Spider Baby

A great blast of 1960s B-movie inspiration, 1967's Spider Baby is the debut solo feature film from cult director Jack Hill, who had previously spent years reworking unfinished and imported films for Roger Corman. For his first original project, Hill wrote a horror comedy about a family cursed with Merrye Syndrome, a (fictional) malady that causes all the members of the Merrye family to regress mentally and emotionally with the onset of puberty. "The unfortunate result of… inbreeding," explains Bruno (Lon Chaney Jr. in a warm, paternal performance), who is the chauffeur and guardian of the afflicted offspring. The “children” (adult women Jill Banner and Beverly Washburn in schoolgirl frocks, and gangly Sid Haig as bald, infantile Ralph) slip into a state of childlike innocence and primal savagery. When distant cousins (closet dominatrix Carol Ohmart and affable, avuncular Quinn Redeker) arrive with a lawyer to contest an inheritance, all of these roiling drives are unleashed. Spider Baby is an inventive mix of Psycho, Freaks, and Freud (the sexual curiosity of the children is both inspired and unsettling) that is kinky, funny, and oddly sweet. Chaney called this one of his favorite roles and Hill slips in a number of Wolfman references in tribute. Presented in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, Spider Baby features a new HD transfer, along with numerous extras, including an audio commentary, cast and crew panel discussion, behind-the-scenes featurettes, interviews, Hill's 1960 student film "The Host," and a booklet. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)