- For the episode, see MST3K 1011 - Horrors of Spider Island.
| “ | Gary! | ” |
| - The Dancers |
Horrors of Spider Island is a 1960 Eastern-European sci-fi/horror movie directed by Fritz Böttger.
Plot[]
Gary, a nightclub manager, flies a group of women from New York City to dance in his club in Singapore. While flying over the Pacific Ocean, their plane catches fire, splits in half, and plummets into the ocean. No one in Gary's group is killed, but the crew all die. Days later, the group is suffering from dehydration on a life raft when they finally spot a small island and spend the night on the beach.
The next morning, they discover fresh water and decide to go exploring. They are pleased to find a cabin, but are horrified when they discover a dead man hanging from a gigantic spider web. According to his journal, the man was a professor mining for Uranium, but he feared something terrible was about to happen to him. There is no indication how long the professor planned to be on the island, but the women estimate there is enough food to last them about a month.
That night, Gary proceeds alone out onto the island where he is bitten by a giant spider and turns into some type of spider-man beast. He flees into the woods, leaving the women to wonder what has happened to him. The next day, seemingly possessed by uncontrollable violent urges, Gary kills one of the girls. The remaining women have no idea where Gary is or that he is responsible for the killing.
A month passes, and the women are running low on food when they spot a ship on the horizon. They are unable to signal it before it leaves, but two men arrive in a rowboat with supplies for the professor. They soon find the women, who tell them the professor is dead. As they all wait for the ship to return, they celebrate their last night on the island with a wild party. One of the men sneaks off to rendezvous with one of the dancers, but both are killed by Gary. Finally aware of Gary's fate, the remainder of the group hunts him down with torches until he flees into quicksand and dies.
Cast[]
- Alexander D'Arcy as Gary Webster
- Barbara Valentin as Babs
- Rainer Brandt as Robby
- Harald Maresch as Joe
- Helga Franck as Georgia
- Helga Neuner as Ann
- Dorothee Parker as Gladys
Information[]
- Originally released in 1960 in German as Ein Toter hing im Netz or A Corpse Hangs In the Web. It was later dubbed into English.
- The first release in the US (1962) was titled It's Hot In Paradise and featured several scenes that were considered too racy for general circulation. It was subsequently re-cut and released as Horrors of Spider Island (1965)[1].
- Barbara Valentin was a long-time friend and associate of musician Freddie Mercury.
- Shortly after the film opens, Gary pulls up in front of a building, driving a 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible. The car he almost backs into as he parks is a 1957 Ford, which appears to be the same car shown in the film's opening shot driving down a palm-tree-lined street.
- The film was refused a UK cinema certificate in 1960. It was eventually released on DVD in 2010 with no additional edits.
- This German-language film was dubbed into English for North American release, and although Egyptian-born, European-raised star Alexander D'Arcy spoke fluent English, his lines were dubbed by an unknown American actor.
- Horrors of Spider Island was the last black-and-white film used by Mystery Science Theater 3000 until The Mask in Season 13.