Review of Spider Baby (1967) by Deetzie B — 30 Oct 2007

I caught a big fat bug right in my spider web and now the spider gets to give the bug a big sting. Sting! Sting! Sting! Sting! Sting!

This classic horror has been a favourite of mine for quite some time now. Maybe it's the theme of never growing up--of playing all day hide-n-seek, or cops and robbers, or playing the game "spider," pulling strangers who pass by their decrepit mansion into their lair and killing them all the while laughing hysterically with their beloved family. Dreamy. And a little Texas Chainsaw Massacre-esque but with more of a childishly-creepster, sardonic tone. If you watch it with commentary you will maybe find it as cool as I do that Jack Hill directed the entire movie sans producer. I'd like to see all of his movies (especially ones with titles such as The Big Doll House and The Swinging Cheerleaders), and I am admittedly ashamed to say that I have never seen Foxy Brown (the movie, not the rapper...I've seen the rapper before, she rules). But back to the theme of TCM, Spider Baby is also reminiscent of a little flick called Devil's Rejects (another favourite)--obviously in the sense that it's about a murderous family that stick together and would do absolutely anything for one another, but also because, like in Rejects, I can promise that you will find yourself rooting for the team of misfits, the killers, the "bad guys." Don't become discouraged because there is no gore; Spider Baby is a gem on its own without the necessity of splattered brain and chopped off limbs. Actresses Beverly Washburn and Jill Banner will provide you with enough eerie discomfort with their cackling laughs and crazy eyes that seeing any kind of gore would probably devalue the film. Huzzah!