The Giant Spider Invasion is a low-budget 1975 movie made by Cinema Group 75, directed by Bill Rebane, about giant spiders terrorizing the town of Merrill, Wisconsin and the surrounding area. It achieved national exposure, long after its production, by being shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the 10th episode of the show's 8th season.

The film gives major roles to some actors who might have been considered "has-beens" at the time: the leads were Steve Brodie and Barbara Hale, with roles of some size going to Alan Hale, Jr. and Leslie Parrish. The film's final monster, the only actual "giant spider", was constructed by covering a Volkswagen automobile with artificial fur; the back of the car became the front of the monster so that the red tail-lights could serve as the monster's glowing red eyes. At the beginning, you can hear a pilot talking about the giant spider he has seen. That person is David Hoff, an actual pilot in the Wisconsin Air-Guard.

Plot

The central plot of the film revolves around the titular spider invasion, which occurs when what appears to be a meteorite crashes down in rural Wisconsin, and spawns spiders of varying sizes (the titular spider is large enough to swallow a man whole, and crawl onto the roof of a house).

Subplots include:

• Dan Kester and his hate/hate relationship with his wife, Ev
• Dan's adulterous affair with local barmaid Helga
• Dave Perkins' attempts to make out with Ev's sister Terry
• a fundamentalist preacher leading a revival meeting (at least during the early scenes of the film)
• Drs. Vance and Langer getting involved in somewhat of a romance (all the more notable as the two lead actors were also in their early-mid 50s by the time the movie was made)
• the eventual panic that results when the townspeople are confronted with the titular spider

The invasion is deduced to be (through various scientific-sounding language) the result of some sort of interdimensional gateway, and is ultimately thwarted when Drs. Vance and Langer manage to close off the gateway, draining the spiders of their energy and causing the titular spider to melt down (in a rather spectacular and gross fashion).

Trivia

• Despite the film's B-Movie status, it does feature a cast that, if not exactly a "star-studded" one, contains members that are at least familiar in some way to most TV and film viewers:
  • Alan Hale, Jr.(Sheriff Jones), best known for his role as Skipper on the TV series "Gilligan's Island"; also appeared in two other MST3K episodes, Angels Revenge and The Crawling Hand
  • Barbara Hale (Dr. Jenny Langer), best known for her role of Della Street in numerous "Perry Mason" episodes and TV-movies; married to actor Bill Williams, who played alongside her as Dutch in this film (a point of interest unrelated to this film: their son is actor William Katt)
  • Robert Easton (Dan Kester), known as the "Henry Higgins of Hollywood" (at least, in his IMDB Entry) due to his mastery of numerous accents and dialects; appeared in the MST3K episode The Touch of Satan; played the Klingon judge in the film Star Trek VI
  • Leslie Parrish (Ev Kester), played roles as varied as Daisy Mae in the Lil' Abner film and the doomed bride of the assassin in the 1962 film version of The Manchurian Candidate
  • Steve Brodie (Dr. J.R. Vance), already known to MST3K fans for his appearance in the film The Wild World of Batwoman; his son, Kevin Brodie also appeared in this film, playing Dave Perkins
• Director Bill Rebane had a festival given in his honor; the "Bill Rebane Film Festival" took place in Madison, Wisconsin in May of 2005. Hosting the festival were none other than MST3K stars Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy. In an article recapping the festival in Scary Monsters Magazine, the two noted that although they lambasted the film during their show, they admired how Rebane was able to pull cast and crew together to get the film made.

External links

• MST3K Episode Guide: The Giant Spider Invasion

1975 films | Science fiction films | MST3K movies | Wisconsin films