Spider Baby

The first solo feature from exploitation legend Jack Hill (Foxy Brown), Spider Baby remains one of the wildest and weirdest horror films of the 1960s. The credits dub this “the maddest story ever told,” a promise that’s well on the way to being fulfilled in the opening scene alone, when Virginia traps and kills a hapless deliveryman in her makeshift web. She’s one of three siblings, including exploitation wild man Sid Haig, who suffer from a unique genetic disorder that causes them to regress back to childhood while retaining the physical strength and sexual maturity of adults. Lon Chaney, Jr. (The Wolf Man) gives one of his most memorable late performances as Bruno, who manages to cover up the crimes of the “kids” until two distant relatives lay claim to their house. Blending elements of gothic horror and gallows humor, Spider Baby drops somewhere between The Addams Family and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. (American Genre Film Archive)