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Spider Baby
Starring: Spider Baby
Manufacturer: Dark Sky Films
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ASIN: B000RPCJ9I
Release Date: 2007-09-25

Average customer rating:

B-Movie That deserves a remake
A Taste I've No Wish to Acquire
Thanks for the find!
Too weird to miss!
Great DVD of funny, and vaguely erotic, horror "cult" film!

Spider Baby
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr. , Carol Ohmart , Quinn K. Redeker , Beverly Washburn , and Jill Banner
Director: Jack Hill
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00000JN2R
Release Date: 1999-09-14

Description

The seductive innocence of Lolita, the savage hunger of a Black Widow and a taste for blood! Lon Chaney, Jr. plays the caretaker for a family who is inflicted with a unique genetic disorder--one that causes them to regress mentally to a state of savagery and cannibalism. When distant cousins arrive with the intention of "taking over," an utterly bizarre night of horror follows.

Customer Reviews:

B-Movie That deserves a remake.......2007-03-29

This movie has been a summer party classic around my place for 12 years now. My wife really doesn't like B Movies, but stayed awake for this one. While it has flaws, I think that you can enjoy it in either an ironic way or as a true B Movie sci-fi/horror enthusiast. My advice for you to really enjoy it would be to fire up the grill on a hot July night, have a few beers with your friends and then, after the sun goes down and everyone is tipsy, throw this at them. Soon enough, they will understand. Then, repeat the procedure next year.

Honestly, this is in my B Movie top 10. (Along with classics like The Giant Gila Monster and Killer Shrews. The back story is unique and the movie could be great if it was remade with a budget above the $16 they had to make this version.

A Taste I've No Wish to Acquire.......2007-03-18

Legal issues caused it to be pulled from theatres almost as quickly as it reached them; the DVD received a very small release, is presently out of print, and is hard to find and expensive when located. What with one thing or another, SPIDER BABY was among the cult films I had always heard about but never actually seen--so when it suddenly received a late-night showing on Turner Movie Classics I was eager to sit up and see it through.

The story concerns the last surviving members of the Merrye family, all of them afflicted by a degenerative disease that leads them first into insanity and then into a sort of de-evolution, rendering them animalistic in more ways than one. The youngest generation consists of Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn), Virginia (Jill Banner), and Ralph (Sig Haid)--and a nasty, loutish trio they are indeed. Elizabeth, the title character, is fond of spiders; Virginia is goody-goody in a psychopathic manner; and Ralph is as far gone as only Sig Haid can make him. They are watched over by family retainer Bruno (Lon Chaney), and all concerned are distressed when Aunt Emily (Carol Ohmart) and Uncle Peter (Quinn Redeker) come to call with an eye toward assuming control over the estate.

Although quite a few have mentioned that SPIDER BABY paved the way for such films as TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, no one seems to have noticed that the film is essentially a riff on Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO. The action takes place at a remote house--Victorian in style, set on a hill, and approached by a significant staircase. There are stuffed birds galore, a bedroom which contains parental remains, and something unpleasant in the fruit cellar. And very little of it is remotely interesting.

Now and then you encounter a bad movie that is so bad it is funny, with the films of Ed Wood a case in point; now and then you find a bad movie that has such geniality that it creates a unique sense of charm, as in the films of William Castle. But most bad movies are just plain bad, and SPIDER BABY is exactly that. Most obviously, the film is slow: molasses in January runs like water in July in comparison. Every shot is drawn out to the length of maximum boredom. Although less than an hour and a half in running time, the whole thing feels longer than DR. ZHIVAGO and OUT OF AFRICA combined.

The script is riddled with cliche and shot through with failed attempts at humor and the performances follow suit. Mantan Mooreland is an early casuality, attempting to recycle his perpetually frightened character of the 1940s and 1950s and without a trace of success; fortunately for all concerned, he is eliminated very early on. Carol Omhart, who is best recalled for the original HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, was a blonde bombshell of the deadpan variety who never got the roles or success she deserved. In her opening scenes she looks remarkably like Meryl Streep, but she is soon reduced to running around the house and through the fields in black undies. It is true that she wears them well, but you can tell her heart isn't in it.

As for the Merrye family, Beverly Washburn, Jill Banner, and Sig Haid do manage to generate the occasional moment, but "moment" is indeed the operative term--occasional glimmers of what-might-have-been in a sea of slow moving and obvious plot turns that aren't in the least surprising, frightening, or amusing. And then there is Lon Chaney Jr. Although he scored with a handful of memorable films over the years (OF MICE AND MEN and THE WOLF MAN come to mind), unlike his father he never had much in the way of acting chops. As the 1950s unfolded his career dived into B movies; by the 1960s he was a roaring alcoholic and his career consisted almost exclusively of schlock horror flicks. His performance here is every bit as bad as it was in every other film he made during this era.

Cult films are almost always an acquired taste, but SPIDER BABY is a taste I've no desire to acquire. Although the DVD remains marginally available, it will never be a part of my own collection.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Thanks for the find!.......2006-11-10

I've been looking for this movie everywhere. Couldn't find it in stores so I decided to look online. Thanks for the find. It's a great movie.

Too weird to miss!.......2006-11-05

If you look for the strange or love Lon Chaney, Jr., you have to see this.
This is a B&W, early 60's, no-budget horror movie that offers a buffet for lovers of the bizarre.

Chaney is the care-taker of the ultimate disfunctional family. Living at the end of a dirt road, secure behind a big, iron gate, these folks don't get many visitors. The visitors that do drop by, wish they hadn't.

When some greedy relatives show up looking to cheat the "kids" out of their inheritence, you'll love the games they play. Chaney is understated and fabulous as the truly devoted Bruno.

Great DVD of funny, and vaguely erotic, horror "cult" film!.......2006-11-04

This is a great quality DVD (with additional features, and boxed in the original screen ratio) of one of Lon's Chaney Junior's last films. By the time a confirmed alcoholic, Chaney liked the script and opportunity so much that he stayed "on the wagon" for the movie's short twelve days of filming, and turns in one of his finest performances. Several of the other actors also turn in first-rate performances, including beautiful and sexy 17-year-old Jill Banner as "Virginia" (the "spider baby") in her first film role. Two of the performances somewhat mar the film, however: that of Quinn Redeker (as "Peter Howe"), who wanders spastically throughout the film as if he doesn't seem to know what's going on around him; as well as that of tiny "actor" Karl Schanzer (as Schlocker), whose performance is SO amateurish that it almost makes you want to crawl under your chair whenever he's on screen (he only got the role because he knew the two producers). On the whole, however, this film is one of my MUST HAVES--as the plot is truly bizarre and wonderful (involving an incestuous family of mentally and physically regressing crazed killers)--and I highly recommend it to film buffs!

Average customer rating:

B-Movie That deserves a remake
A Taste I've No Wish to Acquire
Thanks for the find!
Too weird to miss!
Great DVD of funny, and vaguely erotic, horror "cult" film!

Spider Baby
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr. , Carol Ohmart , Quinn K. Redeker , Beverly Washburn , and Jill Banner
Director: Jack Hill
Manufacturer: Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: Video
Binding: VHS Tape

Haig, Sid | ( H ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Ohmart, Carol | ( O ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

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ASIN: 6304361238
Release Date: 1997-09-10

Customer Reviews:

B-Movie That deserves a remake.......2007-03-29

A Taste I've No Wish to Acquire.......2007-03-18

Thanks for the find!.......2006-11-10

I've been looking for this movie everywhere. Couldn't find it in stores so I decided to look online. Thanks for the find. It's a great movie.

Too weird to miss!.......2006-11-05

Great DVD of funny, and vaguely erotic, horror "cult" film!.......2006-11-04

Average customer rating:

Extreme cult!!

Spider Baby

Manufacturer: Admit One
ProductGroup: Video
Binding: VHS Tape

General | Horror | Genres | VHS | Video
ASIN: B00066FY0O

Product Description

AKA "Cannibal Orgy," "The Liver Eaters" and even "The Maddest Story Ever Told," this gory goodie stars Lon Chaney Jr. as the manservant to a family of cannibals who helps out at mealtimes. Wonderful low-budget horror-comedy from director Jack Hill ("Switchblade Sisters") features a title song sung by Chaney himself! With Sid Haig, Carol Ohmart and Mantan Moreland. 80 min. Some reviewers have likened it to "The Addams Family", but I'd say "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is another candidate for comparison. The Merrye family suffers from a degenerative disease ("rots the brain" - that's what my dad used to say about comic books!) which causes them to regress to, eventually, homicidal, psychopathic cannibals. There's no denying that Lon Chaney does a superior job as the family chauffeur and as the sole voice of reason in the madhouse. Carol Ohmart, as a relative visiting to reclaim the estate, reprises her sexy ice-queen role from "House on Haunted Hill", this time stripping down to the black lace (in one of the more gratuitous moments in a gratuitous movie!) There's no gore, at least nothing like what you commonly see in today's poor excuses for "horror movies". In fact, the "rat scene" from "Hideous Sun Demon" is probably more of a pure gross-out than anything on camera in this movie. But the *implied* violence is there, in spades. And folks, it's weird. Do NOT expect to sit there and yawn. It may have been done on a low budget, but all that means is that today's directors are wasting money. "Spider Baby"'s director, Jack Hill, did some work with Roger Corman before knocking this one off in a mere 12 days of shooting. The movie was lost in legal limbo for years, and that lack of exposure at a time when it could never have made it to television probably ensured it's future as a true "cult" film.

Customer Reviews:

Extreme cult!!.......2004-10-29

After you've been watching obscure cult movies for years and years (in my case, about 20 years) you get to the point where you've pretty much seen it all and you've discovered just about everything worth discovering. I own a lot of reference books about cult movies, too, and many times they will tip you off to something worth searching out. So, it's practically impossible to find a treasure cold. In other words, it's almost impossible to be able to watch a good movie without any preconceived notions about the movie that you are about to watch, or knowing what the plot is basically about before you actually view the movie, and watching a movie without knowing anything about it is the ideal way to watch a movie.

I was browsing at the video store when I came across the movie Spider Baby. I had never heard of it before. I read the box and decided to take a chance on it. I watched the movie from beginning to end. I was so blown away, that I immediately watched the movie from beginning to end again, something that I have only done a handful of times in my life. It was the kind of experience that cult movie collectors cherish, finding an incredible masterwork and viewing it cold.

Spider Baby is a black and white film written and directed by Jack Hill in 1963. I'll tell you about the movie here, but I could never do the movie justice. This is the kind of movie that, if you have any interest in cult movies at all, you should search out and watch for yourself. It has my highest recommendation. It's the kind of movie you can watch over and over again, and always find something new to marvel at with each viewing. It's a darkly black comedy which is loopy, stupid, funny, creepy, outrageous, and shocking and it's not like anything you've ever seen before. The closest thing I can think of to compare it to is maybe an episode of The Addams Family gone horribly awry.

Here is a synopsis of the plot, such as it is: An unfortunate family, surnamed Merrye, are all inflicted by a disease called Merrye Syndrome, being as the syndrome has only affected the lineage of the Merrye family. The syndrome strikes as a progressive deterioration of the mental faculties, starting in childhood, and progressing until the afflicted Merrye becomes a complete idiot. Somehow, the deceased patriarch of the family, Titus Merrye, had acquired a decent amount of money, and hired a chauffeur, played by Lon Chaney, Jr. Before his death, Mr. Merrye made the chauffeur promise to take care of his offspring, two daughters and a son, and make sure that they are never held up to public ridicule. So Lon becomes the custodian of the children. His main goal is to just keep the children in the house, away from the public's eye. The son, played by the wonderful Sig Haig, is a bald headed man-child idiot who looks like something out of Tod Browning's Freaks. Since he is the oldest, he is the one whose mind has deteriorated the most. The two daughters seem to be around 17 or 18, but they act much younger. One of the daughters, Virginia, likes to play "spider" and trap the rare visitor who comes to the house and slice the victim up, or "sting" the victim with two large knifes. This upsets the caretaker, Lon Chaney, because he has to dispose of the bodies, and these incidents could trigger the curiosity of the world outside. Also, Uncle Ned and Aunt Martha, who are way gone mentally, are kept in a pit in the basement.

Two distant relatives of the Merrye family, an Uncle and Aunt, show up one day with a lawyer and his secretary. The Merrye estate is worth some money, so the Aunt wants to put the kids in a facility for retarded persons and divide up the proceeds of the estate. Lon had promised the father of the children to never let anything like this happen, so he is quite distressed by this development. He invites the visitors into the run-down mansion and hopes the situation will work itself out, but bad things start to happen. The children realize that these people are going to disturb their way of life, and take matters into their own hands on the first evening of their visit. Lon Chaney has no control over the horrible events that are taking place and he realizes that there is no way to cover up these unfortunate incidences. Other people will come and put an end to their lifestyle for good. Since Lon made a promise to the elder Merrye that he would never allow this to happen, he must now take drastic measures. In a very moving, emotional scene, Lon tells the children that he has a way of making everything better and that he can solve all of their problems once and for all. The children trust him enough to go along with whatever he thinks is best, and Lon does solve their problems once and for all.

I was being purposely vague in the plot synopsis. I want you to be able to watch it like I did, without knowing what is going to happen next. I don't want to ruin the viewing experience for you. True to all of the Jack Hill movies that I have seen, there's at least one jaw dropping scene. In this case, it's a scene in which Virginia, the daughter who likes to "play spider," ties up her Uncle Peter. As I said earlier, after years of watching cult movies, it's rare for something to have that effect on you, but it did and does.

The acting in the movie is superb. Sid Haig, Lon Chaney, and the two actresses playing the daughters are all incredible. This is some kind of masterwork, and is a desert island movie, so I'm giving it a rating of 6. Find it and watch it.

The video has a featurette about the 30th anniversary showing of the movie in Los Angeles.

Man in the Attic / Juggernaut / House of Mystery / Bloodlust / the Rapist / Devil's Express / I Eat Your Skin / the Sadist / Mesa of Lost Women / Horrors of Spider Island [[[10 HORROR CLASSIC MOVIES]]]

Average customer rating:

Man in the Attic / Juggernaut / House of Mystery / Bloodlust / the Rapist / Devil's Express / I Eat Your Skin / the Sadist / Mesa of Lost Women / Horrors of Spider Island [[[10 HORROR CLASSIC MOVIES]]]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Average customer rating:

What Ever Happened to Spider Baby
Starring: Lon Jr Chaney
Manufacturer: Tapeworm Video
ProductGroup: Video
Binding: VHS Tape

General | Horror | Genres | VHS | Video
ASIN: 6303266819
Release Date: 1994-09-14

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