Review #501: 'Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told' (1968)

Despite it's 1968 release date, Jack Hill's full directorial debut (he had uncredited directing duties on The Wasp Woman (1959) and The Terror (1963)) was shot in 1964, but was delayed due to the financiers bankruptcy. The film sits perfectly in the '60's macabre horror aesthetics of Psycho (1960) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), which gave a more cerebral, and arguably realistic approach to conventions of the uncanny. Within the context of this familial genre piece, there are many references to the "old" horror traits - not least the inclusion of horror icon Lon Chaney Jr. - and makes direct connections with the 1941 Wolfman (which incidentally was one of Chaney's key characters). And it is this reference to the inner beast of humanity that gives the film its horrific and pseudo-tragic narrative.

Bruno (Chaney), a janitor of the "old dark house" has stayed behind after the death of it's owner, to take care of the children. The Merrye family, however, have a dark and demented secret. A genetic abnormality handed down in the family due to decades of inbreeding, has left the children with a severely debilitating illness that sets in towards the end of the teenage years. The illness, referred by Bruno as simply rotting of the brain, leaves these family members with increasingly depraved mental states - and they apparently regress to catatonic states. The above-grounds inhabitants are made up of two sisters, Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn) and Virginia (Jill Banner - who was tragically killed in a car accident at the age of 35), along with there deeply "retarded" (to use the film's term - not mine) brother, Ralph (an early role for exploitation regular Sid Haig). When exterior family members (not subject to the "Merrye Syndrome"), Emily (Carol Ohmart) and Peter (Quinn Redeker) arrive to take possession of the property, a series of events unfold, revealing the true extent of the macabre "house of horrors".

The titular character is displayed in the first scene of this interesting film, when a mail man pokes his head into an open window. Virginia (the spider baby - as she loves insects and often crawls around the grounds in a peculiar manner) enters the room, a rope "web" in her hands, throws it over the postman and then approaches with two knives in her hands and moves in to sting the man, and eventually slicing off an ear. No doubt for budgetary reasons, the film was shot in black and white, and it's eccentric characters fill the screen with both horror and an awkwardly horrific humour. It could be argued that it bares similarities (if not genre specific) with Russ Meyer's idiosyncratic and oddball comedy, Mudhoney (1965) - despite them having no direct relation, and could also be seen as an influence on Tobe Hooper's seminal Texas Chain-Saw Massacre (1974) - particularly in its production design, and wildly gross-out family table dinner. It's well paced, and climaxes excellently, with a crescendo of absurdist terror. With a brilliant late role for Chaney, he also sings the opening credits song, which parodies the classic 'Monster Mash'.


Directed by: Jack Hill
Starring: Lon Chaney, Jr., Carol Ohmart, Quinn K. Redeker, Beverly Washburn, Jill Banner, Sid Haig
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy