Venom (1975)

Most British horror films are good and I've enjoyed watching them ever since I was a kid. I've spent my adult years tracking down the ones I never got to see, for whatever reason, when I was growing up. Today I finally got to see VENOM, which I'd never heard of to be honest. It could have been one of those "hidden gems" we all come across from time to time. But sadly it isn't.The plot revolves around a mad scientist trying to create a poisonous nerve gas from spider venom. The idea is interesting and one could imagine Hammer, Amicus or Tigon making an interesting film out of the premise. But sadly, VENOM is as dull as dishwater. It's also very incoherent and it seems that every five minutes or so, the main character is chasing this girl through the woods. The problem is that there really isn't much mystery other than the motive of the mad scientist. The characters aren't interesting and nor do they do anything that holds your attention through the film. If you stick with it, you're merely doing so just so you can "cross one off" your list of British horror films to see.Director Peter Sykes has made only two other horror films besides this one - DEMONS OF THE MIND and TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER. What makes his style different from most other directors of British horror films is that he goes out of his way to try shocking the viewer. In TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER the shocks are quite effective in my opinion. But VENOM just fails to escape its flat feeling so much that one could be forgiven for falling asleep before the shocking moments arrive. I won't explain what happens but it's tame and not as compelling viewing as it should be.The whole production has the feeling of everyone simply going through the motions. The acting isn't awful by any means. But the whole production just feels flat and lifeless most of the time. Derek Newark, usually cast as a police inspector or detective in films and TV shows from the 1960s and 1970s, is wasted here. Gertan Klauber is better in his brief appearances in the CARRY ON films, as well as his small role in SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN. The remaining cast members are nearly all unknown to me and Simon Brent is particularly bland as the lead.Overall, VENOM is a very boring film. It remained obscure in the UK for a long time for good reason. Recommended only for British horror completists.

Quite a curio this.'Legend of The Spider Forest' is partly shot in what appears to be the picturesque Bavarian mountains, concerning the bizarre, esoteric legend of the deadly Spider Woman; played by the truly delicious Nada Arneric. Various libidinous young men are dying in the uber spooky forest; is it really the dastardly machinations of the nubile Arneric or is there something far more sinister afoot? Throw in the ubiquitous mad German scientist and you have a giddy mish- mash of unctuous horror goodness that is bound to appeal to most Brit horror completists!

Peter Sasdy made a lot of films that were disappointing; Demons of the Mind and To the Devil a Daughter were two of the worst of all the Hammer films and House in Nightmare Park was not nearly as entertaining as it could have been. The Legend of Spider Forest is actually Sasdy's least disappointing film, but that's only because I had no expectations going into it. The film really does make little sense and while the fantasy elements of it might have lifted it out of the bottom of the barrel, they unfortunately don't. The plot has something to do with a mad scientist, a mythical 'spider woman' and some spider venom; there's a forest involved too. It actually gets off to an interesting start as we witness an interesting sequence taking place in a forest but the rest of the film is an absolute mess. It's far too easy to get lost in what's going on, and since the film is not very interesting, it's difficult to find the motivation to actually care what is going on - which kind of makes watching this film rather pointless. I guess this might appeal to people who like daft films that don't make sense, but everyone else can feel free to leave this one languishing in obscurity!

**SPOILERS** Almost incomprehensible horror movie that goes into so much detail about this crazy mad scientist and his equally nutty daughter that you get lost in just what it's supposed to be about in the first place. We see at the start of the movie in a dream-like sequence Paul and Anna skinny dipping in a lake and then romping and making out in the grass, stark naked, as their suddenly attacked by this unseen shadowy figure. The camera then pans to Anna's chest and we see this black spider tattoo.You assume that Paul was killed before the credits are even over but then we see him driving in the German countryside and running into Anna who he photographs. Anna very upset at her picture being taken runs off in the wood and Paul, in a state of confusion, drives into the first town that he come too. It's here that Paul finds out that the town's most respected and richest man Huber is interested in his pictures and uses his creepy daughter Hellen to bed Paul down in his hotel room in order to steal them.The movie never explains what the connection between Paul and Anna is and why are both Huber and Ellen so interested in Paul? Were also never told what did the opening sequence have to do with the rest of the movie anyway? We get some idea of what's going on when we start to see Huber involved with spiders and spider venom in his lab and that he uses the expensive paintings, that he stole after the war, from the local church to secretly sell to unscrupulous art dealer in order to finance his experiments. Were never really told what he's attempting to do with the venom and why. it seems that he's trying to create a super powerful poison & nerve gas agent to either revive his beloved Third Reich but we never really know for sure if Huber is a fugitive fanatical Nazi or not or if he just wants to sell his super poison WMD, Weapon of Mass Destruction, to the highest bidder just to enrich himself.The movie "Venom" goes on with Paul finding that Huber's saw mill that employs almost everyone in town is being used to saw people, who are killed by the "Spider-Girl" Anna, to pieces and then have their bodies, or whatever's left of them, disposed of.There's a number of locals working for both Huber & Ellen led by this not so bright thug Johann who always slips up and is such a burden on Haber's & Ellen's work with the spiders that he's viciously whipped on Hellen's orders. later Johann get's his revenge on Ellen by beating her head in and leaving her for dead as hundreds of deadly spiders break loose from their cages in Haber's lab."Venom" totally disintegrates, literally, at the end with almost everyone going up flames including what seem to be Anna's mother or guardian Frau Kessler. With the now totally insane Huber, doing an imitation of Anthony Perkins at the end "Psycho", looking like his face was badly stung by his spiders who were just as outraged at his experiments with them as the audience was in being conned, through false advertisements on the DVD box, into watching the movie. You watch "Venom" expecting something to happen and all you get is a number of unrelated scenes and people, what exactly did that bunch of thugs working for Huber have to do with the movie anyway? You also never get any intelligent answer to just what Anna had to do with Huber's experiments only getting some kind of lame explanation that she's being used by him like some kind of a scarecrow to scare people away from town in order to keep them from finding out about his secret experiments. Anna if anything else attracted Paul to the town and his being there spelled the end for Huber his daughter Hellen Frau Kessler and the rest of the gang of vicious and drunken hoodlums, including Johann, who worked for them.