Search - Horrors of Spider Island on DVD

Spider Island Is Hot, But No Paradise!

Bill W. Dalton | Santa Ana, CA USA | 11/16/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I first saw this movie on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and they
gave it their usual hilarious treatment, but even when viewed on its
own it's still pretty hilarious. Alexander D'Arcy (Blood of
Dracula's Castle) stars as the hapless hero, Gary, the manager of a
girls' dance troupe. Barbara Valentin, in her screen debut, stars as
Babs, the pouty-faced sexpot on the make for him. Both D'Arcy
and Valentin had long careers in European films and TV, but the
rest of the cast in Spider Island seem to have disappeared along
with this movie.And no wonder. The acting is bad, the dubbed-in dialog is dumb,
the plot is ludicrous, the editing is poor, the special effects are
awful, the direction is amateurish, and it's not even in color. So
it's definitely one of those so-bad-it's-funny movies. For instance,
when the planes takes off for the tour it's a twin-engine plane, but
when shown in flight, it's a four-engine plane. And when Gary
finds a sledgehammer on the island he says, "A hammer...with a
long handle!" And surmises that someone has been mining
uranium on the island! Wouldn't anybody? (And how does one
mine for uranium with a hammer, anyway?) And check out the
face on that spider! Incredible! And when Gary is bitten by the
crab-like spider he transforms immediately into a monster that
looks more like a werewolf than a spider. (Why didn't the
professor turn into a monster when the spider got him?) After
Linda is killed by monster Gary he's seen running into the woods
and in the next scene one of the girls mentions that they've now
been on the island for 28 days. 28 days on a small island with a
murderous monster running around loose, and nothing at all has
happened in that time? And so on... Star D'Arcy (a veteran of Hollywood earlier in his career) said in
an interview that he actually rewrote the script and directed the
movie. If true, then we have him to blame for this mess. He said
director Fritz Böttger was incompetent and that the actresses were
"second class." He may be right about the direction. The movie
plays as if there were two, or even more, people directing it, each
working against the other. But the actresses were not second class,
at least not in their natural endowments. The bevy of big-breasted
babes are the best thing about this movie.

This DVD edition features a short subject starring Joi Lansing
(The Atomic Submarine) in a musical video called "Web of Love"
which is more interesting for her abundant cleavage than for her
singing voice. Mary Blair (who is she?) does a burlesque-style
striptease in a second short subject called "Spider Girl," interesting
only for its seeming antiquity. And there's a more modern
striptease number, also with a spider web theme. The montage of
lurid schlock movie posters with voice-over radio spot ads is very
amusing, as well. And there are some prevues of other Something
Weird movies available. The snap case has two pages of
interesting liner notes and chapter index. The image quality and
sound are good, so all in all, this is a pretty good DVD value, if
you're a fan, like me, of really bad sci-fi/horror movies."

Eight Half-Naked Showgirls VS Giant Spider Puppet!

Robin Simmons | 10/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

""HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND"Ever walk into a spider web in the dark? Well, this movie's nothing like that. New from Image Entertainment, is this black and white exploitation flick from 1960. The late(?) great Fritz Bottger directs -- well, kind of -- eight sexy showgirls and their macho manager who survive a plane crash on a remote tropical island. The practical gals are survivors! Not only that, they represent a crss section of "female pulchritude" (as Hef used to say back in the 60's). So, lucky for us, they quickly adjust to the stifling heat and strip to their underwear. Yippeeee! (Hey, it's crucial to the, ahem, story). Almost immediately they discover a dead scientist caught in a giant web. Uh oh. Soon, their testosterone crazed manager is bitten by a giant spider and, get this, grows claws, fangs, and lots of facial hair. Maybe he's on steroids as well 'cause he seems to be in a "roid" rage and becomes a pest in the worst way. I don't want to spoil the plot -- oops, did I say plot? -- so I won't give away any more lest I spoil it for first time viewers.The dubbing is atrocious but adds a weird, je ne sais quoi, patina to the ever increasing distortion of reality. An authentic classic of its kind. Cinema merde? Must be seen to be believed. Five blazing stars! Like a nightmare you can't run from - but laugh at later. Warning: Don't watch this in any kind of altered state -- you may never return to the reality we all attempt to share. (Not Rated, Full Frame (wow!), Mono (not the disease), No Region Code (you can watch it anywhere in the world!), 76 fleshy minutes.)"

You Go, Babs !!!!!

frankenberry | Los Angeles, CA USA | 11/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Babs, a beautiful blonde bombshell with a very FULL figure (check out those humongoid legs!), is just one of a bunch of gorgeous (?!) dancer-models who crash land on a deserted island. When the girls aren't skinny-dipping, cat-fighting, or dancing around the cabin, they are occasionally menaced by their chaperone who has become a hairy-faced beast (but only in the close-up shots!) because he got bitten by a giant spider. An amazing LAUGH RIOT of a movie ... a true classic of euro-trash cinema. You may remember seeing photos of this film in old issues of Famous Monsters magazine, but since the film was never sold to TV, most of us never had a chance to see it until Something Weird came up with this print. Now it's on DVD and you NEED to BUY IT!!!! You will love the priceless inane dialog, the atrocious dubbing (check out the girl with the southurn' accent!) the complete lack of continuity, the abundance of titilation between the girls and let's not forget that very cute bug-eyed spider. Damn fine show!!!!The DVD has a few stripper-shorts with spiderweb themes and that gallery of horror-explotation art w/ radio spots, but this time the MOVIE itself is the real MAIN ATTRACTION. Don't Miss It!"

Big babes and a spider man

Michael P. Dobey | colorado springs | 09/13/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"One must congratulate something wierd video for the restoration they did on this movie. All movies deserve such care regardless how bad they are.
What I found fascinating about this grade b- horror/sexplotation movie from 1962 is the women in it. The movie used it's horror element to have women dance around in skinny bikinis. People today would look at these women and say: "they have lots of curves but also have a bit of extra pounds like larger legs." They are attractive even by todays standards but that would have been seen as very sexy back then. a super curvy woman with extra wieght including huge legs was not a problem in 1961. throughout history women with that type of figure was seen as the very healthy and desirable often! the idea that women shouldn't have any extra pounds only started in the late sixties. (not that skinny women weren't around in plentiful amounts though) Anyways the previous thirteen reviews have let you know what this movie is about. But the filmakers obviously had little money making this movie because after gary gets bitten only his head and hands change into a hairy spider man. which looks quite odd but after all this is what you'd expect from this type of bottom budget effort. And this is what you get when you buy this dvd. This is fun if you let it be fun and a drag if you expect anything of quality. That's the secret to enjoying bottom budget horror and sci fi movies from any decade. ever seen dracula 3000? well this type of shlock is still around and you take it or leave it. Lots of people choose to take it though!"