Spider Baby
Director: Jack Hill Run Time: 81 min. Format: DCP Rating: NR Release Year: 1968
Starring: Beverly Washburn, Carol Ohmart, Lon Chaney Jr., Mary Mitchel, Quinn K. Redeker, Sid Haig, Mantan Moreland
Presented as part of The FOFIF double-feature celebrating the release of Robin Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris’ new book, The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar. Recorded introduction by the authors.
“It’s the end of one era and the start of another: the literal death of the old Spook stereotype and the birth of the B.G.D.F. (Black Guy Dies First).”
In the first five minutes of Spider Baby, 1940s comic legend Mantan Moreland stars as the delivery man who quickly falls victim to the degenerated child of “Spider Baby” manor. It’s a memorable moment in a film that descends into the maddest story ever told. The Merrye family have a killer secret – something in their genes make them age backwards and become cannibals. Things are kept under control by their trusty butler until distant, greedy family relatives come to stake their claim on the property. Also starring horror legends Lon Chaney Jr, Carol Ohmart and Sid Haig, Jack Hill’s Spider Baby is the other black-and-white horror film (other: Night of the Living Dead) from 1968 that marks a significant shift with race in horror.
Want the book? Choose the book + ticket option and have it waiting at your seat! Books will also be available at the screening.
Also be sure to see the other film, Attack the Block, at Nitehawk Prospect Park on 2/28!