Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- macabre
- campy
- disturbing
- late night cult movie marathon
- halloween viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an eccentric and atmospheric cult comedy-horror elevated by Lon Chaney Jr.'s sympathetic performance and disturbing black-and-white imagery.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film combines a diseased family curse, murderous behavior, and intentionally comic character dynamics.
The Merrye family mansion and inherited regression disease make familial decline the central organizing idea.
Alfred Taylor's black-and-white cinematography emphasizes death, deterioration, and the mansion's oppressive atmosphere.
The Merrye siblings mentally regress while physically developing, producing the film's killer-child menace.
Films like Spider Baby, and why
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
shares blackly comic horror, grotesque family dynamics, and an eccentric outsider atmosphere
The Addams Family
shares macabre humor, decaying domestic spaces, and dysfunctional family horror
Eraserhead
shares surreal black comedy, disturbing family pathology, and stark black-and-white imagery
The Bad Seed
shares killer-child imagery, campy horror, and exploitation-era sensationalism
Movie Details
- Director
- Jack Hill
- Release Date
- 1967-12-24
- Runtime
- 84 min
- Rating
- 6.8 / 10 (189)
Cast
- Lon Chaney Jr.
- Carol Ohmart
- Quinn K. Redeker
- Beverly Washburn
- Jill Banner
- Sid Haig
- Mary Mitchel
- Karl Schanzer
- Mantan Moreland
- Joan Keller Stern
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, Fandor Amazon Channel, Screambox Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Bloodstream, Artiflix, Cineverse Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, FlixFling
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, FlixFling
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Spider Baby about?
- A macabre rural-household farce where a chauffeur struggles to protect a regressing, murderous family from relatives determined to seize their home.
- What is Spider Baby like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Spider Baby as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Spider Baby violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Spider Baby as graphic.
- What did critics think of Spider Baby?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an eccentric and atmospheric cult comedy-horror elevated by Lon Chaney Jr.'s sympathetic performance and disturbing black-and-white imagery.
- Which films are like Spider Baby?
- Films with a similar feel include The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Addams Family, Eraserhead, and The Bad Seed.
- How long is Spider Baby?
- Spider Baby runs 84 minutes.
- Where can I watch Spider Baby?
- In United States, Spider Baby streams on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, Fandor Amazon Channel, Screambox Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Bloodstream, Artiflix, Cineverse Amazon Channel.
