SPIDER BABY
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The Spider Baby Movie by Director Jack Hill
Genre: Horror / Comedy
Director: Jack Hill
Writer: Jack Hill
Music: Ronald Stein
Release Date: December 24, 1967
Studio / Distributed By: American General Pictures
Running Time: 86 minutes
Story: The IMDB reviewer, D.A. Kellough, summed up Spider Baby like this.
"In a dilapidated rural mansion, the last generation of the degenerate, inbred Merrye family lives with the inherited curse of a disease that causes them to mentally regress from the age of 10 or so on as they physically develop. The family chauffeur looks out for them and covers up their indiscretions. Trouble comes when greedy distant relatives and their lawyer arrive to dispossess the family of its home."
This movie is known as "the maddest story ever told" and it does a darned respectable job of living up to that claim. Right from the first minutes of the start of this movie there is unmotivated murder and mayhem. Lon Chaney Jr, best known for his role as the fearsome werewolf in the 1941 Universal Studios horror classic, The Wolf Man, gives a great performance as the long suffering caretaker of this mad bunch. Yet, despite it's insanity, this tale will keep you laughing with it's black humor. One of the most entertaining horror-comedies you will ever watch, right up until the very last frame.
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr. (the Wolfman) and Sid Haig (Jackie Brown, Kill Bill 2)
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
* Audio commentary featuring Jack Hill and star Sid Haig
Spider Baby on DVD. Two disc, special edition Blu-ray. OWN THE SPIDER BABY DVDs.
* Panel discussion from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences FILM-TO-FILM Festival, recorded September 2012, featuring Jack Hill and stars Quinn K. Redeker and Beverly Washburn
* The Hatching of Spider Baby - Interviews with Jack Hill, Sid Haig, star Mary Mitchel, fan Joe Dante and more on the making of the film
* Spider Stravinsky: The Cinema Sounds of Ronald Stein - The composer of 'The Terror' and 'Attack of the 50 Foot Woman' among others is remembered by Harlene Stein, Jack Hill, American
Cinematheque's Chris D. and others
* The Merrye House Revisited - Jack Hill revisits the original house that was used as the main location in the film
* Alternate opening title sequence
* Extended scene
* Original Trailer
* Gallery of behind-the-scenes images
* The Host (1960) - Jack Hill's early short film featuring Sid Haig in his first starring role [30 mins]
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
* Collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by artist and writer Stephen R. Bissette, and an extensive article re-printed from FilmFax: The Magazine of Unusual Film and Television
featuring interviews with the cast and crew
JACK HILL ON THE TRAILER AND QUENTIN TARANTINO. Jack Hill himself introduces the trailer for his cult-horror film Spider Baby. Learn about what you can expect from this
movie right from the very mouth of the creator and director in his own words. Jack gives it to us unvarnished and without any glitzy sound-bites prepared by a public relations team to make sure that it appeals to widest possible audience. Video courtesy of Trailers From Hell.
Shot in just twelve days, this odd, little piece of motion picture fright is gruesome portrayal of a family of inbred lunatics that bring crazy to a scary new level of nuttiness.
LON CHANEY JR SINGS. If you've ever longed to hear the melodious tones of the wolfman, Lon Chaney Jr, singing, then you are in good luck because he sings the movie's quirky theme song. Just listen to the lyrics and you'll find yourself humming it during your day.
THE SEQUEL. Director Jack Hill even wrote a sequel to this movie and called it Vampire Orgy. It tells the story of what happens on Peter and Ann's honeymoon. Like most fans, I still hold out hope that this will get made one day so that we can all continue the journey.
LOST & FOUND. This movie was thought to be lost, with only some very poor quality and badly dubbed versions in circulation. That was what we were all subjected to until, in the 1990's Jack Hill found the original negative of the movie and produced a clean transfer that he then put into distribution for the fans. Thanks Jack!
OFFICIAL SPIDER BABY HOMEPAGE. In 2009 the very talented writer, director and editor of the movie launched the official website so that he could share his direct, personal experiences with us all. It's a rare privilege when the actual creative force chooses to pull back the curtain and invite us inside so please visit the site and enjoy the stories, photos and videos from the man and crew that blessed us with this screen gem. The website definitely has some issues with dead links that go nowhere and such but let's show our support for the artistic works of Jack Hill by visiting and showing that his efforts really are appreciated by his fans. CLICK HERE to visit the official Spider Baby website.
As far as I can find, this is the only book dedicated to the well respected director, Jack Hill. His exploitation and Blaxploitation movies are loved the world over for giving us masterpieces like Coffy, Switchblade Sisters, Spider Baby, Foxy Brown and so many more. Jack discovered and launched the career of iconic Pam Grier who we all adore for showing us a strong and forceful female action hero could be. Jack also gave us Sid Haig, who many B-movie fans follow and he also worked with the greats Lon Chaney Jr (Spider Baby (1967) and Boris Karloff. Find out more about Jack and his many great works by reading all about him in this well reviewed book.
