Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told

United States

1968

81 Min

Black and White

1.66:1

English

Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
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PROD Gil Lasky, Marvin Levine, Paul Monka, Alan Riseman

CAST Lon Chaney Jr., Carol Ohmart, Jill Banner, Sid Haig, Quinn Redeker

SOUND John Broadrick, Lee Strosnider

Synopsis

In a dilapidated rural mansion, the last generation of the degenerate, inbred Merrye family lives with the inherited curse of a disease that causes them to mentally regress from the age of 10 or so on as they physically develop. The family chauffeur looks out for them and covers up their indiscretions. Trouble comes when greedy distant relatives and their lawyer arrive to dispossess the family of its home. —D.A. Kellough

Director

Jack Hill

Jack Hill grew up around movies – his father was a designer for Disney Studios and Warner Brothers. He went to the University of California to study film, where he was a classmate of Francis Ford Coppola – they worked together on student productions and later both apprenticed with Roger Corman, working on The Terror (1963). While Coppola went on to Oscardom, Jack continued with B-flicks. He didn’t make a lot of films, and while all were low budget they all (except The Jezebels (1975)) made money, and his early ‘blaxploitaton’ films Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974) were hits. Soon after The Jezebels (1975) he stopped making movies so he and his wife Elke could pursue meditation and he could write novels. Today his films are hailed as cult classics, thanks primarily to Quentin Tarantino, who saw Hill’s work as it made its way to video. With retrospectives and a re-release of The Jezebels (1975), his career seems to be reviving. —IMDb… read more

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Electrus Amadeus Magnus

21Nov12

One of the first maniac families of cinema is here. Also liked The Wolf Man & Psycho refs and boxed ear for Lynch with Blue Velvet.

Duncan Jones

17Feb11

A degraded family estate. A group of harmless invaders. The body parts kept as trophies. The corpses kept as family. A mute muscleman. An irrepressible brat. And a relatively sane patriarch trying to keep everything together. But enough about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Spider Baby...

Matheus Cassano and rischka like this

Daniel S.

19Oct10

A cult movie I discovered for the first time last night. The actors are not so bad and some scenes and characters are really great. Like Ralph, a Nosferatu lookalike, who likes to peep through windows or like Carol Ohmart, wearing only underwears and running across the garden. Some dialogues are also noteworthy. For example, when Virginia is caught eating a spider, her sister Elizabeth says: "A spider is not supposed to eat spiders", Virginia answers to her. "unless the spider is a cannibal". Cute, isn't it ? I also liked a lot the way the director masters sexual and horror overtones. What did Ralph really do to Emily in the garden and what's going on in the basement for example ? Highly recommended.