Not enough credit, or perhaps discredit, is alloted to Bill Rebane as a director on level with Ed Wood and quite frankly it's wrong. His movies have that feeling of incredulity and confusion along with community college level acting that seems to endear as many viewers as are repulsed by seeing them. Don't interpret this the wrong way, his films are still awful on a scale not frequently seen, they just have that little something extra that sort of makes you smile after the fact. Kind of like when your five year old swears. You're angry that he/she did it but afterwords you chuckle to yourself. When no one is around of course.
A meteor is seen crashing into the Wisconsin countryside by NASA as they send Dr. Vance to investigate. Once there he teams up with Dr. Jenny Langer, after he carpet bombs her with sexist stereotypes, and they discover that the geodes are filled with icky spiders. Vance and Langer go up the hill and both go tumbling down. Vaaaaaaaaance! Meanwhile white trash Kester is cheating on his alcoholic wife Ev with a woman who I must assume is blind. With his long underwear and back brace Kester is definitely doing his part to bring sexy back. Alan Hale Jr. pays his sizable buffet tab by playing the useless town sheriff who looks more comfortable scarfing down a stack of pancakes at the local Perkins than serving and protecting. Eventually the giant spider makes his way to Gleason just in time to ruin the softball tournament. Whatta jerk!
I've made many a trip to cheeseland a let me tell you that the population there is pretty hokey with all of its fake Indian trinkets and goofy "hay dere" dialect but Giant Spider Invasion portrays Wisconsonians as southern gutter trash. Kester and Ev are especially guilty of this as they are more apt for some trailer park in Alabama. I had a chance to watch the full length movie after seeing this on Mystery Science Theatre and was a little sickened by two scenes involving Terry played by Diane Lee Hart. Now mind you she is playing a seventeen year old girl when she is being sized up by Kester and then caught topless by his cousin that eerily resembles Charles Manson. How this got a PG rating is mystifying to me. The movie redeems itself however when Dr. Vance pulverizes Dr. Langer as they tumble down the hill. At one point he rolls over her head. May the giant spider's soul rest with the spirit of Tommy Bartlett.
A meteor is seen crashing into the Wisconsin countryside by NASA as they send Dr. Vance to investigate. Once there he teams up with Dr. Jenny Langer, after he carpet bombs her with sexist stereotypes, and they discover that the geodes are filled with icky spiders. Vance and Langer go up the hill and both go tumbling down. Vaaaaaaaaance! Meanwhile white trash Kester is cheating on his alcoholic wife Ev with a woman who I must assume is blind. With his long underwear and back brace Kester is definitely doing his part to bring sexy back. Alan Hale Jr. pays his sizable buffet tab by playing the useless town sheriff who looks more comfortable scarfing down a stack of pancakes at the local Perkins than serving and protecting. Eventually the giant spider makes his way to Gleason just in time to ruin the softball tournament. Whatta jerk!
I've made many a trip to cheeseland a let me tell you that the population there is pretty hokey with all of its fake Indian trinkets and goofy "hay dere" dialect but Giant Spider Invasion portrays Wisconsonians as southern gutter trash. Kester and Ev are especially guilty of this as they are more apt for some trailer park in Alabama. I had a chance to watch the full length movie after seeing this on Mystery Science Theatre and was a little sickened by two scenes involving Terry played by Diane Lee Hart. Now mind you she is playing a seventeen year old girl when she is being sized up by Kester and then caught topless by his cousin that eerily resembles Charles Manson. How this got a PG rating is mystifying to me. The movie redeems itself however when Dr. Vance pulverizes Dr. Langer as they tumble down the hill. At one point he rolls over her head. May the giant spider's soul rest with the spirit of Tommy Bartlett.