SHOCKtober! Spider Baby
Welcome to…SHOCKtober! Halloween is my favorite holiday, and October is my favorite month of the year. Every year in October, my wife and I spend the entire month watching horror flicks and each year we add a few new movies to our queue. With that in mind, I thought I’d try to post an entry each day in October – thirty-one in all- profiling a different horror flick. Life may get in the way, meaning I’ll miss a day or two, but hopefully I’ll be able to turn you on to a movie you’ve never seen or an old classic you forgot about.
We’ll kick the month off with an absolute classic: Spider Baby. This black & white gem from 1968 is pure b-movie genius. Directed by Jack Hill, who would later go on to make Foxy Brown, Spider Baby is like an R-rated version of The Addams Family. Starring Lon Chaney (not playing a monster, for once) as a caretaker working at an old mansion. His duties include taking care of the property and watching the psychotic family that lives there. This clan of inbreeds have a rare disease that causes them to mentally regress as they get older until they’re basically bloodthirsty cannibals. Chaney sympathetically watches over the family, making sure they don’t get out of line and, you know, eat somebody.
The trouble begins when some greedy distant relatives show up claiming a stake in the family fortune. And of course, these money-grubbers wind up spending the night in the Merrye house of horrors and bad shit happens.
Spider Baby is the definition of a cult classic. Low budget in every way, the movie nevertheless charms with its cheeseball story, sketchy acting, and absurd plot. These things aside, the camera work and the fact that it’s shot in black & white really make it a worthwhile watch. In addition, the soundtrack is catchy and superb. Spider Baby is classic horror shlock. Check it out.
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Tags: horror, jack hill, lon chaney, shocktober, spider baby
October 1st, 2009 at 12:15 pm
John, I too share your love for Halloween and all the things that make us scream. Thanks for doing this, it’s an awesome idea!!!
Lon Chaney was the master in his day. They called him the fan of 1000 faces as he did so many different Monsters, mainly for Universal. He never let anybody watch while he applied his makeup, it was a trade secret. His most famous work in this area was perhaps the original “Phantom of the Opera” where reportedly he somehow bleached the color of his own eyes to get the spooky effect.
His work in Spider Baby is equally impressive and if you’re a fan of horror movies you definately should check this out! Great stuff here John!
October 1st, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I watched this on Netflix streaming today. Great flick.