Synopsis
Come into my parlor, said the spider to the...
A caretaker devotes himself to three demented siblings after their father's death. But then money-hungry relatives show up to usurp their inheritance.
A caretaker devotes himself to three demented siblings after their father's death. But then money-hungry relatives show up to usurp their inheritance.
Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told, Attack of the Liver Eaters, Cannibal Orgy, or the Maddest Story Ever Told, The Liver Eaters, Cannibal Orgy
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.
“Spiders don't eat other spiders.”
“Cannibal spiders do.”
Spider Baby, the maddest story ever told! a girl who acts like a bug, stalks like a bug, snatches, claws, but don’t get too close, she’ll catch you her in spiderweb. just about one of the most creative and delightfully bizarre things I’ve seen, a true weirdo macabre cult classic that has escaped me over the years and I have become ever-so tangled in its web of lunacy!
a story of two twisted sisters, their mute brother and devoted guardian Lon Chaney Jr.—the Wolf Man himself—residing at the old rundown Merrye estate, when distant relatives come to dispossess the family of their home, things turn awry. A gothic horror comedy pitched darkest black,…
97
"As with many Old Dark House pictures, Spider Baby features a cobwebbed mansion full of spiders, skeletons, taxidermy, secret passages, and hidden creatures in the basement. And the living specimens are practically monsters in and of themselves. But Jack Hill has a great sense of empathy for the family, and he never once allows the silly plot to distract from their performances, which are the star of the show. The film dabbles in these ideas and images of what a ‘haunted house’ movie is, and then invigorates it with a dangerous, unsettling angle of violence and sexual undertones."
A few words on Spider Baby, which is a defining cult film that invigorated a new path for Horror.
Jozlyn Recommends 5: It's Alive!
I caught a big fat bug right in my spider web and now the spider gets to give the bug a big sting. Sting! Sting! Sting! Sting! Sting! - Virginia
File this in the "Why the fuck didn't I watch this sooner?" folder. A relic from a turning point in cinematic horror, fossilized in celluloid amber. You can see, watching this, how the winds of change were blowing in the late 60s. The shift from old Hollywood horror to the exploitation horror of the 70s, in a film that feels like some weird mashup of The Old Dark House (1932) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). I mean, how can you not love a film where…
In Memoriam.
Rest in Peace Sid Haig.
A truly wonderful, mesmerising craftsman.
A deeply felt loss.
C-Trash Swappers . 1
Chosen by Ricko
Nothing short of insane. It is difficult condensing a film like 'Spider Baby' into words, on one hand, it functions well as the sort of exploitation film that was common a few years prior to its release, yet at the same time, it is far too ambitious to go down as just another 60s campy horror flick. For even if it is not quite 'the maddest story ever told' that it has marketed itself, it is still firmly imbued with a counter-cultural sensibility to be expected from '67. It could seem conventional, yet it moves with an unhinged, manic energy, indulging in exaggeration, cranking everything up until nothing is tangible in the real…
"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…
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?
This is almost like the Umbrellas of Cherbourg of the first big wave of regional American exploitation, looking back and taking cues from the Universal horror canon while also producing a work that feels unmistakenly modern. Like a cross between Night of the Living Dead and Multiple Maniacs, with a subject matter that's every bit as lurid, but with the shock politics replaced by a genuine want to please and thrill. Such a treat to get to see this on 35mm.
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Film #5 of the "Scavenger Hunt" Challenge!
Task #26 : An Exploitation film!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/scavenger-hunt/
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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!
Hooptober 5.0 - 2018 - Film #13
WTF- Spider Baby!
Spider Baby is a young woman. Who thinks she is spider. It sounds so stupid. But it is awesome.
Spider girl, Virginia, is holed up in a gothic mansion with her retarded older brother Ralph, her constanly whining sister, Elizabeth, and the chauffeur, Bruno, who acts as their de-facto guardian and tries to keep them together and safe from the outside world. Considering that Virginia has a habit of throwing a web over the odd visitor with and stabbing them to death, it's probably not a bad idea to keep them separated.
But their peace is rudely interrupted by extended family members, a lawyer and a secretary who come to…