The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946)

A young girl goes to work as a live-in caretaker for a spooky old woman. She doesn't know that every night, the woman drains some blood from her to feed her strange plant.

Director:

Arthur Lubin

Writer:

Eric Taylor

Stars:

Gale Sondergaard, Brenda Joyce, Kirby Grant

Cast

Credited cast:
Gale Sondergaard	...	Miss Zenobia Dollard
Brenda Joyce	...	Jean Kingsley
Kirby Grant	...	Hal Wentley
Milburn Stone	...	Mr. Moore
Rondo Hatton	...	Mario the Monster Man
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Bill Stapleton
Ruth Robinson	...	Mrs. Wentley (scenes deleted)
Adda Gleason	...	Martha (scenes deleted)
Lois Austin	...	Jenny Hawks (scenes deleted)
Tom Daly	...	Sam Julian (scenes deleted)
Eula Guy	...	Molly Cowin (scenes deleted)
Norman Leavitt	...	Tom, an angry rancher
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Guy Beach
William Sundholm

Storyline

Jean takes the job of caretaker/companion (before the word took on a completely alternate-life style meaning) to blind woman Zenobia. Also hanging around the house, in this horror/western, is Mario, a deaf-mute servant who evidently wasn't much help to Zenobia when it came to identifying the source of a noise Zenobia couldn't see. Jean is a little slow in realizing that Zenobia is slowly killing her by taking her blood. Nothing personal. Zenobia needs her blood to feed some plants. She uses the blossoms of the plants to make poison to kill cattle in order to drive away the local ranchers so she can buy all the land...cheap.

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Plot Keywords:

plant | blood

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 April 1947 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

A Vingança da Mulher Aranha

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

59 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Part of the original SHOCK THEATER package of 52 Universal titles released to television in 1957, followed a year later with SON OF SHOCK, which added 21 more features.

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Connections

Spun-off from The Spider Woman (1944)

User Reviews

THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK (Arthur Lubin, 1946) *1/2

Despite the title and the presence of two of Sherlock Holmes' most formidable nemesis (Gale Sondergaard and Rondo Hatton - hilariously named Zenobia and Mario respectively!), this is one lame film which has nothing whatsoever to do with one of the better Universal Sherlock Holmes entries. As a matter of fact, the story is weak, the premise far-fetched, the resolution predictable and the treatment uninspired! Besides, the fiery climax is clumsily executed and Hatton's fidgeting...er...sign language eventually gets on one's nerves! It's fair to say, then, that director Lubin fared much better with the other two 'horror' films he made for the studio - BLACK Friday (1940) and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943), even if these weren't completely satisfying either...