Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (1967)

Director Jack Hill isn't a household name outside the realm of exploitation fans.  His most popular movies were with Pam Grier, such as Coffy and Foxy Brown, though he also did a number of women in prison films as well as horror early on.  His earliest film, Spider Baby, is quite different in style than his later work, but has become a cult favorite none-the-less.

Bruno (Lon Chaney Jr.) is the caretaker of the Merrye House and its inhabitants.  They include sisters Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn) and Virginia (Jill Banner) and their brother Ralph (Sid Haig).  There are also some other unseen inhabitants, all of which Bruno promised the dying patriarch he would take care of.  They have a degenerative disease called Merrye Syndrome, caused by years of inbreeding, which from late childhood through adulthood causes the victims to regress to an almost animal state.

Bruno has enough trouble keeping his wards under control, but things get worse when a distant cousin named Emily (Carol Ohmart) hires a lawyer named Schlocker (Karl Schanzer) in an attempt to gain possession of the house and guardianship of the children.  Her brother Peter (Quinn K. Redeker) and Schlocker's secretary Ann (Mary Mitchel) manage to get on the good side of the children, but the rest become targets of their games once they realize they are there to take them away from their home and put them in an institution.  As he begins to realize the dire situation they are in Bruno makes plans to fulfill his promise as well as end the family curse once and for all.

Spider Baby began life under the name Cannibal Orgy, something alluded to in the theme song sung by Chaney, and was filmed in 1964.  The company that produced the movie went bankrupt before it was released, but American General gained the rights to it and released it to drive-ins in 1967 under the name Spider Baby as well as The Liver Eaters.  By that time Jack Hill had already begun making a name for himself with other horror and exploitation films and the movie, though it gained a following, pretty much disappeared.  A VHS copy was discovered in the 1990s and, at some point, Hill was able to find the original negatives and do a digital restoration himself.  By then the movie was in public domain which allowed him to finally make some money off of it.

One would think Lon Chaney Jr., who was getting toward the end of his career and unfortunately stuck doing a number of cheap horror films, would phone in his performance.  Instead he does a great job, and I'm not usually impressed by his acting.  This does have some comedic elements and, of course, a reference to The Wolf Man, but Chaney owns the part as the kindhearted and beleaguered chauffeur that has to deal with keeping the Merryes under wraps.  The other standout is Jill Banner and, in truth, Spider Baby is the better title than Cannibal Orgy.  Virginia has an obsession with the arachnids to the point of imagining herself as one and others as bugs for her to play with and kill.  There is also Sid Haig in one of his earliest roles as Ralph, who has deteriorated further than the girls.

Since this came out in 1967 rather than 1964 there are a number of instances that would have been cut if released when intended.  These include some violence and an uncomfortable scene where Virginia, who is supposed to be about 12 or 13 in the movie, comes on to Peter.  The most widely available version of the film has an extra scene restored so that Hill could market the movie as a director's cut.  

It is good that it does because this is a weird film that deserves the attention it gets.  There is Ralph procuring a cat for an impromptu and hilarious dinner, Emily running around in lingerie as she tries to escape an amorous Ralph as well as hints toward cannibalism even though it's not outright shown.  It is as fun as it is disturbing, with all the trappings of a traditional horror film but with the subversive atmosphere that is appealing to fans of many of Hill's later films.

Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (1967)

Time: 81 minutes

Starring: Lon Chaney Jr, Quinn K. Redeker, Carol Ohmart, Jill Banner, Beverly Washburn, Sid Haig

Director: Jack Hill