The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)

The Giant Spider Invasion (USA, 1975) 78 min color DIR: Bill Rebane. PROD: Richard L. Huff, Bill Rebane. SCR: Richard L. Huff, Robert Easton. STY: Richard L. Huff. DOP: Jack Willoughby. CAST: Steve Brodie, Barbara Hale, Robert Easton, Leslie Parrish, Alan Hale Jr., Bill Williams.

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One of the most delightful pieces of Grade Z drive-in fodder ever made, The Giant Spider Invasion is perhaps the most beloved of Wisconsin auteur Bill Rebane’s genre films, and usually for the wrong reasons. This low-budget wonder has gained infamy over the years for its poor special effects, as the giant arachnid menacing Gleason, Wisconsin, is actually a fur-covered Volkswagen (dig those glowing red eyes!), and for its inclusion in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 TV series. But in truth, the movie is too smart to fall into the “so-bad-its-good” territory, as its makers were likewise in on the joke. Co-producer Richard Huff’s screenplay began with seriousness and psychobabble, but actor-writer Robert Easton was recruited to add some humour to the scenario. While the script isn’t exactly spoofy in nature, there is a consistent hip, self-referential humour to accentuate the ridiculous goings-on.

Ironically, this film has more star power than any other of Rebane’s epics. His close friend, Steve Brodie (often cast in tough-guy roles), who plays the scientist Vance, managed to get some other familiar faces to fill the roles. Barbara Hale was cast as Dr. Jenny Langer, Robert Easton as Kester, and Leslie Parrish was hired to play the boozy housewife Ev. And for comic relief, Alan Hale Jr. (the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island) is the sheriff: his first line is Skipper’s famous “Hey little buddy” phrase! But it’s Bill Williams (formerly TV’s Kit Carson) who steals the film as the cantankerous entrepreneur, Dutch. When a meteor from a black hole crashes behind his farmhouse, setting the sky alight in retro red and yellow effects, and thus setting the title horror in motion, Dutch offhandedly remarks “Whatever it is can wait till morning!” He doesn’t want the sheriff snooping around because of his pot operation! The debris that remains from the meteor crash is a bunch of nodules that crack open, setting free the spiders, but also are revealed to contain diamonds inside, thereby setting Dutch on another entrepreneurial mission.

The Giant Spider Invasion runs a short 78 minutes, much the same length of any 1950s giant bug movie that likely inspired it. And like those pictures, despite the ridiculous monsters, the actors play it straight, save for Alan Hale’s sheriff, who cracks one-liners in every scene, and in one moment, even mugs to the camera! But despite the Volkswagen-inspired monster, it is clear that the filmmakers actually tried to make something out this. The narrative is interspersed with cutaways to a fire-and-brimstone preacher who rails about the apocalypse. Voiceovers from his sermon are cleverly dubbed into moments where Dutch is prospecting for diamonds or encountering corpses in his field cast aside by the hungry spiders. Before the spiders’ diet progresses to humans, they make lunch out of Dutch’s cattle: undaunted, he considers selling their remains to the cafe! Perhaps Huff intended this film to be a morality play, in which the spiders are sent by God to vanquish these earthly heathens. One telling observation about the spiders: “Our black hole has become an open doorway to hell.” In this little mosaic of characters, adultery and greed reign supreme. In addition to his “anything for a buck” mantra, Dutch is also fooling around with the cafe waitress Helga, while his boozy wife Ev is also cheating on him.

Also like the movies that perhaps inspired it, this film also bogs down with a heady explanation as to how the spiders got here, and the matters to destroy them. (The Blob needed no such exposition.) One suspects this too is a product of Huff’s lofty ambitions in his screenplay, and thus the hiring of Easton to inject some humour into the matter was indeed a wise decision.

The apocalyptic notions of the preacher likewise get an elbow in the rib, once it appears that the townsfolk complain more about the preacher’s sermon keeping them awake than the meteor crash! It is also a subtle satire of rural life, as residents call the sheriff for everything… even when the car doesn’t start! Paul Bentzen (Stan from Rebane’s Invasion From Inner Earth) returns as Dutch’s cousin Billy who appraises the diamonds, and in the age-old joke of rural inbreeding, doesn’t object to the blood relations, when he makes a play for Ev’s sister Terry (Diane Lee Hart)!

Although in truth, the Volkswagen spider really isn’t that bad, Rebane nonetheless chose to show the monster often in silhouette, or in quick cuts. This is one of the few Rebane films that move in lightning pace: the mosaic of different characters and their little dramas are introduced in stuttering zooms within the first five minutes (opening credits included). And despite its reputation due to the poor special effects, the veteran cast appears to be enjoying itself. With its curious mixture of weird science, Biblical leanings, self-referential humour, cool optical effects and electronic score, The Giant Spider Invasion is nonetheless, first and foremost, great fun! If you’re a fan (and how can you not be?), you’ll probably want to get the Retromedia DVD, which includes a mini comic book! VCI Entertainment also released it to DVD and Blu-ray. In 2020, Dark Force also released it to Blu-Ray.

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Updated from its original publication in Vol. #1, Issue #24, excerpted from a larger piece on Bill Rebane. Much of the article has been dispersed accordingly in reviews of the films that have now been released on Arrow’s amazing box set, Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection.