Movie Time: Spider Baby

Last week I noted we're on a countdown to the cold clammy embrace of Halloween and as such, the weekly movie post is on a downward spiral of a tour of older horror films of questionable quality and taste.

Today's post is not an exception to that.

This movie is a bad one, folks! 

It's... Movie Time!  

Today's movie was shot in 1964 but was not released until 1967.

Starring Lon Chaney Jr and no one else you've ever heard of, this is Spider-Baby.

Bear witness to the Merrye House, a large decrepit structure on the edge of town, a  fearsome and foreboding place.   

Locals know to keep their distance. Because of the children.

The children are mad, malevolent.  And if you believe the stories, they are murderers as well.

The Merrye children Ralph, Virginia, and Elizabeth live in seclusion with the family chauffeur Bruno since the death of their parents.  

The children have advanced Merrye Syndrome, a genetic affliction unique to members of the family.  Upon entering late childhood, the condition causes them which causes them to regress down the evolutionary ladder mentally and physically. 

They exhibit a playful innocence of younger children interspersed with fits of psychotic feral madness.

Ralph is a mentally deficient simpleton who moves through the house via the dumb-waiter. His mental and emotion regression is further confused by his growing adolescent sexual awakening. He's a horny teen trapped with the brain of a toddler. 

Virginia has an obsession with spiders and likes it play a game with hapless wayward visitors called "spider". This game involves trapping the victim and stabbing them repeatedly with butcher knives. 

Elizabeth is the youngest but paradoxically also the most responsible. But even she is compelled by the family genetic mutation to emotional outbursts. She is conniving and manipulative with an obsession with the concept of hate. 

They are quite a lot of manage, almost more than Bruno can handle. But a made a promise to their dying parents to always take care of them and protect them from the world and by golly, the old miserable sonuvabitch is gonna keep his word. 

A hard promise to keep that gets harder still when the outside world comes calling.   

Entering our dreadful tale of terror:

• Peter Howe, distance relative of the Merrye family
• Emily, Peter's sister.
• Schlocker, Peter and Emily's lawyer
• Ann, Schlocker's secretary.

Peter and Emily have arrived to claim the Merry House as their property, as heirs to the Merry family assets.  

Bruno tries to coach and guide the children to at least try to act like normal people but hell, Bruno himself is not exactly a master of normal social skills.  

Our intruding foursome insists on sticking around to check out the place. 

Good! It'll make it easier for the children to kill them.  

Realizing the gig is up and he's kept his promise to the parents as long as he could, Bruno makes plans to end things once and for all.

There's a highway construction site up the road with some handy dandy explosives.

Any resemblance of a civilized facade falls away as the four visitors realize that these kids are weird as fuck and may be about to kill them. 

Virginia and Elizabeth murder Schlocker. He's the lawyer so we don't care.

Emily discovers Schlocker's body and freaks out. Ralph chases her out of the house and into the woods where he makes her his special friend (I.e. sexually assaults her).  

Virginia ties Peter to a chair to play a game of "spider".

Ralph returns to the house to corner Ann to be his next special friend.

Yes, I agree! This is some sick shit! 

Emily returns to the house, traumatized and delirious from her assault and she attacks Ralph in a murderous rage. Virginia and Elizabeth intervene to protect Ralph and...

Whoops! Now Emily's dead.

Peter gets loose and recovers Ann to escape from the house just as Bruno returns with the explosives.

As Peter and Ann flee, the house explodes, killing everyone inside.

Ten years later...

Peter and Ann are married with a daughter.  Peter is relieved there is no sign of the "Merrye Family Syndrome".

But... 

(You knew there was a "but".) 

We see Peter and Ann's daughter playing outside when she becomes obsessed with watching a spider.

The nightmare still lives?

But the movie has ended and...

Holy hell! What the fuck was all that?

Jack Hill wrote the script with the idea that the role of Bruno would go to  Lon Chaney Jr.

• Chaney read the script.
• Chaney liked the script.
• Chaney has questionable tastes in movie scripts.

But the producers could only offer him $2,500 to take the part and that was such a lowly pittance for an actor like Lon Chaney Jr. 

Upon hearing that John Carradine was up for the role, suddenly Chaney decided $2,500 was just fine. 

Before landing on the title of Spider Baby, other titles were considered: 

• The Liver Eaters
• Attack of the Liver Eaters
• Cannibal Orgy
• The Maddest Story Ever Told

While the opening titles identify the movie as Spider Baby, there's also a secondary title card that calls the film The Maddest Story Ever Told.

Lon Chaney Jr's opening narration also promised us a "cannibal orgy" but sorry to get your hopes up but there is no orgy, cannibal or otherwise. 

If any of this movie sounds familiar, it's pretty much the template for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  

And the most controversial episode of X-Files about a house full of devolved mutant freaks owes a lot to Spider-Baby.  

Next week for Movie Time's countdown to Halloween, the movies are not going to get any better.  

Next week we descend into a bloody pit of horror for a movie called (wait for it!) Bloody Pit of Horror! 

Your Friday Video Link Gets Sidetracked

When I'm travelling, I will see a road veering off the main highway and I will wonder where that road goes to, what sights may be seen by going off on a thin strip of road curling through the trees or around a hill or over a river.

On Your Friday Video Link today, we're going to meet a man for whom such quests and questions are a way off life. 

This is Sidetrack Adventures hosted by Steve! 

Based out of San Diego, Steve ventures forth to explore all sorts of roads: 

• back roads
• side roads
• abandoned roads 
• the roads less travelled

Along the way, Steve discovers historic and hidden landmarks. 

Let's start with a trek Steve made on a 100 mile stretch of read described as "The Most Desolate Highway In California". 

Desolate? But Steve will still make this journey interesting. 

Steve tracks Route 66 through the Mojave Desert and explores some ghost towns along this iconic route.  

Sidetrack Adventures is more than just Steve fixing a camera on his dashboard and randomly babbling about what he sees. This guy puts some serious work into these videos. 

He incorporates drone footage to provide context for the roads he explores. He researches the history of the places he journeys to and includes archival maps and photos.  

This next video is a bit long but I found it particularly fascinating.  Steve explores the entirety of Las Vegas Boulevard miles and miles before it becomes the iconic stretch of highway known as The Strip.

Every road begins somewhere and this journey starts with a stretch of highway that is barely more than rubble and sometimes not even paved.  

Here is an interview with Steve about who he is and why he does what he does.

I'm enjoying these Sidetrack Adventures and Steve's exploration of the question, "Hey! Where does that road go to?"

That's is that for this week's edition of Your Friday Video Link.

We're back this weekend with Movie Time and Star Trekking.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.

And safe travels exploring the road less traveled.  

Dave-El's Spinner Rack: Batman-palooza!

 A recent visit to Acme Comics of Greensboro NC procured me some new comics books.

Especially a whole bunch o' Bat books.

Which will be the focus of today's post.

Batman#12

Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez bring Verity Pennyworth into the Bat-Family.

It looks like Alfred is going to stay dead.

Bruce Wayne is a bit gob smacked by Verity's arrival.

Alfred the A.I. Hologram informs Bruce it was all there in the paperwork: final wishes, last will and testament, household transfer plans, et cetera. 

Paperwork that Bruce has been reluctant to read.   

Verity is a remarkable woman. She gets Damien to laugh.

Meanwhile,  a strange eclectic variety of specialty assassins are arriving in Gotham City.

Target: Bruce Wayne.  

Batman's got some cleaning up to do.

Batman - Bad Seeds: Sunset#1

Oh shit, it's a crossover event?!?!

Taking place over 10 (Count 'em---TEN!) weeks and a multitude of Bat Fam titles.

I ain't got that kind of time or coin! 

I'm gonna try to keep up through the book end specials and Batman and that's it! 

So what the hell is going on?

Co-written by Matt Fraction and G. Willow Wilson, the special sets up what will be on very long, very dark and very bad night for Gotham City.  

Gotham City Mayor Pamela Isley (AKA Poison Ivy) plans to make the city a gift to the Parliament of Trees (it's a thing Alan Moore created in the Swamp Thing series about 40 years ago) by overrunning Gotham with prehistoric plant life.

Isley is doing this for... reasons. 

Well, it makes sense to Pamela Isley. 

By sunrise, Gotham City will be subsumed and lost forever.

Commissioner Vandal Savage meets the problem with the only solution he knows, brute force in the form of his paramilitary police force.

Batman and his associates are spread out over the city, trying to save lives, stop Savage and his police goons from making things worse and head off the problem at the source: how to convince Isley to stop doing this.  

Will this really need 10 weeks of comic books to sort out this one night of terror?  The greedy bastards at DC are getting enough of my money.

Batman#13

Is this Matt Fraction's first misstep in his epic run as writer?

Well, that can happen when you have to sublimate your long term plans to a larger crossover event.

Drawn by guest artist Matteo Scalera (who does a fantastic job), the bulk of the issue involves Batman engaged in a siege of Gotham City Police HQ to get to Vandal Savage for...  reasons.

It seems that Savage has a chemical weapon that he intends to use to kill Pamela Isley.  But that won't stop what she's started, the overpowering of Gotham City with prehistoric plant life.

Batman needs Isley alive to stop what she started and Savage is threatening all that with his brute force agenda.

I asked if this issue was a misstep because as much as it's cool to watch Batman by his own damn self take on the entire Gotham police force, I expect more from Fraction that one issue long fight scene, no matter how cool it's written or how well it's drawn.

And goddammit, it is a very well done sequence. But...

These comics cost to damn much to not have more meat on the bones than this issue delivers.

Batman of Two Worlds#1

This is a special issue released for Batman Day.

It is NOT a team up between our main universe Batman and Absolute Batman as many fans may have anticipated.

What we get are two short stories.

The main universe Batman gives us the tale of a high tech robbery told from the perspective of a small, downtrodden security guard who sold out for a million dollars to leave the keys out for the robbers.  

The Absolute Batman story tells of a similar tale of a robbery aided by an inside man. 

Both stories highlight the differences in the two version of Batman.  In the first story, Batman employs tactical strategies to catch the escaping robbers while the Absolute Batman confronts the robbers head on with brute strength and heavy self made armaments.  

Absolute Batman exists in the universe created by Darkseid.  This version of Batman does not have the resources of near unlimited wealth.  Bruce Wayne is a blue collar civil engineer.

If you want to know more about Absolute Batman, click here for the Wikipedia entry.   

No, I have not been following Absolute Batman due to the aforementioned lack of time and coin to keep up with every damn thing. 

Batman & Robin: Year One: Dynamic Duos#1-#2 

Mark Waid and Chris Samnee are back with a follow up to my favorite Batman series from last year as they continue to explore the formative first year of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson as Batman and Robin.  

Why does the title of the book have the word "Duos" (plural)?

Perhaps it's because Catwoman is flitting around the edges in her classic purple dress/green cape ensemble? (My favorite look for Catwoman, I will admit.) I suppose the Cat will entice the Bat at some point to create a different partnership than the one Bruce has with his young protégé.

There's a new criminal conspiracy afoot. It's Gotham City, there's always some damn criminal conspiracy or whatever going on.

This one centers around a gang of criminal urchins. Batman has sent a disguised Dick Grayson to infiltrate the gang. 

Things take a turn when the the undercover Robin is ordered to shoot Catwoman! 

Holy deadly dilemmas, Bat-Fans! 

Next week, Dave-El's Spinner Rack returns with DC super teams: Justice League and the return of the Legion of Super Heroes! 

The Secret To Marriage

I can't believe I let last week go by without mentioning this: last Friday was Andrea and I's 32nd wedding anniversary.

Last year I was chatting with a young man who had just gotten married and he was impressed that Andrea and I had been married for over 30 years.  He asked me what was the secret to our marriage lasting so long.

So I hauled out this old chestnut: "Never go to bed angry."

Then I added this: "I'VE BEEN AWAKE FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS!!"  

The young man laughed and laughed and laughed and then he sold us a new HVAC system for the house.

But seriously, what is the secret to our marriage?

Andrea gave me an anniversary card that I think perfectly encapsulates our long and enduring partnership.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

If you're familiar with this blog, you might've guessed we went to Olive Garden to celebrate our anniversary.

Why?

• Because Olive Garden is Andrea's favorite restaurant.
• I love my wife.
• And I had a free Olive Garden gift card I won at work.

By the way, Andrea's gift to me inside the anniversary greeting card was (you guessed it!) another Olive Garden gift card.

Which I will likely use when her birthday comes 'round next year.

• So we understand each other.
• And we love each other.
• And yes, we annoy each other. 

And that is the secret to marriage. 

And I'm so glad my suffering amuses you. 

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Lanterns

Sunday, the season finale of Lanterns dropped and wow! What a wild ride!

Lanterns has been challenging and I mean that in a good way.

Expectations were set and then defied.

The core mythology of the Green Lantern comics was embraced and then reshaped into something new.

The TV series set a course for somewhere new while twists and turns in the narratives carried us through to a surprising destination.

Who knew that HBO's next Game of Thrones level hit would be based on Green Lantern comic books? 

I want to take a moment to speak in defense of Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan.  Yes, the concept of Hal could be a struggle to accept as this character was frequently an ornery old often unlikeable sonuvabitch. 

And yet he was also funny, charming even and yes, insightful.  

Hey, comic book nerds complaining Kyle Chandler's NOT the Hal Jordan from your precious comic books, I would assert you weren't paying attention.

Comics Hal could be an arrogant asshole with ring but  a constant fuck up without it.  

As I covered in this post from last month, comics Hal complained to the Guardians that if they didn't stop mucking about with his life, he was gonna quit. Then he whined like a bitch when they let him.  

As for the TV version of Hal being cranky about training John Stewart to be a Green Lantern, you may recall from this same post that comics Hal griped about recruiting John to the GL Corps in Green Lantern#87.

Look, TV Hal may have dialed up his asshole quotient to "11" (twice he abandoned John in a crashing automobile) but Kyle Chandler's take on Hal Jordan was not as far removed from the comics as the fan boys were complaining about.

Here's an adjective I can apply to Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan that I rarely could apply to comic book Hal: "interesting".

A word also about Aaron Pierre who takes John Stewart on quite journey over the course of the season, from the cold stoic soldier just following orders to an older, wiser and crankier person who has had enough of this shit. I've enjoyed watching Aaron's John Stewart evolve.

So we come to the end of the season? How did the season finale unfold?

We find out Zoey was not the last Manhunter; her grandson Noah is a Manhunter.

But Noah isn't the one who shot Hal Jordan; it was Kerry.

So Halogram (Ring created Hal Jordan hologram) was right about who murdered him!

John Stewart gets his own ring and power battery and lays out the deal with Guy Gardner what's what regarding Green Lanterns on Earth.

Halogram says good-bye! (Forever? We're told it is but yeah, probably not.) 

John Stewart powers up and learns to fly! About damn time! 

And we've reached the end! 

I think I'm happy with the how when where & why things ended up.

So whazzup with season 2?  While the Lanterns production team has assembled a writer's room to plot out season 2 and apparently HBO Max would love to sign off on that, DC Studios has not made known it's intentions on that subject. 

So that is that for this week's Touchbase. 

Next week it's all ABC with Scrubs. Abbott Elementary and Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune.  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.

Other People Have Something To Say

If you read today's earlier post on my thoughts about Christa Pike and the death penalty, well, God bless you and thank you for your sacrifice.

But you might wonder, "Gee! Dave-El, where is your weekly diatribe about whatever fuckery Donald Trump was/is/will be up to?", well, sometimes I need a break and will turn to others to do the heavy lifting.

First up, here's Dave Columbo with his "Week In Trump" to catch you up to speed of the most recent 7 days in hell.

Feeling despair over the god forsaken world that Li'l Donnie has made for us?  Here's Elle Cordova to provide some context and perhaps a glimmer of hope. 

But if the words of other people are not sufficient, let me remind you of the official position of yours truly, Dave-El and I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You Inc..

Donald Trump is a  lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, sociopathic, dishonorable, treasonous, gutless, moronic, heartless, soulless, slimy, loathsome, vile, incompetent, psychotic, crooked, disgusting, reprehensible, revolting, horrible, malicious, obnoxious, hateful, narcissistic, small-minded, despicable god damn, motherfucking piece of shit!

There! I hope that tides you over for your weekly Trump post.

We're back tomorrow with the Tuesday TV Touch base.

Remember to be good to one another and...

HELL YEAH! BRING ON THE DAMN MIDTERMS! 

The Revenge Business

The topic of today's post is the death penalty.

WARNING:  This post is not going to be fun at all.

This is going to get into some intense stuff.  

The purpose of this post is to try to put into words some semblance of order on my thoughts about the Christa Pike case in particular and the general overall idea of the death penalty.

I do not assert any special wisdom or insight.  I'm just one guy with some opinions I want to put down in writing.

_________________________________________

In "Take This Sabbath Day", the 14th episode of the 1st season of The West Wing, President Jed Bartlett is facing a decision, to commute the death sentence of Simon Cruz, a drug trafficker who murdered two drug kingpins.

President Bartlet asks a visiting Democratic operative named Joey Lucas why she opposes the death penalty.

Joey:  "The state shouldn't kill people."

Bartlett seeks religious advice from Father Cavanaugh who cites Romans 12:19.   

Cavanaugh: '''Vengeance is mine,' sayeth the Lord.' You know what that means? God is the only one who gets to kill people."

But I think it's the counsel Bartlett receives from his young aide, Charlie Young, that has resonated with me the most over the years since I saw this episode.  

Charlie's mother was a police officer who was shot dead in the line of duty.  The president asks Charlie if the person who killed his mother was caught and convicted, wouldn't Charlie want to see the state put that person to death?

Charlie says no.

Charlie: "I wouldn't want to see him executed, I'd wanna do it myself."

I'm not sure if it's made clear why the case of Simon Cruz merits the special dispensation of review by President Bartlett but nonetheless the case is before him and he grapples with it.

Jed Bartlett the man would rather not put this man, any man to death.  

Jed Bartlett the President has to consider the rule of law, the will of the people and I'm sure some other damn 3rd thing and...

The moment passes.

The execution of Simon Cruz is carried out. 

Like a lot of people these days, the subject of the death penalty has been put front and center in my thoughts of late, put there by the drama surrounding the execution of Christa Pike.

And the failure of that execution. 

On September 30th, Christa Pike was strapped to a gurney and given two injections of pentobarbital.  These lethal injections are designed to cause the recipient to become unconscious, stop breathing, and develop a heart arrhythmia, culminating in death.

Witnesses to the execution noted Pike was calm during the procedure but admitted to feeling pain and discomfort in her arm. Then she became unconscious.  

And began snoring.  

The two doses of the drug designed to kill her had failed to do so.

As I write this, Christa Pike is currently in a hospital on a ventilator as the medical staff work to purge the pentobarbital from her system.  

While watching videos and reading stories on this unfolding saga, I have been struck by the uniformity of the comments which can be summarized as this:  Christa Pike is an evil bitch who does not deserve our sympathy and we should not forget what she did to Colleen Slemmer.

Let's discuss what Christa Pike did to Colleen Slemmer.

Caution: this part is very grim and gruesome.  

In 1995,  18 year old Christa Pike and her boyfriend 17 year old Tadaryl Shipp lured 19 year old Colleen Slemmer into the woods. Over the course of 30 minutes, Colleen was tormented and tortured.  A pentagram was carved into her chest while she was still alive. This frenzy of torture ended when Christa smashed Colleen's skull with a large chunk of asphalt, the resulting brain injury leading slowly but inevitably to Colleen's death.

No one should suffer and die like Colleen Slemmer did. 

I'm pissed off thinking about this poor young woman suffering such brutality and dying, cold, in pain and abandoned in the woods.

For his role in the murder, Tadaryl Shipp was sentenced to life in prison.  Christa Pike was sentenced to death.  

For what she did to Colleen Slemmer, a merciful death by execution is too good for Christa Pike, that bitch. Forget the state putting her to death,  "I'd wanna do it myself."

Which is a valid emotional response. 

But is it a judicial one?

Do we need to consider what brought 18 year old Christa Pike to the moment in the woods in 1995 with a chunk of asphalt in her hands to bring it down on Colleen Slemmer's skull?

One response is to say "Who cares?" 

• Colleen was murdered.
• Christa killed her.
• Christa needs to pay. 

But should we consider that Christa Pike has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder? 

Do we need to think about the allegations of physical and sexual abuse Christa Pike endured as a child? 

None of this changes the horrible reality of Colleen's death and the sheer brutality of what she endured.

But weighing the need for justice and holding those accountable who act against the welfare of our citizens, we need to ask, is committing the murder of Christa Pike for her murder of Colleen Slemmer an act of justice or revenge?

"Should the government be in the revenge business?" 

For those who read their Bibles, it bears remembering "Vengeance is mine,' sayeth the Lord."

it does seem to me that a lot of those who read their Bibles are the ones calling the loudest for the ultimate retribution of death for Christa Pike.  

It's a hard business, isn't it?  The needs of a society for accountability of those that would defy the most basic moral tenets of that society need to be balanced with a dispassionate and objective application of the law.  

Did 50 year old Christa Pike deserve to be put to death for an insane act committed by an 18 year old Christa Pike?

But did Colleen Slemmer deserve to not see life beyond age 19, bleeding out on the cold ground in the dark woods?  

What is the dividing line between justice and vengeance?

I'm not going to lie and say that if someone hurt my wife or son, that I would not want the full weight of punishment brought down on that person.  

"Vengeance is mine,' sayeth me!" 

In exchange for someone hurting those I love, would I be satisfied the perpetrator of that harm was sentenced to a roof over their heads with health care and three square meals a day at taxpayer expense? Hell no! I would want that person to die.

Which is a valid emotional response. 

But we need the state to not be emotional.

Even when the situation is hard and personal, perhaps we need to reconsider our use of the death penalty and understand "The state shouldn't kill people."

I don't think the government should be in the revenge business. And ultimately that's what the death penalty amounts to in my humble opinion.