DVD...

Skin...

1964
Directed by: Jack Hill
Written by: Jack Hill
Produced by: Gil Lasky, Paul Monka
Studio: Lasky-Monka

Starring:
Lon Chaney Jr. .... Bruno, The Chauffeur
Carol Ohmart .... Emily Howe
Quinn K. Redeker .... Peter Howe
Beverly Washburn .... Elizabeth
Jill Banner .... Virginia
Sid Haig .... Ralph
Mary Mitchel .... Ann
Karl Schanzer .... Schlocker
Mantan Moreland .... Messenger

Surprisingly strange, this oddball movie was quite a treat, actually. Made in 1964 by B movie writer and director Jack Hill, this film was shot with very little budget but lots of heart by everyone involved. It could easily be called a black comedy, but I suppose the horror genre is probably more fitting What sub genre it belongs to would be a little hard to figure though.

The film stars aging B movie actor, Lon Chaney Jr., in one of his finest roles. Not that he ever really stood out as a great actor, but he really does do a good job in this movie. He plays a chauffeur and caretaker to a group of strange, young adults in a house that is virtually hidden from the road by overgrown brush.

The movie starts out with a narration from a man sitting on an easy chair in a living room. The actor is Quinn K. Redeker and he plays Peter Howe, one of the characters in the movie. He gives the description for a disease that afflicts only one family in the world, and this is the story of the end of the line for them. The disease causes family members to grow up and progress normally up to a point, and then they start to regress emotionally until they are no more than a large infant.

The movie then picks up with a delivery man on a motorcycle trying to find the "Merry House" that as it turns out the strange people live in. He politely asks some people in the neighborhood but is somewhat rudely ignored. When he finally finds the house, no one answers the door. When he sticks his head in a window to call out for anyone home, one of the girls living at the house, Virginia (Jill Banner), goes after his neck with a pair of hedge trimmers. The scene is not too graphic, but it certainly made me squirm a little. This is the introduction to "Spider Baby". Shortly after this happens Bruno comes home and doesn't chastise Virginia too much, but seems to sympathize with her plight. While he instructs Virginia and her sister Ann (Mary Mitchel) to get rid of the body, their other sibling, Ralph (Sid Haig), shows up. Ralph has an advanced stage of the disease and barely recognizes basic commands given to him by Bruno and the others.

While this is happening, two relatives of Virginia, Ann and Ralph are on the way to the house with an attorney and his assistant to try and get control of the estate. The sister, Emily Howe (Carol Ohmart), is kind of a mean and uncaring woman. Her brother is Peter Howe who gave the narration at the beginning of the film. The evening that they arrive, a dinner is prepared for them and it is such an interesting scene to watch. The actors play their roles dead serious (except Redeker, who's role as Peter Howe has him smiling and in a good mood no matter what is happening around him) and the dinner is such a disaster by the guests standards.

After dinner, the guests are all set to retire except for Peter who wants to take the attorneys assistant, played by the lovely Beverly Washburn, out for dinner. It is decided that there are not enough beds at the house so those two take off in search of a hotel. On the way they stop for some drinks and end up staying late enough so that all of the nearby hotels are booked up. While they are away, things go from bad to worse for mean ol' Emily and her skunk of an attorney. Virginia and Ann decide to play "spider", and Ralph just does not want to go to sleep. The events that take place are not necessarily frightening, and it is not a graphically violent movie, but the actors seem to take such relish in their roles that it is disturbing nonetheless.

Image Entertainment released this movie in August of 2002 and frankly, I had not seen it and had barely ever heard of it. Little did I know the treat I was in for! The disk contains a commentary by the director Jack Hill, and also contains 8 minutes of previously unreleased footage. There is also a short documentary on the 30th anniversary release of Spider Baby from a theatre in Hollywood. Some of the principles from the film attended and it is hosted by some ex hippie (ex - hah!) who is very excited and liked informing everyone he interviewed that he saw this movie in it's original release in 1968. (The film was made in 1964, but the distribution company went bankrupt and it wasn't released for another four years).

Spider Baby is a very good example of a low budget movie that works despite it obvious lack of money to produce it. It is entertaining, funny and as I stated earlier, a little disturbing. I happened to rent it from Netflix but it is only running around $13-15 right now, so it would definitely be worth purchasing at that price. That is, as long as you like grade Z movies with high entertainment value.

 buy it at amazon.com

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