Ein Toter hing im Netz (1960)

User Rating:

2.0/10   

Director:

Fritz Böttger

Writers:

Fritz Böttger (writer)
Eldon Howard (writer)

Release Date:

March 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A handful of girls enslaved by a diabolical human beast on an island where there is no way out...

Plot:

Survivors of a plane crash on a remote island find it is covered by spiders. When bitten, the survivors start turning into spiders!

Plot Keywords:

Spider | Crash | Island | Skinny Dipping | Dancer

Cast

Alexander D'Arcy	...	Gary Webster (as Alex d'Arcy)
Barbara Valentin	...	Babs (US version) (as Barbara Valentine)
Rainer Brandt	...	Bobby (as Allen Turner)
Harald Maresch	...	Joe (US version) (as Temple Foster)
Elfie Wagner	...	Linda (US version) (as Donna Ulsike)
Dorothee Parker	...	Gladys (as Norma Townes)
Helga Franck	...	Georgia
Helga Neuner	...	Ann
Gerry Sammer	...	May
Eva Schauland	...	Nelly
Helma Vandenberg	...	Kate (as Helma van den Berg)
Walter Faber	...	Mike Blackwood

Also Known As:

A Corpse Hangs in the Web (International: English title) (literal title)
Body in the Web (USA)
Ein toter Hing Im Netz (West Germany) (dubbed version)
Girls of Spider Island (USA) (video title)
Horrors of Spider Island (USA) (reissue title)
It's Hot in Paradise (USA)
The Spider's Web (USA)

Runtime:

89 min | Germany:81 min | USA:77 min

Country:

West Germany | Yugoslavia

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Nicola, Yugoslavia

Company:

Intercontinental Film GmbH

Trivia:

Also included as one of the selections in Elvira's (Cassandra Peterson) "Something Weird" collection (seen on Comcast On Demand, Oct. 2006).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Gary repeatedly refers to the gun as a revolver, yet it has no cylinder. Later, he loads a magazine into it, thereby proving it is not a revolver.

Quotes:

Bobby: What are dancers? Hot goods for cold nights.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Horrors of Spider Island (#11.11)" (1999)

The Spiders of Whores Island

Silly, stupid, bad acting, worse dubbing, non-existent plot...I liked this movie!

Manly and ruggedly handsome Gary and his sweet and shrewd girlfriend Georgia are taking a team of dancing girls down to Singapore. Too bad their plane catches fire and slams into the ocean at full speed. Miraculously, Gary, Georgia and most of the dancers survive this horrific accident with not a broken limb or even a bruise in sight. They wash up on an uncharted desert isle and find a cabin containing a corpse hanging in a giant spider web. Momentarily upset, they soon shrug it off and strip down to their underwear while a sultry sax plays. Gary wanders off into the stormy night after Georgia catches him playing tongue wars with one of the sluttier dancers. He never returns. Georgia and the other girls are now alone on the island...or are they? Some unknown menace strangles the slut and then disappears again, leaving the rest of the girls to go skinny dipping and wrestle each other in their underwear. When a small boat arrives, carrying the partners of the dead man in the web, there's time for a wild dance party and lots of making out before sailing home. Unfortunately, Gary has been waiting all this time (having done nothing but hide inside of a tree for the entire middle of the movie) and makes his appearance on this last night, ready to wreak bloody carnage! Gary has been bitten by a mutant spider and is now one himself...sort of. Actually, he looks kind of like Neanderthal Man with glue- on vampire fangs but we're supposed to believe that he is now a spider monster!

The horror elements of this film seemed almost an afterthought, thrown in to attract a larger crowd. Really, this is just an exploitation film, featuring lots of curvy young women gadding about in their underthings, dancing, cat-fighting, swimming, bathing and seducing the young men who find them. It's a terrible movie, but it's amusing nonetheless. If you like cheap exploitation and aren't picky about things like plot, then you'll enjoy this one. It's a really poor man's Russ Meyer film...with spiders!