I use to see the book of this on the shelves, And the cover of it was a Black Widow spider. But I just saw the movie months ago for the first time and it was a tarantula like spider that makes webs. I saw other posts on here about the web making tarantula. I know too that tarantulas don't make them. So? Was it supposed to be a black widow or just a fictional spider?
shareIt was a house spider in the book.
It was a tarantula in the movie because tarantulas have a fierce reputation (somewhat unfounded) due to their size.
Carey's fight with the tarantula in the movie is exciting, but it pales in comparison with the episode in the book, which is bloody, lengthy and truly horrible.
What Is Essential Is Invisible
It is not unusual that a book version of a story has different details than the movie version. It is easy to see why. A tarantula, although relatively harmless (at least to a full size person) is physically imposing and rather ugly. Good for a visual medium. A black widow is not as physically horrific but can be deadly (a well-known fact) and thus can create an image in the mind of the reader of a book. Or the inconsistency may be for market purposes, such as a book/DVD cover. Sometimes the efforts fail. As mentioned elsewhere, turning a tarantula into a web spinner was a distraction. I had rather hoped that the spider (via venom perhaps) was going to provide an antidote for Carey's "shrinkage."
shareI'm surprised that the SPCA -- the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Arachnids -- didn't rise up in arms over the killing of the tarantula.
I just figured the tarantula stood in for a standard-issue house spider that would have been what, an inch, inch and a half across? (thinking in size relation to the matchbox) The tarantula is big and so is easier to film/wrangle than something smaller.
And yeah, tarantulas do/did have that nasty though undeserved rep - the movie "Dr. No" really plays with it (the book had a poisonous centipede for that scene).