Review of Spider Baby (1967) by Ian B — 27 Aug 2008

Maybe I was just expecting too much because of its "cult classic" status, or maybe I just wasn't in the right mood to watch it....either way I found Spider Baby to be quite the bore. I guess for the early 60's the subject matter of the film is ahead of its time, and there's some creepy imagery to be found here, but that doesn't really change the fact that nothing happens! Spider Baby gets off to a good start, but things slow down fast.

Real fast. Nothing happens until the last 10-15 minutes and there's certainly nothing "shocking" about this movie. It could easily be rated G. That being said, there is some great atmosphere for such a low-budget movie and although this is typical B-movie acting, the performances aren't all that bad.

Lon Chaney, Jr. gives an especially good and sympathetic performance. But the fact that Sid Haig doesn't have a single line of dialogue in the entire movie was a big disappointment. I can appreciate what this film accomplished on such a low budget, and its got a great look to it, but I was just so damn bored.

I'll probably give Spider Baby a second chance somewhere down the road, but for now, throw another one on the over-hyped pile.