The Spider (1958) User Reviews

Poor misunderstood Spider

[delibebek · 4/10 · 15 October 2008]

I really enjoy Bert Gordon films (although the apparently necessary middle initial continues to evoke images of Johnny Depp in "Ed Wood" continually insisting on the "D") and this is one is pretty typical. The photography is always good, and the effects are passable.

It may be a difficult point to make, given that we never see the spider's method of consuming the precious bodily fluids it seems to crave, but I think the spider just wanted to be left alone. Perhaps the first victim merely happened along its path during a hunting foray.

It is obvious however, later in the film, after the spider escapes the gym, destroying doorway-ignoring school janitors along the way, the spider simply wants to go home. As he re-enters the cave, you can clearly hear the spider saying, "Ho-ome. I'm ho-ome." If you thought that was an amplified spider's voice, it actually seems to be a human voice, distorted somewhat, so you may have to "undistort" the voice as you're listening.

I feel sorry for the spider, and even until the final scene I was hoping that it would survive man's fury. But alas, it wasn't so. :( Not even glimpses of an egg sac that would have allowed a sequel.

Seen on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater in 1964

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 3 April 2019]

Bert I. Gordon's 1958 "Earth vs the Spider" was the director's seventh and last sci/fi effort of the decade, after which he branched out into teen fantasy ("The Boy and the Pirates," "The Magic Sword," "Village of the Giants"), straight horror ("Necromancy," "Burned at the Stake," "Satan's Princess"), and psychological dramas ("Tormented," "Picture Mommy Dead"). A giant spider had been a Universal regular with "Tarantula" and "The Incredible Shrinking Man," so the only surprise is that Gordon was bringing up the rear on this occasion. The search for a missing father reveals him to be the latest victim of a hungry eight legged monster living in a nearby cave (New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns in fact, plus reliable Bronson Canyon), capturing its prey using a thick strand of silk spun across the highway. A bout of DDT seemingly renders it harmless, the local high school professor allowed to showcase the remains in the auditorium, only for the creature to come back to life during a rock 'n' roll jam. Nothing can stop its journey back to the cave, where natural elements must be used to destroy it once and for all. There are plugs for both "The Amazing Colossal Man" and "Attack of the Puppet People," and the picture succeeds better than most Gordon fare despite the absence of a reason for the spider's outsized existence. It's certainly not as good as either of Universal's classics, and the director would reuse the idea briefly for a scene in his 1965 teenage romp "Village of the Giants."

Considering the budget and what it was, it's a decent little horror flick

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 19 August 2007]

This is a typical drive-in movie horror film from the late 1950s. Like all similar films (such as ATTACK OF THE GILA MONSTER, THE KILLER SHREWS, etc.), this one had a very low budget, was quickly made and featured small-time actors. Naturally, the dialog was poor at times and the overall plot laughable, but in a strange way the film was still a lot of kooky fun. The spider special effects were generally very good and the story kept my interest. While those who love Shakespeare and art films probably won't appreciate this film, for those who love the genre this is a film that will most likely satisfy. As for me, I like these silly old flicks and recommend the movie--but I also can't rate it any higher because of its questionable aesthetic value and cheesiness.

PS--Look at the marquee at the movie theater. One of the films on the bill was THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN and the other was ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE--both films by director/producer Bert I. Gordon who made this film.

One of the best of Gordon's BIG movies.

[rixrex · 23 January 2006]

I remember the newspaper ads for this as a kid. They showed a hideous spider with the head of a skull, and the tagline: It must eat you to live! Talk about giving a kid nightmares. Never got to see it at the theater but got the videotape and, while not as good as Tarantula, it comes pretty close. Mr BIG (Gordon) always had a knack for getting decent character actors, and he has good ones here, except for the teenage male lead who is pretty lame. He also knew how to keep the story clean and simple, fast-paced and interesting, without much superfluous material to bog down the action. Usually his films were hard-pressed to get to 90 mins, no filler material in them. If you are able to forgive the effects limitations of the times and of the budget, you will enjoy this and not feel that you've wasted your time. And keep your eye out for JOE, the thirty year old high school student!

Rock 'n' Roll wakes the dead

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 24 October 2015]

Released in 1958 and shot in B&W, "Earth vs. the Spider" details the events of a small town in Southern California when a colossal spider living in a cave comes to town.

While "Earth vs. the Spider" is great when you're 8 years-old its flaws surface when viewed as an adult. For one, the spider's size changes according to the sequence: In the cave it's huge, but when it's on display at the school it's noticeably smaller; then when it traverses the town it's gargantuan. Inconsistencies like this don't make for great movies. It's entertaining in some ways, like being a period piece of the late 50s, but it pales in comparison to Sci-Fi giants from the 50s like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) and the monumental "Forbidden Planet" (1956). It doesn't help that colossal animal/monster movies made in the decades since are just all-around better, including being in color. Still, "Earth vs. the Spider" is worth catching if you favor these kinds of flicks and want to go back in time to the late 50s, not to mention there are some effective elements, like the horrific sounds the spider makes and the drained remains of its victims.

The film runs 73 minutes and was shot in Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park and Los Angeles, California, with additional footage from Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

GRADE: C

Bad, but oh so good.

[revere-7 · 5/10 · 12 September 2007]

When you sit down to watch a Bert I. Gordon picture, you know you're in for a bad movie.

And, knowing that you can have a real good time.

The story is about a giant spider that attacks a town. No more need be said about the plot. The acting is horrendous. It's awful inconsistent too, half the time the characters do really dumb things, and half the time (well part of the time) they are actually smart too. That's the bad news, here's the good news, it is fast paced and fun. While the movie came out the same year as "The Blob", and both movie feature "kids" (AKA teenagers) who first witness the monster, in "The Blob" nobody believes the teens until it's too late. Not in Earth vs. the Spider! At least some of the adults totally accept that there is a giant spider on the loose, right from the get go. And that's what you, the viewer have to do here to - there is no explanation for what caused the giant spider, or why there are no other giant spiders, it just is, and you have to accept it. It also features a great rock and roll number, effects that run the gamut from real cheesy to real impressive, the world's oldest teenager, "hep" 50s dialogue, a theremin soundtrack and "spider noises"!

At just 73 minutes, it never gets dull, it's up there with some of the best so-bad-it's-good movies ever made. So grab some friends and a 12 pack, and check out this - the original 1958 version of "Earth vs. the Spider"!

Rock 'n Roll versus the creature - a wonderfully amusing entry into the vintage horror pantheon

[pyrocitor · 5/10 · 5 April 2009]

There are few film genres which can evoke such a wonderful sense of vintage entertainment as classic monster horror films. Whether perused in more depth to explore resonant themes and cultural tie-ins or simply taken at face value for comically poor dated special effects and pulpy entertainment, the particular cocktail of entertainment offered by almost any given similar film from the era is unlikely to disappoint - and Earth vs. the Spider is no exception. Despite a somewhat misleading title (then again, 'Small Rural American Town vs. the Spider' does lose some dramatic flair), the film's small, self-contained scope proves to be its greatest advantage, with few more profound aims than to entertain, and, despite whatever other faults, almost unwavering dedication to that front.

While firmly ensconced in genre conventions, the film's tongue in cheek tone promotes such a wholesome sense of enjoyment that such clichés feel warmly familiar rather than suffocatingly so. Like many of its contemporaries, the film explores notions of adults versus teenagers (one particularly comical yet chilling scene has the titular creature awoken by a rock 'n roll song and dance interlude) and science versus good old fashioned American values, though the film is politically correct to not outright condemn scientists as nonsensical lunatics as many other such films do. Similarly, the much alluded to cause for the spider's abnormal growth is crucially never discovered, feeding into cultural notions of post-war nuclear paranoia. However, the film boasts surprisingly strong production values (the spider's cave is a wonderfully grotesque setting) and above par special effects given its inevitably low budget, and again manages to bend convention to its advantage through use of an eerie theremin score, giving it a sturdy enough veneer to make for a surprisingly entertaining 73 minutes.

Despite the cast's typically universally flat performances failing to infuse much life into the shoddy script, one would hardly peruse such fare for the acting, making the cast's lackluster efforts endearingly amusing. Ed Kemmer interestingly melds the 'scientist voice of reason' and 'charismatic protagonist' figures into a single character, and feels all the more fresh and appealing because of it. June Kenney is often embarrassingly and comically melodramatic as a teen mourning her missing father, and Eugene Persson counterbalances her overacting with a dull, unenthusiastic performance as her earnest, "gee whiz" boyfriend. Gene Roth delivers many an (intentionally) comical moment as the town's ineffective sheriff, who also intriguingly shifts roles into a voice of reason figure later on.

Despite a slew of expected faults given its genre, Earth vs. the Spider is never less than supremely entertaining, making for a wonderful comedy (intentionally or not) and easily worth investigating for any fans of classic horror, or those willing to derive amusement from envisioning how frightening it must have been to 1958 audiences, or simply ridiculing it throughout.

-5/10

One of the best good/bad monster movies

[StormSworder · 7/10 · 19 March 2005]

This is a true gem from the world of unintentionally comic monster movies. A giant spider arises from the earth and vents its rage against all humanity. It is knocked senseless and then brought back to town where it is awoken by Rock and Roll music (Egads! The evils of Rock and Roll!) Along with a witty script, there are scenes of a rope-net 'web', a tarantula (which even in black and white is obviously not the same spider throughout the film) walking over shoe-boxes posing as houses, a giant full-size prop which looks nothing like a spider's leg, and strange dubbed-on roaring noises. There are some tarantulas which can make hissing noises by rubbing the bristles on their jaws together, but I can't say I've ever heard any spider growling or roaring. That said, this film is great entertainment whether you love or hate spiders.

campy 50s B-horror

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 10 July 2015]

Jack Flynn is attacked while driving home. His teenage daughter Carol and her boyfriend Mike go searching for him and find a giant spider in a cave. The Sheriff doesn't believe them. Their teacher Kingman is able to convince him to send a posse. Armed with DDT, they are able to kill the giant spider. They bring the spider back to town and store it in the high school gym. As the kids practice rock and roll, the spider revives and terrorizes the town. Meanwhile Carol and Mike go back to the cave to find her lost bracelet.

It's a campy 50s creature feature. The giant spider is a fun visual. The acting is bad. The story is simplistic which actually helps. I certainly don't want too many explanations about giant spiders. That can't be any good. It's a B-movie with a few fun unintentional silliness.

Earth vs. the Spider (1958) ***

[JoeKarlosi · 7/10 · 22 February 2006]

Somehow I'd missed seeing this AIP '50s monster flick, so I recently gave the new Lions Gate R1 DVD a spin. It's rightly considered a rip of Universal's TARANTULA, but this still turned out to be brisk and enjoyable, and a lot of cheesy fun. When a young girl and her boyfriend search for the girls' missing father, they stumble across a giant spider's cave and, naturally, the monster eventually crawls around town. Better-than-average special effects for this type of cheapie, with some surprisingly vivid shock moments and the required helping of some typical teenage 1950's rock n roll music. Gene Roth is a hoot as the doubting sheriff, and there are some shameless plugs for some of Bert I Gordon's other pictures like THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN and ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE. *** out of ****

This film will Strike Terror into the Heart of Any 4-Year-Old

[alana-dill · 4/10 · 11 July 2006]

Is it a spoiler if I warn you that someone dies and it's pretty gross? That's really all you need to know. I saw this movie in 1966 or so, when I was a little kid, and it scared the bejabbers out of me - and that was in black and white on a 13" screen. I'm 45 and I still freak out when I walk into a spiderweb, especially when it's got strands 2" thick and coated with spray adhesive. My husband - such a kidder.

Now people bring their kids to R-rated pics (I've seen 4-year-olds at Gangs of New York, a 7-year-old at Bram Stoker's Dracula, a 3-year-old at LOTR, a 10-year-old's birthday party at From Dusk to Dawn, ...). Please folks - never bring a kid to a Harvey Keitel movie.

Anyway this movie is pretty good for its genre - way better than the one with Shatner from the 70's where they dress up VW's in fake fur. If you enjoy this, check out The Giant Gila Monster. It's even more teenagers awakening atomic evil with that scourge, rock-n-roll; and there's a cute little girl in leg braces who needs rescuing, too.

Some modern directors could take a leaf out of Bert Gordon's book.

[Sylvester · 9/10 · 16 March 2006]

OK, so the special effects are not always that special, though better than many of the period, the story line is routine, though again no worse than that of similar films, and the acting is as one would expect for a film of this type. But, ask yourself, were you bored by it? At least Bert Gordon kept the action going and there were very few dull spots in his films. A lot of modern directors could learn how to pace their films from some of the old B movie directors.

Compare that to the overblown, overlong, CGI laden sci-fi "epics" to which we are currently subjected - and I know which I would prefer.

At the end of the day which is the better film - one made on a shoestring which entertains, or one costing a hundred million dollars which has you looking forward to the end credits?

Chilling AIP programmer which succeeds in investing its proceedings with a definite air of spookiness.

[Morbius-13 · 7/10 · 16 August 1999]

When EARTH VS. THE SPIDER crawled onto theatre screens nationwide in 1958 and first appeared on television in 1963 it was under the title THE SPIDER. Thus its current label is somewhat of an enigma. Perhaps the additional prefix of EARTH VS. was part of its original intended title (with actual prints struck as such) but was deemed too ambitious for what actually transpires in the movie. Possibly because of this title's similarity to the Ray Harryhausen epic EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (released a few years earlier) it was feared to be an infringement on the Harryhausen work (or it could be mistaken as a re-release of same) and was shortened to the more appropriate THE SPIDER.

EARTH VS. THE SPIDER has the handicap of being a steal of Jack Arnold's TARANTULA (1955) and like all giant mutation films of the 1950's following in the wake of the 1954 sci-fi masterpiece THEM! (trying to emulate its distinctive qualities and commercial success) but taken on its own terms it successfully establishes its own eerie atmosphere and excitement that makes it popular today.

Comparison with TARANTULA is unavoidable but while both films utilize an actual tarantula spider (for practical purposes) EARTH VS. THE SPIDER usually manipulates the title protagonist in confined, claustrophobic surroundings when pursuing its intended prey to great effect (the expansive yet enclosed underground caverns, the high school gymnasium and the climatic confrontation on the cavern ledge, etc.). Further this monster also spins a web (unlike the title menace in TARANTULA) and a great deal of suspense and tension is achieved as nosey intruders are caught in it while the wailing bellow of the approaching creature is heard.

The giant spider's cave sanctuary is as much a character as the spider itself and it engenders a tremendous sense of foreboding and dread as the two teenagers and later as the town sheriff, his deputies and some townspeople approach and enter it (the mood is beautifully underscored by Albert Glasser's ominous background music).

In comparison to the technical virtuosity of THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD released the same year (or any Harryhausen film of the period) the special effects in EARTH VS. THE SPIDER are thin beer indeed but adequate. These effects include rear projection, split screens, superimposures, miniatures and forced perspective utilizing photographic plates of famed Carlsbad Caverns. At the film's suspenseful finale there appears to be an unheralded moment of stop motion animation of the giant spider dangling along a precipice and the closing image of the dead creature impaled on stalagmite on the cavern floor (actually a painting) is quite impressive.

All told EARTH VS. THE SPIDER is a film well worth looking into.

Ooogh.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 28 September 2007]

For whatever reason, I kind of enjoyed this. A spider attacks an isolated small town. The kind of thing that would raise the hackles of any news broadcaster goes unremarked at the national level. The spider is a gigantic tarantula. The threatened townspeople are represented by two teen-agers. The local finally get their act sufficiently together to blow up the entrance to the cave and seal off the demonic thing.

So what else is new? Nothing.

Yet I got a kick out of it, possibly due to the chemical influence of some tequila bought at half price at The Pink Store in Palomas, Mexico. Who knows? Who knows about the monster for that matter? (It has a voice and screams and growls.) Or the dumb and sluggish responses of the local authorities? Or the total absence of federal forces, although this gigantic thing is draining the life force out of local citizens. Cripes, imagine a dirty bomb -- or a hurricane.

I enjoyed the inevitable and self-described "egg head", and the two teen agers flopping around in the tarantula's web, though tarantulas don't weave those kinds of webs. What does it matter. Here we have a pretty young girl flouncing around in her voluminous skirt on a sort of trampoline.

If you're into this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'd be into.

Saying it's fighting against the entire world is like saying that the Colossal Beast is at war.

[Tim Fox · 30 October 1999]

I guess Bert needed a catchier title than just The Spider, which was what this was originally titled. Following in the wakes of TARANTULA, Bert I. Gordon bestows upon us this, um, epic of medium proportions. The story deals with two teens in a small midwestern town (one of whom works at a theater which so blatantly displays a poster of Gordon's AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN) go looking for the girl's father, who was killed, it turns out, by a web belonging to the titular beast, which, coincidentally, is never explained how it grew so big or survived for so long, even if Ed Kemmer from SPACE PATROL tries to explain. But egghead Ed manages to kill the spider and bring it back to the school gym where it is locked up. But wouldn't you know it - the evils of rock and roll bring it to life and it kills Mr. Ziffel from GREEN ACRES. How can they kill it? Electricity, anyone?

Lord, you have to admire a man like Bert who directed, produced, wrote, and created the special effects. Sure, the effects suck, but think about it. He saved money and became an auteur at the same time! And while we're on the effects . . . let's just say Plan 9 has some serious competition, as it deals with the spider attacking photos of buildings or walking along as a rear projection which the audience can clearly see through. And please, the spider could fit in the gym, how could it tower over a three story building? But an added advantage this has is that the spider in this one has a web, even if no one sticks to it. And truth be told, it's actually quite entertaining, in a perverse sort of way. At least it doesn't have the long, dull stretches that most Gordon films do. Thank you, Mr. Gordon.

Sometimes low budget works well after all

[rooster_davis · 5/10 · 29 March 2008]

This is a pretty funny 'horror' movie. It must have been great fun to watch at a drive-in 'back when' but now it's really campy. One of the big weaknesses of this movie is that most of the 'teenage' type actors are beyond the believable age range. The main character high school boy's friend (who is also supposedly a high school student) is played by someone who is - and looks every day of - 35 years old. And did you know that spiders actually make a high-pitched screaming noise? That part was news to me. If you go for these old horror / monster type movies, you could give this one a try - but keep something in backup just in case you decide this isn't worth your time, which might possibly be the case.

An Okay Grade-B Monster Movie

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 25 February 2020]

While driving back to his home late one night a man by the name of "Jack Flynn" (Merritt Stone) is attacked by a giant spider which sends his car off the road and down an embankment. The next morning his teenage daughter "Carol Flynn" (June Kenney) is walking with her boyfriend "Mike Simpson" (Eugene Persson) and wondering out loud why her father hasn't returned yet since he was supposed to be there for her birthday. As time passes she grows even more concerned to the point that the two of them drive down the mostly deserted highway from which he should have been traveling on. It's then that they notice wreckage from a car and after walking down the embankment find the car itself. Not finding anyone in the car they wander around until they see an old abandoned mine entrance and decide to look inside just in case he might have taken shelter there for the night. Unfortunately, not only do they find her father's body but they also narrowly escape from a giant spider which has established its home there as well. Naturally, they immediately inform the town sheriff who doesn't believe them at first and this soon leads to disastrous consequences for everybody concerned. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say this was an okay grade-B horror film which managed to capture the time period in which it was produced. Needless to say, the special effects and sets weren't nearly as sophisticated as those seen today but that is to be expected from a film that was produced during this time. Be that as it may, while it certainly wasn't a great horror movie by any means, it managed to pass the time and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

So delightfully cheezy that even an Arachnaphobe might enjoy it!

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 22 May 2018]

When dancing teenagers can stir a supposedly dead giant tarantula back to life, that gives evidence to the 50's square adult's belief that "Rock and roll has got to go!" Unlike the giant dancing duck in "Village of the Giants", this giant spider does not have rhythm, only an appetite for human body fluids, setting a trap with giant rope like sticky webbing to block the road near the deep and dank cave it lives in. Searching for her father out in the middle of this unexplored area, the rather naive June Kenney and her boyfriend (Eugene Persson) search for him inside the cave, already marked with a warning of "Do not enter!" Falling into the giant web, they are disturbed by the sounds of the approaching spider which seems to be speaking to them in anticipation of his lunch to be. Kenney and Persson manage to escape, but Kenney is frantic when she realizes that she has dropped the birthday present for her that she found near the wreckage of her father's pick-up truck. The discovery of shriveled up bodies with all the liquid sucked out (I guess spiders are only drinkers, not eaters) scares the bageebers out of Kenney, but that doesn't stop her from getting Persson to take her back to the cave after they believe that the spider has been killed and removed from the cave for research on how it got to be that size. Like other movies where they remove the supposed carcass of a giant creature, it is never explained as to how they do it, and even more importantly, the objections of those given that assignment who wouldn't touch a small bug let alone a large one!

I guess you have to suspend disbelief that a spider can go into suspended animation when shot full of bullets and tied up in a school gymnasium. The school security guard gets trapped after a bunch of students decide to have an impromptu dance in the gym with the spider hanging in the background, and when his body is discovered, it is a hysterical variation of what a Dali painting might look at if it had once been human. I did find the special effects not bad, having seen much worse before when a giant creature is chasing townspeople, but the whole situation just becomes plain stupid when another teenager arranges for the spider (whom he has discovered trying to devour an entire house) to chase him back to the cave where Kenney and Persson have gone to look for that darn birthday present she dropped. Just then, the local law shows up to close up the cave and unknowingly lock Kenney and Persson inside, with them having gone into other areas of the cave with no way of escape. While Kenney overacts in her attempt to display grief for her spider lunch father, his widow (June Jocelyn) seems to show no grief over her husband's nasty death, only showing any emotion when her daughter is revealed to be trapped inside the cave with the spider. It's a fun bad movie that is easy to dissect for all of its absurdities, but can also be enjoyed on an extreme camp level, whether it be the ludicrous situations, the high school students played by bad 30 something year old actors or the fact that at the end Kenney and Persson are not even given a slap on the wrist for their stupidity.

What will these crazy kids think of next? Giant spiders, indeed!

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 22 April 2016]

Near the small town of River Falls, a bird spider that's grown to enormous proportions is discovered inside a mountain cave. It's supposedly killed by the authorities, and taken to a temporary holding spot in a high school gym in preparation for transportation elsewhere. Wouldn't you know it: the beast hears the strains of some groovy rock 'n' roll and comes back to life! Among the intrepid heroes who must destroy the monster for good are the local sheriff (Gene Roth) and know-it-all science teacher Art Kingman (Ed Kemmer).

Considered by some to be one of director Bert I. Gordons' best "giant thing on the loose" sci-fi thrillers, "Earth vs the Spider" benefits from a fairly snappy pace, and special effects that aren't TOO, too bad. Even though his character should know that spiders are arachnids and not insects, Kemmer is a decent enough lead. Roth is an absolute hoot as the lawman who is understandably skeptical of the idea of a giant spider. Eugene Persson and June Kenney are reasonably engaging as the kids who get themselves into tons of trouble by heading back to the caves to retrieve a bracelet. Hal Torey is good as Perssons' dad, as are Jack Kosslyn as Mr. Fraser, June Jocelyn as Kenney's mom, and Hank Patterson as Hugo the janitor. The eight legged menace is appropriately creepy, and it's amusing that these filmmakers have the thing screaming like a banshee.

One effective, unnerving touch is to see two dead bodies that are victims of the creature. And another is a tracking shot that shows some of the devastation wrought by our villain, ending on a crying child.

After this, Mr. B.I.G. wouldn't make another special effects, size oriented picture for several years, until he made "Village of the Giants". The man sure knew how to promote himself: posters for his past work can be seen at a theatre.

Seven out of 10.

Another giant mutation. This time it is a huge fuzzy spider.

[michaelRokeefe · 2/10 · 2 June 2000]

The title is a bit ambitious. A small town, not the whole world is being terrorized by a giant spider. No real explanation for this creature is given. But it is big and scary and it kills people...so destroy it. Easier said than done. Creepy music makes for a tense atmosphere. Nice flick for a slumber party, that way you have something to do while the movie runs.

This film seems to have been done cheap and quick. The intent, no doubt, was to cash in on the popularity of the other giant mutant movies. Quite below average, but not a total bust.

Cast members include Ed Kemmer, June Kenny, Eugene Persson and Skip Young.

A worthy 50's near-schlocker.

[ksdilauri · 7/10 · 26 November 2019]

True schlock indicates unworthiness, but this flick has its merits--mainly, vintage giant-spider effects that probably freaked people out 60 years ago. The story is standard 'townspeople-versus-monster' illogical, with your brave teenage couple and assorted overage classmates ("Joe" must have been pushing forty), dumb sheriff (who doesn't blink an eye when he passes some human skeletons in the cave) housewives running about in high heels, and so forth. Also, why would they put a scientific find like a gigantic spider in a high school auditorium? No matter---these people are plucky, and you have to admire the way they fend off a huge arachnid that probably has more IQ points than they do. With a big bowl of popcorn, it's a comfortable trip back to a simpler time, and worth a watch.

Big Arachnid goes on display

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 25 May 2013]

Earth Vs. The Spider is drive-in material if I ever saw it. The kind of film that you can relax at the drive-in and not miss a lot as you get down to business with your significant other.

This film gets confused a lot with Tarantula, they're about the same though I would give not want to split the difference either way.

Two kids Eugene Persson and June Kenney are the protagonists, they find the cave where the giant arachnid hangs out and which has been rumored to be haunted for years. Later on they go back to the cave looking for a present that the girl dropped and have a second encounter with the big spider.

These two kids are dumb, but they can't be held accountable because they've got a colossally dumb science teacher in Ed Kemmer. He goes along with the sheriff to rescue them the first time and they think the big guy's dead after all kinds of giant quantities of DDT are sprayed at him. All it does is put him in arachnid coma.

The sheriff wants to blow up the cave and bury the body, but no Kemmer says he'd make a great exhibit for study. So they take the body and store it at the high school gym. In the meantime the local rock and roll band doing a little practice wakes him from his coma and everybody has to do it all over again.

Some of those Fifties science fiction movies were better than others. Earth Vs. The Spider is not on the A list.

As Silly As They Come... and I'm Loving Every Minute

[EdYerkeRobins · 10/10 · 7 August 2001]

There is a saying that a true artist can make an error into a masterpiece. While this doesn't exactly apply to film-making, it can easily apply to film-viewing. Think of lots of 1950's low budget sci-fi cliches (bad acting, bad special effects, etc.), and then throw them all into a single movie. The outcome of this is a critic's nightmare, 1958's "Earth vs. the Spider". There's no way such "trash", with all its errors, can be entertaining, right? Wrong.

The only real disappointing goof in this film is the title, a horrid misnomer as the spider only gets to crawl about its web in a cave and a small town, and less than 10 people in the town actually "fight" it. Of those 10 people, most are represented by the driest actors imaginable (except for the women, who get to scream and sob), and the "teenagers" are obviously not, especially Joe, who looks like he's in his mid-30's. Said teenagers also make decisions in the film that are stupid, yet at the same time have enough logic that the audience is able to forgive them for it (as opposed to some movies of the genre where people just act stupid out of the blue). It might seem like a really bad idea to go to a killer giant spider's cave, but if it is to retrieve the last memento of one's father, its understandable, although still not a wise choice. The teen characters in this film act like that, making them less annoying and more lovable than most teen victims in the genre.

The spider they take on, is, unimaginatively, a run-of-the-mill tarantula filmed and super-imposed over scenes to make it seem gigantic; sometimes it's really noticeable and looks awful, but most of the time it works, yet still comes off as tacky since the spider is always moving in the same direction. Besides that fact, the other main reason that this barely works is that the spider and the people are rarely in the same shot at the same time. This also means that all deaths are off-camera (but accompanied by the spider's un-spider-like hissing and growling), and the resulting corpses are really weird-looking: by no means realistic, but odd enough to be entertaining.

Which is really the reason why films like these are watchable, and to some (like me) even enjoyable. Sure, there won't be any Oscar nominations for the acting, but isn't it funny to hear a science teacher call a spider an insect? He should obviously know better. Isn't it funny that the route the lead teens take to escape from the spider at the beginning of the film leads to a dead-end at the end of it? That was obviously a mistake in the script writing. Granted, these mistakes aren't intentional or intelligent humor, but it's humor nonetheless, and there's enough of it to recommend this film to fans of the genre. It's also worth noting that this film thankfully knows its limits, and is thus quite short, so that it can be enjoyable without dragging on and on.

EARTH VS THE SPIDER (Bert I. Gordon, 1958) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 23 January 2010]

To begin with, I have to wonder whether Universal ever brought charges of plagiarism against this film in view of their own superior take on the 'giant spider' theme i.e. TARANTULA (1955); the title, then, ripped off Columbia's solid alien invasion movie EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956)! All of which suggests this was a pure exploitation flick aimed at teenagers (even incorporating a rock'n'roll number at one point) and, on that level, it is not too bad – being also thankfully brief at just 73 minutes – though clearly offering nothing we have not seen before! The Carlsbad caves used for a good part of the duration supply an ideal otherworldly backdrop, even if the special effects involving the spider itself are less successful (the spider often changes color from dark black to light grey!); the wizened make-up created for the blood-drained victims is rather creepy, however. One thing which can be said about Bert I. Gordon is that he was a shrewd promoter and, to be sure, two of his other horror/sci-fi efforts get namechecked here, namely THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957) and ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (1958) – both of which, as it happens, I have acquired in time to be viewed this Halloween (along with three more of the director's work within the genre)

I'd pay $50 for one!

[jerome_horwitz · 5/10 · 11 November 2007]

Earth vs. The Giant Spider is about two teenagers which go in search of a missing parent, finding evidence that leads them to a cave. Upon exploring the cave, they discover a giant man eating spider. The story becomes a basic life or death struggle between the town people and the spider.

It's a very simple plot. The acting is good, as many fans of the 1960s television will recognize a few of the cast members. The special effects for the spider are OK, although it's obviously not too realistic. Some of other special effects, like the corpses are actually pretty good.

Overall this is an average movie that's watchable, but nothing special beyond that. 5/10