Film

Spider Baby

Name: Spider Baby
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Released: 1967
Cast: Lon Chaney Jr., Carol Ohmart, Quinn K. Redeker, Beverly Washburn, Jill Banner

Horror comedy
Strange

A 1967 horror-comedy about a decaying family cursed to regress mentally as they age, hidden away in a crumbling mansion by their devoted chauffeur. Grotesque and funny in equal measure, it moves between genuine dread and slapstick absurdity with disarming confidence. For anyone who likes their horror strange, playful, and unclassifiable.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy deadpan, cobweb-dusty black comedy where a grotesque household is played straight-faced and the horror comes from manners as much as menace.

Skip it if you need brisk plotting or a clear, sympathetic protagonist; the story is loose and ambles, and its pitch-black humour about a hereditary illness may curdle.

What it asks of you: Eighty-four minutes is brief, yet the pace is unhurried, with long stretches of gloomy house and rambling small talk before anything jolts; it wants patience more than attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre1974

Raw, inventive horror that treats its premise with deadpan seriousness despite (or because of) its B-movie DNA. Shares Spider Baby's willingness to find dark comedy in family pathology and rural decay.

But The violence is genuinely upsetting rather than cartoonish, and it moves with grim efficiency. No comfort zone here.

Freaks1932

Browning's masterpiece refuses easy moral judgment about difference and disability, finding humanity and community in outsider spaces. Both films use 'freakishness' as a lens for social cruelty and family bonds.

But The pacing is deliberate and slow by modern standards. Some of the casting choices, however well-intentioned, haven't aged well.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?1962

A gothic chamber piece about family dysfunction and hidden cruelty, also starring aging Hollywood legend grappling with grotesque younger characters. Similar mix of horror, camp, and genuine psychological unease.

But Plays it straighter and more melodramatic than Spider Baby. If you want weirdness, this is more classical horror-thriller.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Spider Baby

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Withnail & I1987

Both are comedies about hopelessness and companionship; both treat their trapped, broken characters with genuine affection rather than mockery.

Not a horror film at all, but a pitch-black British comedy about decay, desperation, and the bonds between damaged people trapped together. Both films are grotesque comedies about the consequences of stagnation and the strange loyalty that forms in closed systems.

But It's entirely dialogue-driven and relies on understanding very specific British cultural references. The humor is bleak and the pacing can feel static.

The Addams Family1991

Another dark comedy about an unconventional family living in isolation, celebrating monstrousness as a form of freedom. Same DNA, vastly different tone—warmer and more whimsical.

But It's deliberately mainstream and family-friendly. Loses the genuine creepiness that makes Spider Baby unsettling.

Basket Case1982

Frank Henenlotter's gross-out masterpiece balances transgression and tenderness with genuine inventiveness. Bizarre, funny, horrifying, and oddly moving—tonal kin to Spider Baby.

But The effects work is deliberately cheap and crude. The plot becomes increasingly surreal and loses narrative coherence.

Carnival of Souls1962

Another low-budget 60s oddity with an unsettling atmosphere, strange characters, and a refusal to play by genre rules. Atmospheric and genuinely haunting in ways that transcend its budget.

But Very slow-burn. The story is minimal and the ending may feel like a cheat if you're looking for plot momentum.

The Watcher in the Woods1980

An overlooked Disney horror film about family secrets and isolated houses, blending psychological suspense with genuine creepiness. Weird and haunting without trying too hard.

But It's a Disney film, so there's only so far it goes tonally. The climax veers into sci-fi in ways that undercut the dread.

Night of the Living Dead1968

Romero's masterpiece uses horror to explore social breakdown and family violence with radical seriousness. Low budget, high impact, and genuinely disturbing beneath the genre trappings.

But It's become so influential it may feel familiar. The social commentary can overshadow the actual horror.

Parents1989

An acidic, surreal horror-comedy about family secrets and suburban dysfunction. Grotesque, funny, and genuinely creepy in ways that accumulate rather than climax.

But It's deliberately artificial and theatrical in a way that distances some viewers. The ending relies on ambiguity rather than resolution.

Come and See1985

Both use dark humor and tonal disorientation to show human beings losing their humanity; both are formally inventive about depicting mental and moral collapse.

A Soviet war film that begins almost as a coming-of-age adventure and descends into apocalyptic horror. Tonally shatters in ways Spider Baby only hints at, but shares its refusal to separate comedy from tragedy when showing human degeneration.

But Genuinely one of the most traumatic films ever made. This isn't entertainment; it's an ordeal. Not recommended casually.

Carnival Row2019

Both treat freakishness and decay as inherently theatrical; both find dark humor in situations of genuine human degradation and find something moving in the loyalty between outcasts.

A Polish miniseries (four episodes) about a traveling circus as a microcosm of social decay. Grotesque, absurdist, and genuinely weird in ways that Spider Baby would recognize—grotesque people, real pathos beneath the grotesqueness, and a willingness to be funny about horrible things.

But It's obscure, foreign, and in a miniseries format. The pacing is oblique and the narrative refuses conventional structure. Very hard to find with good subtitles.