Synopsis
The Spider will eat you alive!
Teenagers from a small town and their high school science teacher join forces to battle a giant mutant spider, living in a cave nearby and getting hungry.
1958 ‘Earth vs. the Spider’ Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Teenagers from a small town and their high school science teacher join forces to battle a giant mutant spider, living in a cave nearby and getting hungry.
Earth vs. the Giant Spider, Die Rache der schwarzen Spinne, La vendetta del ragno nero, La araña, L'araignée vampire, A Maldição da Aranha, 地球大战蜘蛛
Monsters, aliens, sci-fi and the apocalypse Horror, the undead and monster classics Sci-fi monster and dinosaur adventures Sci-fi horror, creatures, and aliens Chilling experiments and classic monster horror Imaginative space odysseys and alien encounters Dangerous technology and the apocalypse Show All…
My third Bert I. Gordon movie, after Empire of the Ants and The Food of the Gods. I love that the guy found his niche (supersized creatures/men) and stuck with it. The Spider is definitely the lesser movie out of the three though. It does have its moments, but it's just a bit too dull overall.
Pretty funny that the highschool band didn't let the giant spider laying in the auditorium stop them from rehearsing there for the dance.
Fifties giant insect movie that pretty much hits all the beats you would expect. All the clichés are here, including a quaint little town and the usual cast of characters (dumb college kids, open minded teacher, disbelieving police officer etc) The film gets off to a quick start with the mysterious disappearance of a man, followed by a search to find him which leads to a cave....which is, of course, inhabited by a massive spider. Earth vs the Spider skips any possible scientific investigation angle, preferring instead to focus on the tribulations of the cast of characters - including of course coming under attack from the giant spider, which is lovingly (though not convincingly) brought to life by use of…
There was a scene where a couple of characters fall onto what looks like a climbing net you’d see in gym class in a cave acting as a spider web and it gave me Vietnam flashbacks to the first Ewoks movie.
RIP Bert I. Gordon
He’s a director who I’ve only seen three movies of-including this one-yet as I happen to note his 100th birthday in a review of his Necromancy this past September, it wouldn’t feel right not to note his passing away several days ago. Even if his entire output was B-movie schlock, that output did well enough in terms of earning money where he made films off and on for about 3 ½ decades. This film was chosen in part because I hadn’t experienced one of his 50’s pictures before.
The titular spider is in fact the size of about a city bus; it’s found in a cave by some youths. In a moment that only became creepy…
Bert I. Gordon spins the wheel and comes up with "remote rural town," "tarantula," and "cave." It's not on par with the best BIG films - the script is lazy, the actors nondescript, and the pacing fairly sluggish - but it's pretty close to the platonic ideal of a Bert I. Gordon giant creature jam. As such, it's highly recommendable, obviously. There may be more convincing killer spiders in cinema history, but I can't name another one that's constantly screaming.
why did the spider sound like
O̶̡̪̠̜̦͈͉̾̈̃̌̚Ȏ̷͇̩̰̆͋̈́̌ͅO̴͉̜͓͚̠̙͖̺͇̹̣̲͗̈́̔͗̈́̈́ͅỎ̵̢̨̦͔͇͙̰̣̣̣͙̝͓̠̹̓Ö̵̢̬̜͉͖͇̹̖̗̙͚̰̜̻́͝͝ͅȖ̷̙̱͚͔̮̼͂͆͋͌̆̊̕͠Ų̶̢̡͕͔̭̪̟̰̜̬̦͇͗̃͂͑́̽͋͑̓̚͝ͅƯ̷̦̥̙͖̦̮̣̯̬̜̆̃̉̂̏͗̓͋́͝͠Ư̴͚̖̔̎̿̿̍̐͂̀Ų̴̛̣͕͓̫̪̙̙̺͖͖̭̮̓́̏͆̋̅̂̓̐̄̄̓̐͘Ą̵͎͕͔͎͍̤͂̐̓̅͂̅̈͐̃͛̈́͝ͅA̴̱̬̯̓̏͛̈́͊Â̴̜͕̯̼̈́̃̓͘̕͘͝A̶̮̦̘͕̺̣̱͙̿͛̐͐̒̊̃̓͗̓̉̏̈́̈́͘A̸̫̺̖͔͎͈̞̹̯̍̊͂̽̈́̄̄̐̌̋̒͘̚͜Ư̵̭͈̯͚͈̜̬̜̠̹͙̬̆̊͂͘̕͘Ṵ̵̧̟̺̝͔̪̲̰̣̲̍̀Ǘ̸̥̬̖̲̘͇͂̄̽̀Ų̵̛̎͊͂͆̾̓U̵̦̥̎́̄̾͠
B.I.G. just does it for me, I can't deny it. This one really pares down the giant bug genre to its most basic elements; sickeningly wholesome teens and their nuclear families, threatened by the terrifying forces of homosexuality and communism as represented by a giant spider. Add in the most basic of practical effects and a little surprising gore for a home run.
I love the corpulent sheriff, the grizzled janitor, and Mike's friend Joe whose jowls and five o'clock shadow rank him among the world's oldest high school students. I love Carol's heavily-medicated mom who seems as concerned for her dead husband as she is for her pot roast. I love the creative use of optically-printed Carlsbad Caverns elements.…
The spider breathed\squealed like it was already in pain. Bet its whining why the hell did I get this big, what is my food source now. Och I'll just hide in this here cave. Woops shouldn't have sooked her Da dry.
At least the spider got to attend the youngsters swing band, the dancing was legendary. Cant help but kick your legs.
First time watching with Mst3K. I used to take part in a movie watch on twitter, wish I could remember the hashtag. Total laugh, I just wished I could stay awake as it ran US time. Must check if it still happens.
Scavenger Hunt 99 Film #10
Prompt: Watch a film where an animal is the villain
A movie I've been meaning to see ever since I saw clips from it used in the old trailer compilation VHS Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies that I used to watch over and over as a child. Of course a giant bird-eating spider is not a dinosaur but that tape was just giant monster movies, not only dinosaurs. Anyway, the title here of Earth vs the Spider is a misnomer- it's just one tiny town and they kind of just disturb a spider living in a cave and then murder it...TWICE!
Bert I Gordon basically made a career of that type of movie and this…
“Carol, not today, my dad just got a new picture and I haven’t seen it yet. Something about Puppet People, it sounds pretty wild.”
Big stupid fun courtesy of Bert I Gordon. Good practical split screen effects, including a few gruesome ones for the time. Oldest looking teen, the character of Joe is played by a thirty five year old who looks forty five. Beware, the spider gets triggered by Rock and Roll.
Everyone in this film is an idiot for being less scared of a MUTUanT spider than they would a Black person in the 50s.