Spider Baby

Director: Jack Hill

1967 / 81min / DCP

Chauffeur Lon Chaney, Jr. attempts to cover up the homicidal and cannibalistic indiscretions of his charges, the feral Merrye family—a trio of variously degenerate long-orphaned siblings played by Jill Banner, Beverly Washburn, and Sid Haig—as distant relations try to sell their decaying home out from under them in this drive-in horror melodrama, a work of guffaw-worthy gallows humor and genuine pathos. There’s more than a touch of Southern-fried Gothic in the mix here, with writer-director Hill maintaining a tricky balance of tragedy and farce and has a gas playing with classic hereditary curse tropes, while his ensemble cast provide gleefully going-for-broke performances that start at over-the-top and only go further up from there.

Distributor: AGFA

Part of That Most Taboo of Red Meats