The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)

Judging from what has been said from other commentators I was expecting one of the worst movies ever made. Make no mistake The Giant Spider Invasion is a bad movie- very bad in fact, the 2.7 rating is about right for it- but not atrocious and a long way from one of the worst movies ever made. Barbara Hale and Steve Brodie are decent, there is some unintentional entertainment value and a couple of the attacks are appropriately gruesome. To say that The Giant Spider Invasion is poorly made though is an understatement, often what is seen is close to incoherent. The spider is not a convincing threat at all, more goofy than menacing and the cheap puppet-like design is no help. The music sounds stock and inappropriate, when you can hear the dialogue you are kind of glad actually that the sound is poor and the story is thinly plotted, completely lacking in atmosphere and predictable. Apart from Barbara Hale and Steve Brodie, the acting is so terrible- especially from Alan Hale- that it's not worth any comments. All in all, not as atrocious as heard and expected but very bad. 3/10 Bethany Cox

First of all, I did not see this film when it was originally released, though I would have been at exactly the right age to have my childhood completely and utterly warped by its low budget charms. I didn't see it until well into the DVD revolution, when I snapped up the disc released by Fred Olen Ray's Retromedia outfit. So my opinions are in no way colored by nostalgia. However, having grown up scarfing down the offerings of Godzilla Week and Edgar Allen Poe/Vincent Price Week on WABC-TV's "The 4:30 Movie," as well as frequent viewings of Hammer Studios product on WOR-TV, I had all the necessary childhood exposure to shlock to appreciate this work of monster mastery by the Inoshiro Honda of Cheesheads, Bill Rebane. Having continued my education thanks to the VHS and DVD revolutions, exploring further down the pile, and finally having committed the complete works of Ed Wood to memory, I was probably finally prepared to consume the cinematic leavings of Mr. Rebane.Fortunately, this was the first of Rebane's works to meet my uncomprehending eyeballs. Good move, because if I had watched any of his other productions, I don't know if I would have bothered with TGSI. Anyway, here Rebane has some actual professional Hollywood actors on hand in the form of The Skipper and that lady that played Della Street. This helps matters immensely, and believe me, Rebane needs all the help he can get. When your monster is a beat-up VW Beetle covered in black shag carpeting and bendy straws (I'm probably making it sound more convincing with that description than it actually is), you really have to make up the difference somewhere else.Anyway, the plot unfolds pretty predictably for a story like this, and we are treated to some fun, rollicking low-budget monster action. If you go into this with a way-open mind and a sense of fun, (and perhaps some adult beverages), you might find some enjoyment here. But I would stay away from Rebane's other works---"Invasion From Inner Earth," "The Legend of Bigfoot" and several others too sad to even mention.Okay, I will mention Rebane's involvement in the worst excuse for a movie ever made, "Monster-A-Go-Go," which started off as an aborted project that Rebane never completed, and was "finished" by Herschell Gordon Lewis in one of the most cynical cash grabs ever in the history of filmmaking. But Rebane is not entirely culpable on that score, so I will give him a partial break on that.

Giant Spider Invasion, The (1975) * (out of 4) Alan Hale Jr., best known for the Skipper in Gilligan's Island, plays the sheriff of a small Wisconsin town who gets struck by a meteor and soon are being attacked by giant spiders. This is yet another drive-in film that probably got played at the bottom of a triple bill yet today it has a small cult following thanks in large part to countless unintentional laughs. The most notorious aspect of this film is a scene where the giant spider attacks a group of people at a baseball game. The spider, in this scene, is actually a Volkswagen Beetle with spider legs attached to it. I was looking forward to this scene but when it actually came up it's rather disappointing because you never can really tell that a car is behind it. Yes, it's obvious when you know it's there but you can never actually see the car. Outside of that the film is rather bland with some really bad performances but these do get a few laughs. There's a lot of white trash comedy running throughout the film and I must admit that some of it comes off quite well. Hale, Jr. is rather funny in his role even though it's clear he's just picking up a paycheck. The director even gives him some dialogue giving a wink to his role as the Skipper. I've read an interview where the director said that originally there weren't going to be any giant spiders but the producer later demanded it when he learned he'd be going up against Jaws. Since there's really just one giant spider I'm not sure if it really added anything too special to the movie, although I'm sure bad movie lovers will eat it up.

I saw this movie right after the god-awful MONSTER A GO-GO, but unlike this other film, THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION was bad but also kept my interest because it was so silly and a bit trashy--just the sort of film you and your friends can enjoy laughing at because it's so dopey.The worst thing about this film are the special effects. The outer space shots were just terrible and later in the film, the giant tarantula scenes were incredibly silly--not 100% bad--just very, very silly. Seeing the legs bobbing up and down was a hoot.The next worst thing is the White Trash aspects of the film. Although shot in Wisconsin (a veritable film mecca), many of the main characters are trashy hillbillies that seemed a bit out of place. But they were so badly overplayed and such terrible stereotypes that they looked more like characters from the game "Redneck Rampage" or perhaps guests on "The Jerry Springer Show" than real people. Such terrible writing and acting has to be seen to believed.Now this is a very bad film but not quite bad enough to make the hallowed pantheon of badness. A few scenes (not many, of course) were pretty good and the story, while dumb, is watchable. Plus, it's kind of fun to watch Alan Hale, Jr. playing one of the laziest and least effective sheriffs since "The Dukes of Hazzard". Once, early in the film, he called a kid "little buddy" because he appears to have forgotten that "Gilligan's Island" had been canceled.Overall, this isn't Shakespeare, but with the title of this film you certainly couldn't expect anything different.FYI--There is a tiny bit of nudity in the film. It's gratuitous and parents are cautioned about letting younger kids view this film--not just because of the nudity but because a film this stupid might just have serious long term effects on a young child's brain!!