Customer Reviews

Spider Baby (Director's cut)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

What to write about THIS one? I have to be honest, this is a tough call to make, because I just haven't seen anything quite like this before, and maybe that's enough of a recommendation in itself. 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.

The print is excellent - no complaints at all. The missing 8 minutes isn't the usual well-deserved cut, either: in this case, they lopped off important background information. (I wish that they had restored it into the film instead of having it as an "extra", but hey! We're lucky to get ANYthing here!)

Bottom line: you can't call yourself a "cult movie fan" if you haven't seen this one. It is in no way similar in plot to "Carnival of Souls", but I'd have to say that it ranks right up there with that classic for pure strangeness.

I discovered this DVD a few weeks ago whilst browsing Amazon. I had'nt seen or heard of it before and simply bought it on a whim. It now ranks as one of the most enjoyable movies in my collection. 'Spider Baby' is in a different league to most other B-movies. The production is lifted by excellent direction from Jack Hill and by a very capable and likable cast. The real surprise for me was Lon Chaney's performance as the family chauffeur. I'd half expected to see a washed up old horror star sadly trying to emulate his past glories (a la Bela Lugosi in 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'). Instead, Lon Chaney treats us to one of the best performances of his career (honestly!) and shows what a great professional he was. The movie benefits from a marvellous musical score, including the opening theme which is sung by Mr Chaney himself. It really does have to be heard to be believed. The storyline is surprisingly slow paced and there is little on-screen gore or violence. Most of the horror occurs off camera and the film relies on the weird characters and strange goings on to keep viewers capitivated...and it succeeds brilliantly!

On the technical side, picture quality is fantastic - exceptionally clean and sharp with very little sign of wear and tear. The sound is single channel mono and is also very good. The film is presented in its original widescreen 1.66:1 ratio. This is a good size even if you don't own a widescreen set - the movie looked great on my standard size 1.33:1 TV. The DVD also features an interesting commentary by the film's writer and director Jack Hill. Jack has a very easy going style and gives lots of behind the scenes info on the movie, cast and crew. Spider verdict : a thoroughly enjoyable tongue-in-cheek horror that comes highly recommended.

Also known as THE LIVER EATERS, and subtitled THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD (a variation on the DeMille movie); this 30th Anniversary DVD of Jack (FOXY BROWN) Hill's horror classic SPIDER BABY is a real treat. For a movie addict like myself, discovering this is like having Xmas come early.
Hill's script deals with an imaginary medical condition known as "Merrye's Syndrome", a "rotting of the brain" a disease so awful many authorities are in denial of its existance. The result of inbreeding, the sufferer experiences age regression, which is to say as the body grows, the mind gets younger. SPIDER BABY tells the story of "that fateful day ten years ago" that Merrye's Syndrome was wiped out forever.
Despite their name, the Merrye family are anything but and make the Addams family look like the Cleavers by comparison.
Horror legend Lon Chaney Jr has one of his best roles as Bruno Schlocker, the Merrye family's new chauffeur- though unknown to him the previous driver was "webbed" by Virginia Merrye (Jill Banner), one of their cute but deranged daughters. As if that wasn't enough the poor chap also had his ears hacked off with a pair of carving knives. What a lovely young lady. The other psychotic daughter is Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn) also cute, but suffering from radical brain rot. And last but not least is Ralph (Sid Haig) an unfortunate fellow who stalks and kills domestic cats, which the Merryes then roast and serve to their guests; who are told they're eating rabbit. Ironically, the Merrye family are all vegans because.... nope. No spoilers.
During dinner one of the guests asks Bruno: "Isn't Ralph a vegetarian too?" to which Bruno replies: "Yes, but Ralph's allowed to eat anything that he catches".
DVD extras include Commentary by Jack Hill: which is actually worth listening to (Unlike some bloated commentaries by Hollywood egoists and talentless film makers); filmographies for Hill and Lon Chaney Jr; plus footage of the 30th Anniversary reunion presented by archivist Johnny Legend as well as an additional 8 minutes of previously unseen footage.
A must have for cult movie buffs; SPIDER BABY is a true original and four decades on it retains its creepy fascination. Buy it and let the SPIDER BABY weave its macabre web on you!!

I love re-releases, no better way to re-release this little gem than on DVD. the QUALITY OF THE TRANSFER IS MAGNIFICANT! Spider Baby goes down as one of the all-time great cult classic films. Jack Hill's best right next to Switchblade Sisters. This DVD includes 8 minites of long lost footage, that was recently found when they where looking for a good print to use in the transfer. Dvd includes a great little Documentery on the theatrical re-release, with the aging cast remeniscing about to good ol' days, and Jack hill answering a few questions for his cult following. Highly reccomended, check it out if you are into weird movies with simple plots.

I had read about this film for years and never really bothered to track down a copy. I hate to say it now, but based on some of Jack Hill's other work (e.g. Blood Bath) I was expecting something more along the lines of, say, House of the Black Death, or an Al Adamson movie. Nothing could be further from the truth; all the praise heaped on it below is totally accurate. The story/screenplay is fresh, funny, and completely bizarre, evoking earlier AND later movies/TV shows like Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Addams Family, but really very unlike any of them. The cast is uniformly terrific (unlike most low-budget schlock of this era); it's actually hard to single out anyone, although Lon Chaney, icy/hot Carol Ohmart, Quinn Redeker, and Jill Banner (in her first acting role) are especially impressive. And if you (like myself) have reservations about most "horror comedies," relax: this isn't the broad, dated, farcical humor of, for example, roughly contemporary Roger Corman flicks; Spider Baby is played straight, with the humor (and the horror) allowed to arise from the situation, as in all the best comedy. You don't want to know any plot details, just buy this movie; having finally seen Spider Baby, it's leaped instantly into my top ten must-see list. This is one "cult classic" that really deserves its reputation.
The Image DVD does this film a long-delayed justice. The quality of the source print is fantastic, crisp and detailed, with very good contrast and tonal scale, and only the slightest traces of wear (some very minor speckling and a few blemished frames here and there). I agree with another reviewer that the rediscovered "lost" footage IS vital to the movie and should be reincorporated into any future reissue. The audio commentary by Jack Hill, while a little more laid back than, say, Tom Weaver on the Universal discs, is quite interesting and informative. I'm amused that he and several of the principals involved can't seem to understand why their film has such a fervent cult. And after hearing all the comments from Hill and the actors (in footage from the cast and crew reunion) about how much they all believed in the movie, it's heartbreaking to know that it immediately got sucked into litigation and sat essentially unreleased and "lost" for so many years. I could go on and on, but all you need to know is: if you're any kind of cult, horror, exploitation movie freak, see Spider Baby! And remember, it's not nice to hate.

This is an unashamedly crazy little movie that's lots of fun to watch. The title doesn't lie: This is the craziest story I've ever seen on film. And what a lineup: Lon Chaney Jr. in what may be the best role of his career; comic relief veteran Mantan Moreland; Carol "House on Haunted Hill" Ohmart (who feels compelled to model lingerie in a haunted house); Mary "Dementia 13" Michel; Sid Haig as the "big kid" Ralph; and the girls "Virginia" and "Elizabeth" -- never was degenerative disease so appetizing! If you like standard-issue Hollywood fare, stick with that; but if you prefer the crazy edge, this is the flick for you!

How does one describe SPIDER BABY? Well, take "The Addams Family", add "The People Under the Stairs", toss in "Arsenic And Old Lace", blend in a tablespoon of the attitude of "Little Shop Of Horrors" with just a pinch of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and stir violently. That comes about as close as I can get to describing it. Jack Hill has created a macabre masterpiece, full of frights and fun from beginning to end! The Merrye family have "Merrye Syndrome", a rotting of the brain, caused by generations of inbreeding. The kids Virginia (Jill Banner), Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn), and Ralph (Sid Haig) are real cut-ups! They've been isolated in a big, secluded house on a hill, watched over by Bruno (Lon Chaney Jr.) for their entire lives. Now teenagers, things are about to change. A pair of distant relatives (played by Quinn Redeker and Carol Ohmart) have come, with sleazy lawyer in tow, to take control and institutionalize the children. Unfortunately for these invaders, they don't know just how crazy the kids really are. They are also ignorant of the fact that these siblings are cannibals! If they had known, they would never have spent the night! SPIDER BABY relies on a cool story, great acting, dark humor, and creepiness to overcome it's microscopic budget (just think of all those mega-budget stinkers over the years). It's an ensemble effort that pays off. Buy it now...

Before I begin let me say that Spider Baby is one of my 4 favorite films of all time. Jack Hill's comments are worth the price of the film alone to anyone who appreciates the struggles and gambles of low budget film making at the start of their career. This is only part of the extras, but let's sharpen our knives and go bug hunting with the movie itself.

Jack Hill's horror, cult classic tells the tale of the last of the Merrye family who suffer from a degenerative disease of the brain that begins at about 10 years of age due to inbreeding. The Merrye children could be said to be homicidal, cannibalistic, pyschotic and yet at times show childlike innocence and charm. Their two aunts (that have proceeded them into total madness)live (if you can call it that) in the basement. The Merrye family is cared for by their devoted caregiver and chauffeur, Bruno who has made a deathbed promise to the children's father to always protect and look after the children.

Enter into the story an Aunt wanting to take over the family holdings, her nieve brother, her sleezy lawyer and the lawyer's beautiful, playful, and easily unnerved, legal assistant.

While Spider Baby is a low budget survivor of lawsuits, drive-ins and hidden copies; it has endured the test of time due to the acting talents of the cast. Lon Chaney Jr. (Bruno) could count this as one of his last films and Jill Banner (Virginia aka Spider Baby) as her first movie role. Sid Haig (Ralph) is an art form unto himself with his contortions and facial expressions. Beverly Washburn (Elizabeth) is so compelling with her rollercoater worth of moods. Carol Ohmart (Aunt Emily Howe) is both sexual and evil in her selfish motives. Her brother Quinn K Redeker (Uncle Peter Howe) is both narrator and out to lunch friend to all. Mary Mitchel (Ann) is pure comedy relief, perfect victim and mirror to any scene she is in. Mantan Moreland (the messenger) brought a politically incorrect, African-American role to the beginning of the film which has to be appreciated for a comedy style that had faded from movies by 1964. The last character I would like to mention is the house and grounds themselves which have horror, comedy and degeneration that so describes the entire movie. The house and grounds are in a sense the spider web.

Overall, the roles are wonderfully defined, the story is told well, the violence is off camera yet clear. The strength of the acting lies in the non-verbal facial, use of hands and motion.

There are really two endings in the same movie. The first is both twisted and logical in it's climax. The second is a surprise and leaves one wishing for a sequel that never happened.

This film is so delicious and sickening in the same bite. Spider Baby will make you laugh and scream in the same breath.

Want to play Spider?

This horror camp comedy has slowly earned its cult status over the four decades since its release. It is aka: THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD, THE LIVER EATERS, and CANNIBAL ORGY. Jack Hill wrote, directed and edited it. He filmed it in 12 days. He was a former production assistant for Roger Corman, and he learned how to keep America's Drive In screens busy. Over his career, he directed 21 films, and most of them had their debuts over the shiny hoods of automobiles, flickering madly, competing for teenager's attention span. His later films included COFFY and SWITCHBLADE SISTERS.

The film opened using comic credits, with Lon Chaney Jr., the film's one major star, singing the title song. The song was later released on 45, the flip side of Bobby Pickett's MONSTER HOLIDAY. This movie, although not a serious candidate to compete for horror status when rubbing shoulders with the AI Edgar Allen Poe classic, mostly starring Vincent Price, or with the British Hammer lush color gore fests that were the remakes of all the old American Universal classics. But never the less, it has managed to carve out its own quiet niche. It never takes itself too seriously, and yet never reduces itself to burlesque and pratfalls like the TV shows THE ADAMS FAMILY, and THE MUNSTERS that were popular at the time. It became a crude schematic for future films done about a "crazy family"; films like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS.

Bad movies are a genre unto themselves. This movie shared something significant with several Ed Wood features. Wood gave the aging Bela Lugosi some screen time before his death. In this film, Jack Hill gave the aging Lon Chaney Jr., who actually had starred with Lugosi in several Universal 40's horror classics, his farewell role. Chaney, who was an alcoholic, stayed dry for the two weeks of the shoot. Despite everything, he managed to deliver a rather nuanced and poignant performance; implying that he never really was given much of a chance to show what he could do as a dramatic actor. I remember him as Big Sam in THE DEFIANT ONES. He showed some dramatic promise in that one.

The plot centered around a fictitious medical problem, a genetic brain malady called the "Merrye Syndrome". Just before puberty, at about age ten, the family members would begin to regress their emotional age. At some point they would lose language, and develop a taste for human flesh. Several of the older family members were kept in a pit in the basement, where the odd dead body was tossed as a delicacy. Chaney as Bruno, the family chauffer, was the guardian of the last three children, and the family secret.

The old comedy veteran, Mantan Moreland, had a brief scene as a Messenger. He was dispatched early, and fed to the family in the basement. The plot thickened with the arrival of two cousins, their lawyer, and his secretary; more fodder for the fiends. I did like the dinner scene, where the strangers were fed roast cat, dry grass salad, boiled fungus, and bug stew. Carol Ohmart played cousin Emily, and she was able to do a gratuitous strip tease scene, and then parade around in black lingerie for a time.

In 1964, I thought this movie was silly, and not very scary. Today, upon reflection, I see it as prototypical in its creativity, that it had some clever writing, was fairly dark and humorous, and there was above average acting in it.

I was lucky enough to catch this on a big screen at the Cleveland Cinematheque a while ago. SPIDER BABY is an ominous study of hereditary evil that's not afraid to elicit laughter
along with its frights. Wonderfully warped in every way.