Spider Baby

1967 Directed by Jack Hill

The most gruesome horror ever shown!

The story follows a family of inbreeds who have been afflicted by a genetic disorder known as 'Merrye syndrome', named after the family in which the disorder developed. This malady causes its victims to enter a state of age regression that starts at the age of ten and continues throughout the remainder of the person's life, rendering them with the intelligence of a child. The final generation of the family has been entrusted to the care of the family chauffeur (Lon Chaney Jr), and all is well for these odd people until a greedy branch of the family decides that they want to relieve the family of its home. Mental illness has always, and will always be, a fascinating subject for horror movies as it probes into the unknown and Spider Baby makes best use of that fact.

Lon Chaney Jr. Carol Ohmart Quinn K. Redeker Beverly Washburn Jill Banner Sid Haig Mary Mitchel Karl Schanzer Mantan Moreland

Alternative Titles

Attack of the Liver Eaters, Cannibal Orgy, Cannibal Orgy, or the Maddest Story Ever Told, Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told, The Liver Eaters

comedy horror

81 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Joe ★★★★★ 3

I've never seen a movie that strikes the tone this one does, an intersection between scary, funny, sexy, completely heartfelt, and totally disreputable. Lon Chaney's tearful late film monologue should be legendary if it isn't already. Same goes for Sid Haig's completely unhinged performance.
Review by matt lynch ★★★★

Lagrange point between "The Addams Family" and THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE.
Review by donthitpause ★★★★ 2

In Memoriam.
Rest in Peace Sid Haig.
A truly wonderful, mesmerising craftsman.
A deeply felt loss.
Review by <Todd> ★★★★★ 1

"Yes, they are the unfortunate result of... inbreeding." -Bruno,
- Daily Horror Hunt #11 (May 2019): boxd.it/2S3Py
Day 26: "we shall watch any movie that features an actor/actress from one of the greatest movies of all time...Spider Baby"
It's really nice to know that Sid Haig has been so creepy for nearly sixty years. It makes me feel like I have a real chance of staying a jerk forever!
A liquor swollen Lon Cheney Jr. minds after the last surviving generation of inbred eccentrics in the country, and you know what people with evolutionary regression called Merrey's Syndrome do? They cause trouble and hurt people and stuff. This has been covered in many different ways in film history but all…
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★½ 2

___________________________________________________________________
Film #5 of the "Scavenger Hunt" Challenge!
Task #26 : An Exploitation film!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/scavenger-hunt/
___________________________________________________________________
Unfortunately I was immune to the charm others claim to have seen in this exploitation film! In my eyes the descriptive summary of the film was far more impressive than what unfolded onscreen! Most of the horrifying aspects of the film are either implied innuendo or happens off screen! What we are allowed to see doesn't amount to a hill of beans!
Highlights of the film would be a very young Sid Haig (Ralph) And the greatest wolfman ever Lon Chaney (Bruno) who quite frankly gave this film his all!
Review by laird ★★★★ 4

Somewhere between this and Zombie Shark Cheerleaders (or whatever DTV horror comedy is currently in post production somewhere on Earth this minute) we as a culture forgot that a movie that has horror elements can also be funny without being overtly self-referential, jokey, and stupid (2011's THE WOMAN is a notable counter example). Everyone plays their part with a straight forward conviction that makes the humorous aspects even more absurd and enjoyable. Lon Chaney Jr in particular summons something deep, dark and true in his turn as the straight man to his ghoulish family.
Also, a great theme song *or* the greatest theme song of all time?

Recent reviews

Review by Dominic ★★★★

[watching Spider Baby (1967) as Spider Baby grabs and eats a spider]
SPIDER BABY'S SISTER: Ugh! Spiders aren't supposed to eat other spiders!
SPIDER BABY: Cannibal spiders do.
ME, TO NO ONE: That's right, Spider Baby
Review by Alessandro Borgia ★★★½

Ciao cab
Review by duda ★★★★★

conheci esse filme porque o vocalista do faith no more fez uma versão da música de abertura num projeto paralelo, mas nunca assisti porque posterguei por um tempão. nunca me arrependi tanto de não ter visto um filme antes porque isso é uma obra-prima exatamente como eu gosto: bizarra, macabra e excêntrica com atuações IN-CRÍ-VEIS (principalmente virginia, ralph e bruno). há uma pitada sexual e cômica, o suficiente pra transformar o filme numa experiência única. vale salientar também que há uma ótima referência à what ever happened to baby jane no poster.
Review by kristinenevrose ★★★

Film on a familiar disease with heart throb actress all recorded and filmed right here in good old Highland Park Ca
Review by Will Peters ★★★ 1

“Ralph’s just a big kid.”
Okay, opening a film with Lon Chaney Jr singing a song about monsters is maybe the best thing ever put to celluloid. It just works. Quinn K Rideker is really funny here in a small role, and the movie is all around pretty fun.
Review by grabmart ★★½

5/10
Review by EastBay ★★★½

Strange black and white movies featuring Sid hag.
Review by mackmos73 ★★

Too weird for my taste I guess. The crazy girls were crazy but I’ve seen too many crazy bitches before in my lifetime 🤣. Sid Haig and the lead guy are the most interesting part about this, and Carol Ohmart is just there to pretty much die in the film. Also another plus I did like Lon Chaney Jr’s crazy performance as he’s going insane.
Review by Dan ★★★

I can't decide if this movie was 10 years too early or 10 years too late. It has elements of a 1950s drive-in B-picture, but it also has grisly family horror that would emerge in 1970s films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes.
Ralph is CHUD for the ages.