The Age of Commercialism

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

I strongly reccomend this oldie, it is funny, original full of nasty simple things. One of the best horror comedies of all time.I liked Jill Banner who did perfect job as a creepy teen girl and i wish there are more things like this in this modern time.

I 'lost' this film in my memory banks - and after watching it a few minutes I recalled seeing it before but it was a long time ago so I watched it again recently and I have to say it is a good solid horror film. It's more true horror than comedy. Sure Spider Baby has a handful of humorous moments but it is more of a good horror-thriller film to me. This movie is engrossing, very suspenseful and just weird but an oh so good story. It is a demented movie - so odd and just flat out creepy.This is one of Lon Chaney, Jr's best films. He was really good in this. So if you like Lon Chaney, Jr as Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man then you should like him in this movie - good performance. The rest of the cast was so convincing in this film as well - so don't watch it for just Chaney watch it for the rest of the cast too.9.5/10

Debuting writer / director Jack Hills' gleefully macabre tale of an insane family instantly calls to mind 'The Addams Family', and works as a forerunner to films like "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "House of 1000 Corpses". Give full credit to Hill and crew for their Old Dark House, midnight movie feel, complete with right-on-the-nose cinematography and production design, and to the whole cast for their utterly convincing and ghoulishly fun performances.Ever lovable Lon Chaney, Jr. plays Bruno, chauffeur and guardian to a trio of children with the surname Merrye. For generations, Merryes have suffered from a disease so rare it's actually named after them: they start mentally regressing at the age of 10 until they end up in an utterly primitive, pre-natal, cannibalistic condition. Trouble brews for Bruno and the kids - Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn), Virginia (Jill Banner), and Ralph (Sid Haig) - when a greedy relative and an equally scummy lawyer - hilariously named Schlocker - come to stay, intending to get their hands on the family fortune.Things get off to a fairly amusing start with a title ditty sung by none other than Lon himself. Soon after, there's a cameo role for old pro Mantan Moreland, playing an ill-fated messenger, who becomes an unwilling participant in Virginias' beloved game of "spider". And speaking of spiders, there's no shortage of eight legged critters dotting the landscape of this film, which features a highly memorable mansion with its fair share of atmosphere and surprises. It's especially a joy to see something such as Ralph crawling about on the outside on the mansion, doing a priceless Spider-Man impression.Haig and lovely young ladies Washburn and Banner do a wonderful job of portraying people with very young minds and whose playfulness has such a morbid quality. Carol Ohmart ("House on Haunted Hill" '59) is good as the bitchy cousin Emily, Quinn Redeker (who would go on to co-write "The Deer Hunter" years later) appealing as the goofy cousin Peter who mostly takes everything he sees in stride, Mary Mitchel ("Dementia 13") is fine as the comely young secretary, and Karl Schanzer, complete with Hitler-style moustache, is a hoot as the stereotypically slimy lawyer.With very appropriate schlock movie music by the great Ronald Stein, "Spider Baby" proves to be very hard to resist, taking its viewers on a tour through a wild and wacky funhouse. The humour is delicious, and there's a nice little in-joke when Redeker and Mitchel begin discussing horror films and reference Lons' most famous role, after which he quips, "There's going to be a full moon tonight.".The pacing could have used a bit of tightening, but the running time is still pretty reasonable at about 80 minutes (85 minutes in the directors' cut). Recommended to anybody who loves a movie with a true "late show" sort of ambiance.Eight out of 10.

Despite it's 1968 release date, Jack Hill's full directorial debut (he had uncredited directing duties on The Wasp Woman (1959) and The Terror (1963)) was shot in 1964, but was delayed due to the financiers bankruptcy. The film sits perfectly in the '60's macabre horror aesthetics of Psycho (1960) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), which gave a more cerebral, and arguably realistic approach to conventions of the uncanny. Within the context of this familial genre piece, there are many references to the "old" horror traits - not least the inclusion of horror icon Lon Chaney Jr. - and makes direct connections with the 1941 Wolfman (which incidentally was one of Chaney's key characters). And it is this reference to the inner beast of humanity that gives the film its horrific and pseudo-tragic narrative.Bruno (Chaney), a janitor of the "old dark house" has stayed behind after the death of it's owner, to take care of the children. The Merrye family, however, have a dark and demented secret. A genetic abnormality handed down in the family due to decades of inbreeding, has left the children with a severely debilitating illness that sets in towards the end of the teenage years. The illness, referred by Bruno as simply rotting of the brain, leaves these family members with increasingly depraved mental states - and they apparently regress to catatonic states. The above-grounds inhabitants are made up of two sisters, Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn) and Virginia (Jill Banner - who was tragically killed in a car accident at the age of 35), along with there deeply "retarded" (to use the film's term - not mine) brother, Ralph (an early role for exploitation regular Sid Haig). When exterior family members (not subject to the "Merrye Syndrome"), Emily (Carol Ohmart) and Peter (Quinn Redeker) arrive to take possession of the property, a series of events unfold, revealing the true extent of the macabre "house of horrors".The titular character is displayed in the first scene of this interesting film, when a mail man pokes his head into an open window. Virginia (the spider baby - as she loves insects and often crawls around the grounds in a peculiar manner) enters the room, a rope "web" in her hands, throws it over the postman and then approaches with two knives in her hands and moves in to sting the man, and eventually slicing off an ear. No doubt for budgetary reasons, the film was shot in black and white, and it's eccentric characters fill the screen with both horror and an awkwardly horrific humour. It could be argued that it bares similarities (if not genre specific) with Russ Meyer's idiosyncratic and oddball comedy, Mudhoney (1965) - despite them having no direct relation, and could also be seen as an influence on Tobe Hooper's seminal Texas Chain-Saw Massacre (1974) - particularly in its production design, and wildly gross-out family table dinner. It's well paced, and climaxes excellently, with a crescendo of absurdist terror. With a brilliant late role for Chaney, he also sings the opening credits song, which parodies the classic 'Monster Mash'.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com