Virginia Merrye (Jill Banner), Elizabeth Merrye (Beverly Washburn) and Ralph Merrye (Sid Haig) are the last decedents of Ebenezer Merrye. When Ebenezer died the family chauffeur Bruno (Lon Chaney Jr.) became their guardian. They live in a decaying mansion in the country. For generations the Merrye’s have been afflicted with a rare mental disease. The disease is so rare it was named after the family. The “Merrye Syndrome” is a genetic disorder caused by inbreeding. The disorder causes them to regress mentally, socially and physically once they hit late childhood. The regression is more than just reverting back to infancy. They also regress down the evolutionary ladder. They become dangerous, murderous and cannibalistic before they go totally insane.
Sometimes they appear just childlike but then their games become lethal. Virginia thinks she is a spider and kills a delivery man (Mantan Moreland). Ralph is the oldest. He hunts neighborhood cats and is slowly becoming deformed. Elizabeth is the youngest. She’s just insane. The remaining family relatives on the Merrye side of the family are Uncle Ned, Aunt Clara and Aunt Martha. They have regressed to the point of becoming feral savages. They are kept in the cellar and have no problem with their cannibalistic tendencies.
Two distant relatives Emily (Carol Ohmart) and Peter (Quinn Redeker) along with their slimy attorney Schlocker (Karl Schanzer) and his secretary Ann (Mary Mitchel) show up looking to take over the estate and the welfare of the children, as the rightful heirs.
Emily intends on staying at the mansion and expects Bruno to provide dinner. Bruno does what he can and dinner consists of a cat that Peter killed, bugs that Virginia crunches on, mushrooms that Elizabeth gathered and a salad made of grass.
Bruno does love the children and promised their father that he would take care of them. He does his best to keep them from their regressive tendencies but his control over them is tentative at best under normal circumstances. With strangers in the house his authority over them deteriorates quickly.
When Bruno leaves on an errand the children are off their leashes, so to speak. Insanity runs amok.
“Spider Baby” was released in 1967 and was written and directed by Jack Hill. It was Hill’s directorial debut. The film is a black comedy/horror move. The only thing that stopped this movie from falling into obscurity is the movie’s solid and growing fan base.
The movie had several things going against it. The film was made in 1964 but the producers went bankrupt. It was not release until 1967. The publicity for the film was really bad and it went through several name changes before it ended up being called “Spider Baby”. Other titles were “The Maddest Story Ever Told” “Cannibal Orgy” and eventually “The Liver Eaters” and “Attack of the Liver Eaters”. A musical stage version was done in 2004. In 2012, the film was preserved by the Academy Film Archive. At one time it was thought to have been a lost film.
The movie is really good, but absolutely freaky. Lon Chaney Jr. is marvelous as the chauffer turned guardian. It was one of the best performances I’ve seen of him. Sid Haig does what Sid Haig does best, insanity. He is a three year old savage with an over acute libido. Calling the film a black comedy is being overly light. The characters are quite insane. Even Bruno has not gone unscathed by his association with the family. Despite their murderous intentions there is something so innocently childlike about them that you somehow have hope that they will get the help they need, but no, no they won’t.