Review of Spider Baby (1967) by John S — 22 Feb 2014
How does one go about describing Spider Baby?........ You could say it's an Addams Family episode on crack. You could also say it's Scooby Doo done by David Lynch maybe? The opening credits set the tone of the whole film with crude animation and a 60's ghoul twist song cranking( think Monster Mash.
....but with a twist...). The Merrye children live in a big, creepy house. They suffer from a disease that makes them reach a certain age and then regress mentally back to infancy and then madness and then.
.... cannibalism. This is a horror comedy where both the horror AND comedy are on display in equal measure. Hell, your first introduction to the character of Virginia (the Spider Baby of the title) is one of the creepiest things I've seen.
Virginia's sister, Elizabeth, is the conniving one ( "You should hate her"). And poor Ralph is the farthest regressed, a huge man-child, but instantly likeable( Ralph is played by Sid Haig.
......love live Captain Spaulding). The children are looked after by a family butler played by the Wolfman himself, Lon Chaney Jr. The man gives an incredible performance for a movie that at one time was going by the title Cannibal Orgy so.
....yeah.....he felt something for this one. Everyone's good in it. Spider Baby is one of those glorious finds, man. It's leaped into my top 5 and I plan on showing it to anyone who'll give it a chance.
This review of Spider Baby (1967) was written by John S on 22 Feb 2014.
Spider Baby has generally received positive reviews.
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