Films That Witness Madness

review

SPIDER BABY

Listen to enough director commentaries and you will inevitably hear many of them talk about "the opening shot" and it's importance in setting the tone for the film that will follow it. Strangely, most of them never mention - let alone discuss - the credit sequence. The credit sequence has become something of a lost art in film today. Many see it as a useless contrivance of ego-stroking that gets in the way of the damned movie. The rest simply don't care. But aside from providing us with a list of names we may or may not care about, the credit sequence does more to set the tone of the film than any opening shot ever could. Think of how perfectly the credit sequences of PSYCHO and VERTIGO are executed, how they reveal simple themes we will find in the film about to begin. Or THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM or the Brakhage inspired madness of SEVEN. Similarly, the credit sequence of SPIDER BABY tells us everything we need to know about the film before frame one in the form of a Monster Mash-esque song replete with strange cartoon representations of it's characters. We know immediately that what we are seeing is not only going to be creepy - hence all the talk about vampires, haunted houses, and cannibals - but also fun and a little bit kitsch.

And indeed SPIDER BABY, OR THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD is quite creepy and a hell of a lot of fun. The film concerns the Merrye Family, reduced to just a few surviving members, who all suffer from a genetic disease - "the unfortunate result of inbreeding" - that causes the psychological regression of those inflicted with it. As they get older, their brains degrade, first bringing them first to a child-like state then to a much more primitive, much more dangerous one. The three remaining children - Virginia, Elizabeth, and Ralphie - are cared for by the family butler, Bruno, while the three adults - two aunts and an uncle - are kept sequestered in the basement, out of sight of everyone. When two cousins come to visit with a lawyer and his secretary in tow things get a little out of hand.

Director Jack Hill clearly has an affinity for the old school of Universal horror movies. SPIDER BABY effectively acts as both an homage to those films and a send-up, with it's old spider web encrusted house and old time mannerisms and speech - not to mention a brilliant, classic look. But where SPIDER BABY stands apart is in it's content. It's doubtful any Universal horror film would have featured a houseful of inbred psychopaths let alone a seductive 17 year old girl whose favorite pastime is playing a hideous game of spider with unsuspecting strangers. Toss in a rape, the wonderful sight of Carol Ohmart running around in her underwear, and a few - offscreen - slashings and you have a pretty rough film. Except that Hill doesn't show anything explicitly, nor does he allow the grotesqueries overshadow the humor. Nevermind that the characters have just sat down to a dinner of roast cat, mushrooms, twigs and bugs, would you look at that outfit poor Sid Haig is wearing! For such a strange, depressing, and utterly depraved piece of work, it's also insanely funny.

Jack Hill is not very recognizable to mainstream audiences. He stands with Paul Bartel and Larry Cohen - among others - as one of those filmmakers who may not get recognized all that often for their work but has had a lasting influence on countless other directors. In the role of Bruno, Lon Chaney, Jr. turns in one of the best performances of his long career. But the film belongs to Jill Banner, the titular Spider Baby of the title. An untrained, untested actress, Banner certainly has that teenage seductress stuff down pat - watching her curl up in Quinn Redeker's lap is undeniably attention grabbing. She also makes for quite the convincing nutjob. Without her SPIDER BABY might have been just another blip on the cult classic radar. With her it's a full blown mini-masterpiece.

Highly recommended.

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