons in terms of scope, scale, spectacle, and heart with Netflix’s family-friendly supernatural story We Have a Ghost. Next up after that for the writer and director is a big one, with the news breaking last year that he would be tackling a remake of the classic 1990 creature feature Arachnophobia.

In an exclusive chat with We Got This Covered, Landon reflected on how Amblin informed his approach to We Have a Ghost, making it a full circle moment for him to be putting a fresh spin on one of the production company’s most popular titles.

“You know, it’s it’s so funny. Yeah, I mean, I’ve been talking about Amblin for so long. And now I’m like, actually, I was just in a meeting at Amblin. And I met with a spider wrangler. And he was showing me all different kinds of species of spiders, and I was terrified. So it’s a it’s a huge dream come true. I’m a huge fan of the original. I think it’s a really, really fun film. But I don’t, I’m not trying to apply any kind of pressure to myself. I don’t want to be in competition with another movie, that movie will always stand alone.

And so for me, the goal was to just… and the reason why I agreed to do it in the first place is not just because, “Ooh, here’s a cool remake”. I actually had a take, I had an idea for it that was different from the original, but still honors, I think, the original and I’m just very, very excited and very eager to make that film. I think we’re gonna make it this year. I don’t want to like jinx it, I’m knocking on whatever I can find. But we’re pretty far along in the process. So I feel like it’s looking good.”

Hopefully the Arachnophobia remake does shoot this year, because Landon has proven that he’s got an impeccable grasp on blending the hilarious with the horrifying. We Have a Ghost releases on Netflix on Feb. 24, and be sure to check back next week for our full interview.