Spider Baby (Director's cut)
by Jack Hill
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DVD details
Actor: Jill Banner, Joan Keller, Lon Chaney Jr., Mary Mitchell, Sid HaigDirector: Jack Hill
Brand: MPI
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 84 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Model: DVD8142
Studio: MPI Home Entertainment
Product features:
- This highly influential cultic from writer-director Jack Hill (The Switchblade Sisters, Foxy Brown) tells the demented and darkly comic tale of the Merrye children -- Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn), Virginia (Jill Banner) and Ralph (Sid Haig)-- all of who suffer from a rare genetic malady in which they mentally regress to a condition of "pre-human savagery and cannibalism." The children l
DVD Reviews of Spider Baby (Director's cut)
DVD Review: Gotta love low budget movies...
Summary: 4 Stars
I love a handful of director Hill's films like The Big Bird Cage, Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Big Doll House. I've seen this over a decade ago and didn't like it so much. Sid Haigs role was the only character that stuck to my mine. Now hundreds of exposable films later I found out that I was mad. After watching this last night it turned out to be a fantastic film. Like Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. (Brono) was allowed to shine in the twilight of his career by a low-budget director who let his actors do what they do best. He watches over the isolated Gothic house where the last generations of the wealthy Merrye clan reside. Cursed by a debilitating disease brought about by inbreeding, the family members have regressed to a state of "pre-human savagery and cannibalism. When some distant relatives and their shyster lawyer appear trying to commit the family to a home and put Bruno out of a job, Bruno knows it's not going to end well for anyone. Yes, those residing at the old family mansion are pretty far gone, but they're much happier than Leather face's slaughterhouse family, marching toward their inevitable doom with cheery, reckless abandon.
He is supported by the incredible talents of Jill Banner who plays the title character, Virginia, who thinks she is a human spider and lurches around the house with daggers drawn searching for prey. Her sexy and disturbing "spider dance" as she taunts her male victim is mentioned in many of the reviews I've read, and with good reason. The eldest, Ralphie (Sid Haig), prowls around the yard snatching up felines to roast for dinner. Carol Ohmart, the stunning beauty who appeared as Vincent Price's wife in "House on Haunted Hill" delivers a thrill by being quite scantily clad by the finale. And The Devil's Rejects (Unrated Widescreen Edition) fans will be delighted by the young Sid Haig's of course with his silent physical performance as the feral and deteriorating older brother
The eerie black-and-white cinematography and freaky performances (tempered by Chaney's laid-back, sympathetic turn as the caretaker) go a long way toward smoothing over the film's low-budget limitations. And, in case you weren't sold yet, Chaney sings the title song, which is a crazy spoken-word anthem about a cannibal orgy that's "strange to behold," with priceless lyrics such as: "Frankenstein, Dracula, and even the Mummy are sure to wind up in somebody's tummy." I can see why some folks wouldn't dig it - the payoff is in creepiness and atmosphere, not in thrills and gore. But for pure gratuitous weirdness, this one is hard to beat.
Description of Spider Baby (Director's cut)
This highly influential cult classic from writer-director Jack Hill (The Switchblade Sisters Foxy Brown) tells the demented and darkly comic tale of the Merrye children -- Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn) Virginia (Jill Banner) and Ralph (Sid Haig)-- all of who suffer from a rare genetic malady in which they mentally regress to a condition of "pre-human savagery and cannibalism."The children live in the old family mansion and though under the cautious guardianship of chauffeur Bruno (screen icon Lon Chaney Jr.) they manage to terrorize and kill anyone or anything which passes through the gates.Transferred and restored in High Definition from the 35mm original negatives under the supervision of Jack Hill.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 030306814292 Manufacturer No: DVD8142Re-titled Spider Baby in 1968 after the original title Cannibal Orgy, Jack Hill's black and white proto horror-comedy influenced numerous films, especially those featuring boxed or bagged body parts, like Phantasm's yellow-bleeding finger and Blue Velvet's ear found in the meadow. Spider Baby is about an inbred family cursed with Merrye's Disease, which transforms even sweet children, Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn), Virginia (Jill Banner), and Ralph (Sid Haig) into murderous cannibals. Virginia steals the opening scene, during which she plays "spider," cutting the ear off a messenger who is sent to their decrepit Victorian mansion to deliver news of the house's confiscation. Caretaker Bruno (Lon Chaney Jr.) futilely chides Virginia in preparation for a visit from their oblivious, snooty cousin, Emily Howe (Carol Ohmart) and her husband, Peter Howe (Quinn Redeker), who plan to take the home. As more people pile into the house for a meeting, including lawyer Schlocker (Karl Schnazer) and his innocent assistant, Ann (Mary Mitchell), the kids cut loose, hacking everyone up and feeding them to their uncles locked in the basement. Jack Hill, whose films range from horror (Switchblade Sisters) to Blaxploitation (Coffy, Foxy Brown), made sure in Spider Baby to balance comedy with spook so its cannibalistic themes scare but don't absolutely disgust. A brilliant dinner party scene, in which the Merryes serve roasted cat and garden bugs, passing on the meat because they "don't eat dead things," is one of the tensest and funniest cannibal film scenes ever made, up there with Fuad Ramses' Egyptian feast in Roger Corman's Blood Feast. This special edition DVD includes interesting featurettes that detail the making of the movie and the whereabouts of the real mansion, though the best part of Spider Baby is pondering how bizarre this film must have seemed to the 1960s youth. ?Trinie Dalton
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