Spider Baby

[Cash Flagg]

The credits dub this “the maddest story ever told”, a promise that’s well on the way to being fulfilled in the opening scene alone, when Virginia traps and kills a hapless deliveryman in her makeshift web. She’s one of three siblings who suffer from a unique genetic disorder that causes them to regress back to childhood, while retaining the physical strength and sexual maturity of adults.

Lon Chaney Jr gave one of his most memorable late performances as Bruno, their guardian and protector, who has managed to cover up their crimes until two distant relatives lay claim to their house. When they insist on moving in, Bruno has to cross his fingers and hope that the ‘children’ behave towards their new guests...

This was the first solo feature by Jack Hill, whom Quentin Tarantino dubbed “the Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmaking”, and it remains one of his wildest and weirdest.

CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the main feature, available in the UK for the first time
• Original 2.0 Mono Audio (Uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
• High Definition transfer of the feature supervised and approved by director Jack Hill
• English SDH subtitles for deaf and hearing impaired
• Audio commentary featuring Jack Hill and star Sid Haig
• Panel discussion from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences FILM-TO-FILM Festival, recorded September 2012, featuring Jack Hill and stars Quinn K. Redeker and Beverly Washburn
• The Hatching of Spider Baby - Interviews with Jack Hill, Sid Haig, star Mary Mitchel, fan Joe Dante and more on the making of the film
• Spider Stravinsky: The Cinema Sounds of Ronald Stein - The composer of ‘The Terror’ and ‘Attack of the 50 Foot Woman’ among others is remembered by Harlene Stein, Jack Hill, American Cinematheque’s Chris D. and others
• The Merrye House Revisited - Jack Hill revisits the original house that was used as the main location in the film
• Alternate opening title sequence<
• Extended scene
• Original Trailer
• Gallery of behind-the-scenes imagesThe Host (1960) – Jack Hill’s early short film featuring Sid Haig in his first starring role [30 mins]
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys

[knives]

I asked Arrow if they'd be using the recent Academy restoration of Spider Baby, and they said no:

The AMPAS restoration is photochemical so not in a fit state for Blu-ray as it would require transferring digitally and then additional clean up and so on. However the transfer we have is approved by Jack Hill and is gorgeous!
The Host will be SD only, it hasn’t been transferred to HD unfortunately.
The booklet should be pretty big too, lots to go in there and hopefully we will have one more extra to add (fingers crossed).

The Host was on the old American disc for Switchblade Sisters, right?

[MichaelB]

The Digital Fix on Spider Baby:

The transfer of Spider Baby on Blu-Ray is, quite simply, absolutely stunning. The scan was done from the original 35mm negative and the result is a monochrome transfer that stands up there with the very best of work by the BFI and Criterion. There is plenty of depth and perfect contrast, the quality of which can be seen from a comparison with scenes from the film in the accompanying featurette. Detail is exquisite throughout and there’s a pleasing sharpness which is never over-enhanced. There’s a light patina of film grain but no intrusive digital noise.

He's not wrong - I really can't imagine this film looking any better in 1080p. And our very own David Mackenzie was responsible for the encode.

(He seems to be doing quite a bit for Arrow these days - I've just had a sneak preview of Runaway Train, which is also looking and sounding very nice indeed for a 1980s title that's always been hamstrung by some ropey post-production).

[Cash Flagg]

Their recent Spider Baby disc will play in US machines if you press the 'pop-up/top menu' button after receiving the Region B error message.

[Ashirg]

US release date is June 9. All the extras a carried over.

[ianungstad]

I'm surprised more people aren't excited for this. I caught this film on TCM Midnight and loved it. Kind of a cross between a John Waters film and Kazan's Baby Doll. It's a unique film and surprisingly well made. The dinner scene in particular was grotesque without any inherent gore. I just wish we got a better look at Uncle Ned at the end!

[MichaelB]

Beaver

(which highlights the minimal differences between the UK and US versions - unlike the simultaneous UK/US releases, this one was reauthored to make it conform to Arrow's current design templates.)