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Spider Baby: or, the Maddest Story Ever Told is a 1967 American black comedy horror film, written and directed by Jack Hill.[3] It stars Lon Chaney Jr. as Bruno, the chauffeur and caretaker of three orphaned siblings who suffer from "Merrye Syndrome", a genetic condition starting in early puberty that causes them to regress mentally, socially and physically. Jill Banner, Carol Ohmart, Quinn Redeker, Beverly Washburn, Sid Haig, Mary Mitchel, Karl Schanzer and Mantan Moreland also star.

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Spider Baby
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jack Hill
Screenplay by	Jack Hill[1]
Produced by	Paul Monka Gil Lasky[1]
Starring	Jill Banner Lon Chaney Jr.
Cinematography	Alfred Taylor[1]
Edited by	Elliot Fayad[1]
Music by	Ronald Stein[1]
Production company	Lasky-Monka Productions[1]
Distributed by	American General Pictures[1]
Release date	December 8, 1967 (1967-12-08) (Fremont, Ohio)[2]
Running time	80 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$65,000

The film was released to relative obscurity,[4] but eventually achieved cult status.[5]

Plot

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (December 2021)

The story is introduced by Peter Howe, a distant relative of the Merrye family, who discusses the now-extinct "Merrye Syndrome", a genetic affliction unique to members of the family which causes them, starting in late childhood, to regress down the evolutionary ladder mentally and physically.

Ten years prior, a delivery man arrives at the decaying Merrye House, feared by locals, where three of the Merrye "children", Ralph, Virginia, and Elizabeth, live in seclusion with their protector and chauffeur Bruno (Chaney). All three exhibit playful innocence mixed with feral madness. Virginia, known as "Spider Baby" due to her obsession with spiders, murders the delivery man in a game of "spider", trapping him in a rope "web" before "stinging" him to death with butcher knives, and keeping one of his severed ears in a match box.

Peter and his sister Emily soon arrive, followed by their lawyer Schlocker and his secretary Ann, seeking to claim the property as rightful heirs. Although the group is shocked by the children's behavior, Bruno rebuffs Schlocker's suggestion to put the children in an institution, having sworn to the children's father to protect them for life. Emily and Schlocker insist on staying overnight to examine the situation, but with only two rooms available, Peter takes Ann into town to stay at an inn.

Schlocker investigates the house, finding the delivery man's ear before going down to the basement, where he is attacked by older, deformed members of the Merrye family, and then murdered by Virginia and Elizabeth. Seeing Schlocker's body, Bruno tells Virginia and Elizabeth that it will be hard to protect them from more men like him in the future, reminding them that Ralph is almost ready to join their older relatives in the basement. At the behest of the Merrye girls, Bruno devises a plan to keep them from being separated, and leaves to fetch supplies. In his absence, the girls chase a terrified Emily out into the woods, where she is captured and raped by Ralph.

Finding no rooms available in town, Peter and Ann are forced to return to the mansion, where Virginia and Elizabeth, fearing the consequences of what will happen if their crimes are discovered, make a plan to take care of them. Elizabeth escorts Ann to her room, leading her into the clutches of Ralph, while Virginia starts a game of "spider" with Peter, tying him to a chair before preparing to "sting" him with her knives. However, Elizabeth intervenes to ask for help with Ann, who is struggling against her and Ralph.

In the woods, Emily awakes traumatised and delirious. Sexually aggressive and murderous, she returns to the house and attacks Ralph while his sisters struggle to defend him. Meanwhile, Peter escapes his confinement and frees Ann. Bruno reveals that he plans to blow up himself, the house, and the Merrye relatives with dynamite used for blasting on a nearby construction site, and urges Peter to flee the house as quickly as possible. Peter escorts Ann to safety as the house explodes behind them.

In the present day, Peter finishes recounting the story, explaining that, as the sole remaining heir, he inherited the vast Merrye family fortune, married Ann, and wrote a book on the "Merrye Syndrome" phenomenon. He adds that his branch of the family was distant enough to be immune to the syndrome - however, the film ends with Peter's young daughter admiring a spider in its web, in the same manner as Virginia.

Cast

• Lon Chaney Jr. as Bruno (as Lon Chaney)
• Carol Ohmart as Emily Howe
• Quinn Redeker as Peter Howe
• Beverly Washburn as Elizabeth
• Jill Banner as Virginia
• Sid Haig as Ralph
• Mary Mitchel as Ann
• Karl Schanzer as Schlocker
• Mantan Moreland as Messenger
• Carolyn Cooper as Aunt Clara
• Joan Keller Stern as Aunt Martha

Production

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The location chosen was the (now historic) Smith Estate in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.[6]

The film was shot between August and September 1964. However, due to the original producer's bankruptcy, the film was not released until December 24, 1967.[7] Spider Baby suffered from poor marketing as well as a series of title changes, being billed alternatively as The Liver Eaters, Attack of the Liver Eaters, Cannibal Orgy, and The Maddest Story Ever Told. Although these alternate titles have little or no relation to the plot, the latter two appear in the lyrics of the title song sung by Chaney: "This cannibal orgy is strange to behold in the maddest story ever told." The opening titles of the film also dub it Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told.^{[citation needed]}

The cinematographer was Alfred Taylor, who had previously worked on the film The Atomic Brain. The entire production cost about $65,000, and took only 12 days to shoot in black and white.[8] The film was released as a double bill with Hell's Chosen Few.

Release

Spider Baby first opened theatrically in Fremont, Ohio, as a double feature with The Wizard of Mars on December 8, 1967.[2] It opened in Shreveport, Louisiana, the following week, on December 13, 1967.[9]

Critical response

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 17 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 7.16/10.[10] Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film two and a half out of a possible four stars, saying, "At its best it's both scary and funny."[11] Bruce G. Hallenbeck commented in his book Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008 that "Spider Baby has a diseased, sickly atmosphere that anticipates that of David Lynch's Eraserhead (1976), with Alfred Taylor's black and white cinematography contributing images of death and decay that are still disturbing today." He particularly noted Lon Chaney, Jr.'s performance as being among the actor's best, portraying Bruno as a likable but misguided "enabler" for his wards.[12]

Home media

In 1999, a DVD of the film's original laserdisc transfer was released, including a cast and crew reunion and a commentary track by Hill.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, Dark Sky Films released a version featuring Hill's director's cut, a new commentary with co-star Haig and multiple documentaries on the making of the film.^{[citation needed]} In 2015, British home video distributor Arrow Films released a director-approved Blu-ray/DVD combo special edition of the film.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Stage adaptations

This section does not cite any sources. (October 2017)

A musical version of Spider Baby played small community theaters, looking for a wider audience. It opened at the Empty Space theater in Bakersfield, California, on Halloween 2004. In October 2007, it opened in Brookings, Oregon, at the local Grange Hall, and in Orlando, Florida, at the Black Orchid Theater.

In 2009, the musical toured with stops in Fresno, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Tehachapi and San Francisco. A 2010 multi-city tour had stops in Las Vegas, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

In 2012, it played in San Diego, California, at the 10th Avenue Arts Centre as part of Gamercon and Terror at the 10th, respectively.

The soundtrack for the musical version was the final project at Buck Owens' recording studio in Bakersfield.

In music

The film's theme song has been covered at least three times: By the band Fantômas on their film-score covers album The Director's Cut, by crossover thrash band The Accüsed on 1988's Martha Splatterhead's Maddest Stories Ever Told as "The Maddest Story Ever Told", and by Kid Congo Powers.[13]

Remake

This section needs to be updated. (February 2017)

In 2007, independent film producer Tony DiDio began preparing a remake of the film, featuring original director Hill as executive producer, and Jeff Broadstreet as director.[14]

Broadstreet stated in an interview, "We're going to stick very closely to the basic story of the original film, and at the same time dig deeper into the backstory of the inbred Merrye family." The new script by Robert Valding "expands on the themes of unconditional love, and also the story elements of cannibalism and the mutant relatives in the basement".[14]

In 2009, Spider Baby writer/director Hill and END Films launched the "official Spider Baby website", featuring historical information about the film, director/cast biographies, video clips and photo galleries.[15]

Preservation and archival status

In 2012, the film was preserved by the Academy Film Archive, using the original camera negative. A new fine grain master positive, new duplicate negative and new prints were created, as well as analog and digital soundtrack masters.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Spider Baby at IMDb
• Spider Baby at AllMovie
• Spider Baby at the TCM Movie Database
• Spider Baby at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Spider Baby official website
• Spider Baby is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Spider Baby at Rotten Tomatoes
• Spider Baby the musical

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