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Earth vs. the Spider (1958)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
September 1958 (USA) moreTagline:
It Must Eat You to Live! morePlot:
Teenagers from a rural community and their high school science teacher join forces to battle a giant mutant spider. full summary | add synopsisUser Comments:
Chilling AIP programmer which succeeds in investing its proceedings with a definite air of spookiness. more (50 total)US TV Schedule:
| Sat. Nov. 21 | 3:30 AM | AMC |
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Ed Kemmer | ... | Professor Art Kingman | |
| June Kenney | ... | Carol Flynn | |
| Eugene Persson | ... | Mike Simpson (as Gene Persson) | |
| Gene Roth | ... | Sheriff Cagle | |
| Hal Torey | ... | Mr. Simpson | |
| June Jocelyn | ... | Mrs. Jack Flynn | |
| Mickey Finn | ... | Sam Haskel, Road Foreman | |
| Sally Fraser | ... | Mrs. Helen Kingman | |
| Troy Patterson | ... | Joe | |
| Skip Young | ... | Sam the Bass Player | |
| Howard Wright | ... | Jake | |
| Bill Giorgio | ... | Deputy Sheriff Pete Sanders | |
| Hank Patterson | ... | Hugo the River Falls H.S. Janitor | |
| Jack Kosslyn | ... | Mr. Fraser, Camera Club Teacher | |
| Bob Garnet | ... | Springdale Pest Control Man |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
73 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoFilming Locations:
Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA moreFun Stuff
Trivia:
This was filmed as "The Spider". Prior to completion, the title was changed to "Earth vs. The Spider" and that was used for the main title on the film itself. When The Fly (1958) became a blockbuster for 20th Century Fox, American International decided to ride on their success by changing the title back to simply "The Spider" on all advertising material. The main title on the film itself was never changed. moreGoofs:
Continuity: When a citizen is fleeing from town and sees the spider return to the cave it is dark. The next scene back in town seen from the Sheriffs office it is clearly still daytime. moreQuotes:
Sheriff Cagle: [to a deputy after finding a desiccated body in a cave] Uh, you get back to town and make up a coroner's report. Just put down Jack Flynn as the name and the cause of death... uh...Mr. Kingman: It was a spider drained all the liquid out of his body.
Sheriff Cagle: [Officiously] Just put down "cause unknown" and let the coroner worry about the rest. That's the trouble with you eggheads - you jump to conclusions! I know what I see and I see a dead man, but, uh, I don't see any spider.
more
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This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (50 total)
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When EARTH VS. THE SPIDER crawled onto theatre screens nationwide in 1958 and first appeared on television in 1963 it was under the title THE SPIDER. Thus its current label is somewhat of an enigma. Perhaps the additional prefix of EARTH VS. was part of its original intended title (with actual prints struck as such) but was deemed too ambitious for what actually transpires in the movie. Possibly because of this title's similarity to the Ray Harryhausen epic EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (released a few years earlier) it was feared to be an infringement on the Harryhausen work (or it could be mistaken as a re-release of same) and was shortened to the more appropriate THE SPIDER.
EARTH VS. THE SPIDER has the handicap of being a steal of Jack Arnold's TARANTULA (1955) and like all giant mutation films of the 1950's following in the wake of the 1954 sci-fi masterpiece THEM! (trying to emulate its distinctive qualities and commercial success) but taken on its own terms it successfully establishes its own eerie atmosphere and excitement that makes it popular today.
Comparison with TARANTULA is unavoidable but while both films utilize an actual tarantula spider (for practical purposes) EARTH VS. THE SPIDER usually manipulates the title protagonist in confined, claustrophobic surroundings when pursuing its intended prey to great effect (the expansive yet enclosed underground caverns, the high school gymnasium and the climatic confrontation on the cavern ledge, etc.). Further this monster also spins a web (unlike the title menace in TARANTULA) and a great deal of suspense and tension is achieved as nosey intruders are caught in it while the wailing bellow of the approaching creature is heard.
The giant spider's cave sanctuary is as much a character as the spider itself and it engenders a tremendous sense of foreboding and dread as the two teenagers and later as the town sheriff, his deputies and some townspeople approach and enter it (the mood is beautifully underscored by Albert Glasser's ominous background music).
In comparison to the technical virtuosity of THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD released the same year (or any Harryhausen film of the period) the special effects in EARTH VS. THE SPIDER are thin beer indeed but adequate. These effects include rear projection, split screens, superimposures, miniatures and forced perspective utilizing photographic plates of famed Carlsbad Caverns. At the film's suspenseful finale there appears to be an unheralded moment of stop motion animation of the giant spider dangling along a precipice and the closing image of the dead creature impaled on stalagmite on the cavern floor (actually a painting) is quite impressive.
All told EARTH VS. THE SPIDER is a film well worth looking into.