Of course, you can't talk about this film without talking about the humor. Yes, I'm once again speaking for everybody. Everybody who watches Spider Baby comes away from it in love with Virginia. Maybe it's her hair, peroxided within an inch of its life, or maybe it's her random dance in black lingerie.whatever it is, Emily is all no-nonsense, worldly-wise sex appeal.Īt the opposite end of the spectrum is young Virginia, the girl who emulates and consumes bugs, captivating her victims with both a sexuality that's more deliberate than she'd have you believe, and some good old-fashioned rope. As Emily, Carol Ohmart turns in a performance that screams "broad"- and believe me, I mean that in the best possible way. Then there's the undercurrent of eroticism running through the film.
Spider baby movie movie#
The loving family of killers who mind their own business until you intrude on their turf have become a horror movie staple (too much so, in fact: if I never see another modern "crazed cannibal family" movie again, I'll be happy), but in the late-60s they were still a frightening novelty. There's no denying its obvious influence on films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, House of 1000 Corpses, and even Hell Night. It works as a gothic nightmare movie- from the cobwebs in the basement to the dead daddy kept upstairs to the feral relatives living below the basement to the idiot man-child lurking in the dumb waiter, Spider Baby is downright creepy at times.
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So just what is it about Spider Baby that everyone loves so much? Perhaps it's that Spider Baby is a film that's truly the sum of its parts. Realizing that their isolated life on the hill is no longer a possibility, Bruno does what anyone would do: he blows 'em all up, ending the Merrye Syndrome once and for all. Overnight, events quickly spiral out of control and the Merryes' visitors end up traumatized and/or dead. It would certainly not be a difficult task for Peter and Emily to prove their case, but unfortunately Bruno loses control of the children. Virginia plays her "spider game" (it involves a lot of poking with knives) and ends up with one of the delivery man's ears to keep and call her own.ĭistant relatives Peter (Quinn Redeker) and Emily (Carol Ohmart) show up at the Merrye manse with a lawyer in tow, hoping to prove the children mentally unstable and seize the family residence and money. When one (Mantan Moreland) comes a-knockin' and "Uncle Bruno" isn't home, the Merryes are left to their own devious devices. Unfortunately, deliverymen must do their jobs. It's the kind of place that haunts neighborhood kids, the kind that makes them dare one another to go knock on the door. It's not unlike the Bates residence in Psycho it would be a nice enough home in most circumstances, but here- untended and isolated- it simply looms menacingly over everything below. He keeps them tucked away from society, up in the Merrye mansion on the hill. Their chauffeur and guardian Bruno (Lon Chaney, Jr.) is well aware of their condition, how it's eventually going to render the siblings feral. Their exaggerated innocence belies their violent tendencies- they'll smile sweetly one moment and stab you viciously the next. They're adults but they act like children well, children who are into rape and murder and stuff. The Merrye "kids" suffer from a genetic disorder that causes mental deterioration over the course of a lifetime. The cuckoo nutsos are the Merrye clan, consisting of siblings Ralph (Sid Haig), Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn), and Virginia (Jill Banner). What can I say? I do so love a family of homicidal cuckoo nutsos. It's not just a movie one admires, hates, or feels decidedly "meh" about no, Spider Baby (1968) is a movie you want to hug. It's got a certain something something that appeals to the monster kid in all of us (yes, I'm speaking for all of us). You know what people love? People love Jack Hill's Spider Baby.
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