Blu-Ray Review – Spider Baby (1968)

Sometimes referred to as “the maddest story ever told”, Spider Baby is a quite a cult hit that has been lost in the annuals of time. But now finally available on Blu-Ray 45 years later, was it worth the wait?

The film was originally shot in 1964 but due to the producer going bankrupt, the movie didn’t see the light of day until 1968 where it went by several names including The Liver Eaters, Attack of the Liver Eaters, Cannibal Orgy and The Maddest Story Ever Told. This poor marketing meant that the movie did not see the audience that it had intended. However due to the rise in popularity of VHS in the 80s, it found a new audience who picked the movie up on bootleg. Director Jack Hill saw one of these VHS copes and was upset with how poor the transfer was due to the fact the original negatives had been lost. But in 2012, the negatives were preserved by the Academy Film Archive and a fine quality version of the movie was created from it. This has now been used to create this Blu-Ray release.

Sadly, this “maddest story ever told” has a production history that is slightly more interesting that the film itself.

The film stars horror icon Lon Chaney Jr as Bruno, a family chauffeur who looks after the orphan children of the Merrye family. These three “kids” have a genetic disease that makes them regress in terms of mental abilities from around the age of eight. Virginia is obsessed with spiders, Elizabeth spews messages of hate and Ralph (played by future horror legend Sid Haig) is an over grown man child. Their happy little lives are threatened by a greedy distant relative who wants to take over the family house and inherit all of the money. Their visit to the house is not a smooth one however as the kids decide to fight back so as not to be split up.

First off, I really have to praise the work done by Arrow Film in this presentation. From all accounts the VHS bootlegs were so bad that times you couldn’t even make out the actor’s faces. My only complaint would be that at times the audio can be a little crackly which detracts from the viewing experience, but given what they had to work with it’s nothing short of a miracle.

While I was originally harsh on the movie’s levels of interest, there is a lot to like. Lon Chaney Jr is wonderful (as he always is) and you do get a genuine sense of care from him over children that aren’t even his. Similarly the children all put in great performances too. In particular, Jill Banner who plays the spider obsessed Virginia. She is really, really creepy but has an alluring factor that means you can’t take your eyes off her – even if it means you might die in the process. Haig is great as man child Ralph and he seems to be genuinely enjoying the role. The beautiful Carol Ohmart is great as the evil and vindictive Aunt Emily while Karl Schanzer is brilliant as the cigar chewing bastard Mr. Schlocker. They all do their jobs so well as you do get the impression that they had a lot of fun making the movie.

Because everyone plays their roles so well, Spider Baby is quite an enjoyable watch. The film falls down however when trying to keep that level of engagement and not living up to its staple of “the maddest story ever told”.

Some scenes may freak some people out (especially if you’re put off by spiders) but the story never feels that “mad”. Perhaps it has been tainted by being watched through 21st Century eyes, but a new viewer to this may be a little disappointed by the lack of real imagination in terms of “creepy visuals”. I will say that the ending took me by surprise and the final twist is actually a stroke of subtle genius – a plot thread weaved in the first third to give a good payoff to those who paid attention.

Spider Baby is not a bad film, but it probably won’t shock or scare a generation like it might have done 45 years ago. The performances are great and some of the humour is superb (with some beautiful reference to The Wolf Man), but it isn’t a film that someone who wasn’t a fan already can take in as their new favourite. Fans of the movie however will love this transfer as it looks fantastic.