Harry Potter’s Aragog & 9 Other Terrifying Movie Spiders

There is something universal about the fear of spiders that everybody can appreciate and understand. The eight-legged creature is something that everybody has encountered at some point, whether it’s a small one or a huge tarantula, and for the vast majority of people, it’s something that brings a lot of fear.

Because of that, it makes great sense for them to be used in movies as a technique to provide fear for not only the characters encountering them but also the moviegoers who are watching. Whether they pop up in a horror movie or a huge fantasy adventure, there have been some incredibly scary movie spiders over the years, leaving audiences stunned and frightened.

10 Aragog from Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)

The Harry Potter franchise brings a whole range of magical beasts and creatures from dragons to giants and everything in between. Some of them are kind, while others are utterly terrifying, being out to cause pain and suffering to others.

Aragog, Hagrid’s giant pet spider finds himself somewhere in the middle. While this spider is kind towards Hagrid, when it comes to other humans he isn’t quite as kind. The scene inside his lair is a truly terrifying moment, with Ron Weasley, in particular, hating the entire experience, which is made even scarier when all the baby spiders start appearing.

9 The giant tarantula from Tarantula (1955)

Of course, this entire movie was based around a giant spider causing terror everywhere it goes, with a tarantula ending up 100 feet in the air due to encountering nuclear waste. This particular spider might not have had the flash CGI of newer spiders, but it is an iconic movie creature.

The slow movement of this creature actually makes it slightly scarier as well, with the character being one that audiences were terrified of at the time.

8 The Mirkwood spiders from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (2013)

The fantasy world of Middle Earth is something that opens itself up to creatures in the scariest manner, and that’s what The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug provided. When the group ends up trapped with not just one, but a group of terrifying spiders attacking them.

These spiders moved with pace and picked off the characters one by one. They were quick and being able to nip in and out of their webs provided some genuine jump scares within the movie, helping to make these characters very scary.

7 The Gray Widower spiders from The Mist (2007)

Spiders are only able to work in certain horror movies, but The Mist is absolutely one of those. There’s a variety of creatures that appear within this movie, and because everything is hidden within the mist, they’re able to pop out and create a huge jump scare at times.

This is clear with the spiders, which are known as Grey Widowers and they cause terror when certain humans decide to try and get to the bus. The blend of the mist and the scary presentation of the spiders come together excellently here in a moment that will leave audiences in fear.

6 The spiders from Arachnophobia (1990)

Considering the name of the movie, it’s not really a surprise that there are some terrifying spiders to be found here. Unlike a lot of movies to feature spiders, this isn’t about giant creatures that provide scares because of their size, it’s just about a lot of spiders, and deadly ones at that.

These spiders are shown in quite a realistic manner, and that in itself actually makes them terrifying because people can relate to what is happening a lot easier.

5 The spiders from Kingdom Of The Spiders (1977)

Another movie that features lots of spiders rather than one huge one is Kingdom Of The Spiders, which is one that will leave audiences in fear. There are tons of spiders attacking within this movie, and that’s something that is a genuine nightmare for a lot of people.

Lots of big spiders causing problems, happily crawling all over people is a situation that creates genuine fear and it showcases how simple uses of spiders can be just as scary.

4 Stanley’s head from It: Chapter 2 (2019)

The world that Pennywise creates in It: Chapter 2 allows him to create different creatures and characters in order to strike fear into the losers club. One of those just so happens to be a spider, but one with a twist as the body ends up being Stanley’s head.

With the classic spider legs being mangled and slammed into his skull, this creature did work in creating fear in others. It’s something that audiences at home will also have been scared of, with this being a genuinely scary movie spider.

3 Mother longlegs from Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Everything in the world of Kong: Skull Island is intensified and grown in terms of size, which is what makes many of the creatures so scary. While the focus ends up on King Kong and his encounters with the dinosaurs, the giant spider that appears cannot be overlooked.

This creature is huge, and the way it attacks the group is terrifying. With its legs blending in with the bamboo around them, the spider is able to just pick off different characters at will until they work out what is happening. The fear of the unknown is real in this one, helping to make it a spooky movie spider.

2 The giant spiders from Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

This movie itself is one that is seen as a comedic horror, but just because there are moments for laughs doesn’t mean there’s no room for fear. That much is clear when the spiders arrive, which are grown to being giant-sized due to toxic waste.

There are multiple spiders shown throughout the movie, and that keeps audiences on their toes throughout as they all bring something unique. With each spider being huge, it is easy to see how audiences were left scared throughout this one.

1 Shelob from The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)

Lord Of The Rings is a trilogy that features plenty of scary creatures, but few come close to Shelob. This giant spider is one that puts fear into audiences when Gollum led Frodo towards her. With Frodo getting caught in its webs, he had to try and escape only to end up being taken down by her venom.

Seeing the impact that the sting had on Frodo only made the character even scarier, so when Sam turns up to fight it, the entire scene ends up being unbelievably tense. It’s a spider that looks very realistic and the sounds it makes and the speed and fighting ability it has made it one of the scariest characters in the franchise.

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