'Spider Baby': Where the 1960s meet the 1940s

Spider Baby, or The Maddest Story Ever Told (1968)
Starring: Jill Banner, Beverly Washburn, Lon Chaney Jr., Joan Keller, Quinn Redeker, Carol Ohmart, Mary Mitchel, Karl Schanzer, Sid Haig, and Mantan Moreland
Director: Jack Hill
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

The last remaining servant of the Merrye family, Bruno (Chaney), has spent his life caring for the three demented children (Banner, Haig, and Washburn) who are heirs to its fortune, keeping their deep psychopathies hidden and controlled. But greedy distant relatives and their lawyer (Mitchel, Ohmart, Redeker, and Schanzer) arrive to take the mansion and the money, Bruno's tentative hold on them slips... with deadly results.

"Spider Baby" is an atmospheric little movie that moves easily from horror to comedy and that amply proves the point that filmmakers don't necessarily need budgets in the hundreds of thousands to make good movies, nor does a film need to be graphic to be sexy or scary. In fact, I don't recall a scene that was more scary and sexy than the "seduction" scene between the homicidal underage vixen and wanna-be human spider Virginia and one of the dipsticks that have come to take her house and caregiver away.

Although the film suffers from uneven pacing, and the would-be explosive ending falls short of what writer/director Hill hoped for due to budget limitations, it is carried by striking performances from its young female stars, Jill Banner and Beverly Washburn, who manage to in turn be funny, sexy and scary; and from Lon Chaney Jr, who in the fading twilight of his career managed to shake off the weight of alcoholism long enough to turn in a performance that reminds viewers of the great performances he turned in during the 1940s and early 1950s. Carol Ohmart is also wonderful as a bitchy gold-digger whom viewers will delight in watching getting her come-uppence, while Mantan Moreland, in a small part, turns in performance that, like Chaney, evokes pleasant memories of the 1940s when he was at the height of his comedic powers (even if he also comes to a very creepy end).

In many ways, the film straddles cinematic time periods. It has the appearance and flavor of a quirky 1960s low-budget drive-in film, but it's not only the presence of a rejuvenated Chaney and Moreland that calls to mind the 1940s; "Spider Baby" has at its core a spirit of craziness reminiscent of Monogram Pictures horror films. The combination adds up to a movie that has a one-of-a-kind quality that more than makes up for any budget- and pacing-related shortcomings. It's a film that any lover of B-movie classics needs to experience.

'House on Haunted Hill' is home to campy fun

House on Haunted Hill (1959) Starring: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Elisha Cook, Carolyn Craig, David Long, Alan Marshal, and Julie Mitchum 

Director: William Castle 

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars 

 Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren (Price) and his wife Annabelle (Ohmart) invite five cash-strapped strangers to spend the night with them in "the world's only truly haunted house"; if they stay locked in house from midnight to sunrise, they (or their heirs, should they not survive), will earn $10,000 each. Once the seven people are sealed in the house, the killing starts. Is it the ghosts, or are the visitors to the House on Haunted Hill being stalked by someone of flesh-and-blood?

"House on Haunted Hill" is a movie that scared the bejeezus out of me when I first saw it as a little kid... and as a kid, the twist-ending seemed like the coolest thing ever. When I saw it again as an adult, I didn't find it scary anymore, but I did find it entertaining and fun. This may not be much of a horror movie, but it is great fun to watch, particularly since the film is self-consciously cliched and over-the-top--with the aforementioned twist-ending being the most spectacular example of this. 

 The five principal players in the film all portray stock horror/thriller characters--Price is the suave yet slightly batty millionaire; Ohmart his scheming, two-timing, greedy wife; Long is the heroic, square-jawed man of action; Craig is the damsel who is always screaming in terror and always in distress; and Cook is the doom-saying coward--and they all seem to be having lots of fun with their parts. The ghostly activities in the house don't make a whole lot of sense--nor are any of them even possible in the light of some facts we learn at other times in the film--if you think about them, but there's a sort of wink-and-nod atmosphere throughout that it really doesn't matter.

"House on Haunted Hill" is good, cheesy fun...and that seems to be exactly what the filmmakers were shooting for when they made it. If you like haunted house movies, you may enjoy this one. Just realize that it doesn't take itself all that seriously. (It's a film that young kids may find thrilling and scary--the giant vat of acid in the basement seemed particularly cool to me as a kid--but adults will spend their time viewing it smiling.)