The Spider (1958)

Originally titled Earth Vs. The Spider (the title card on the film remains unchanged, classy) and then changed simply to The Spider due to the success of The Fly the same year. One might think in nature how the spider would kill the fly, however cinema is a different beast altogether and this little 50s gem might not be as inspirational as The Fly (and also might just be a rip of 1955’s Tarantula) but it shines in other ways.

The plot is straightforward enough, a girls father goes missing, her and her boyfriend going looking for him. They end up in a cave and run into a giant spider. They inform the sheriff and with the help of others overcome the beast, they stun it (presuming it’s dead) and take it to the school for holding, it wakes up, chaos ensues, they electrocute it, the end. So basically your standard 50s B-movie really. The acting in this is actually pretty passable, albeit of it’s time and very camp. Gene Roth as Sheriff Cagle being a particular on screen joy. He is far more believing in the teens plight than a lot of these movies but still flips between mocking and faith. None the less it cuts out a load of the usual crap in these movies and that I appreciate. Ed Kemmer as Prof. Art Kingman is also quite the actor. His performance is far more steeped in 50s hilarity, but it’s none the less fun, and a bit silly. Actually I found most of the characters captivating, interesting and enjoyable even if many of them are 50s caricatures.

Now to our creature in this feature (see what I did there). The spider is naturally dated, funny and low budget. It’s essentially a supersized real tarantula just crawling about either on minature sets or presumably overlaid on the film (poorly). You can really tell to, but then for me at least it adds to the charm. I have to say that this is probably in some ways preferable to terrible rubber creations though, at least on a genuine film making plane, it obviously looks a lot more realistic. Rest assured though there is still the odd homemade leg here and there which is rather funny. There is one scene that I have to point out though. As the spider terrorizes the town there is a shot of a child on it’s own on a barren street splattered with blood. I thought that was pretty graphic for a film of this ilk and genuinly a memorable moment.

There’s so very much to unpack in this movie and that’s brilliant. I love the 50s Rock scene at the school, and the killing of the spider which throws back to an experiment shown in class at the start of the film. This really is a shining example of how 50s B-movie Horror isn’t all just tacky acting and crumby effects. No, The Spider genuinely is a pleasure to watch, sure it might get some laughs but it really is entertaining, a lot of films from this era can fall into obscurity and actually be awful, The Spider though is well worth a watch. On a final side note I have to say that they definitely chose the best name for the film as it’s hardly earth vs. the spider, rather small town vs. the spider.

Rating: 8/10 (George Caley)