Horrors Of Spider Island Blu-ray Review

I hate spiders. I mean I hate them. They terrify me. I have arachnophobia for real, so when everyone was laughing at the film Arachnophobia I was shaking with my eyes closed. Eight Legged Freaks, wont watch. None of that stuff is amusing to me, it scars me and leaves me checking my legs for spiders crawling on them. But as I love the fine folks at Severin I made it a point to sit down and watch The Horrors of Spider Island. Its an older black & white film from Germany that has the notoriety of being banned in the UK due primarily to nudity. I figured as its black and white I should be ok. I was wrong.

Horrors of Spider Island is an interesting film to say the least. It involves a man named Gary who is a talent agent of sorts. He’s auditioning a group of beautiful women for a club he owns. He meets with each one and has them spread their legs, checks them out in bikinis, the usual sort of thing. Its actually a long sequence but that was fine as women are beautiful even in black and white. Gary likes what he sees and takes the girls he likes to his club in Singapore. Everything is looking great until the plane crashes into the ocean. Luckily though Gary and the ladies have a raft and make it to a deserted island. They find fresh water, and even come across a cabin. Unfortunately that’s when things go south. Inside the cabin is a body stuck on a giant spider web. Turns out that body hanging there is a professor who was doing research on the island. They read his journal and also find a nice stockpile of food and rations. I wont lie the web freaked me out.

Now even though they found a body in a giant spider web Gary decides to go alone at night into the jungle by himself. He stumbles across a giant killer spider that, I wont lie, freaked me out pretty bad. It bites Gary and turns him into a spiderman type creature. Actually he looks kind of like the wolf mad with less hair and bigger teeth. He takes off into the night and is overtaken with rage and manages to grab one of the girls and kill her. As the women are clearly not bright they never out two and two together and assume Gary is the killer. I say that because he disappeared and they don’t know he was bit by anything.

Luckily for them a ship sails past and they appear to be rescued. But not right away, first they must have a party. Yes for some reason they must have enjoyed being trapped on an island so they decide to throw a party to celebrate leaving. Problem is Gary is still wandering the island and now is his chance to kill more people.

I dug the film, sure the giant spider freaked me out but as old time monster movies go this is actually quiet a bit of fun. It has a good score and its filmed very well. The girls are beautiful and they have a great chemistry together. The makeup work for Gary is well done for its time, and the transfer that Severin has done is amazing. Severin was able to restore this film uncut for the first time and it is as clean a print as you can get. Their transfers are fantastic in terms of video as well as audio They even packaged this with a slip cover that boast fantastic artwork to say the least. It really captures that old “Creature Feature” look and feel. And if that’s not enough they even loaded it up with special features.

· Alternate US Release Version: IT’S HOT IN PARADISE
· The History of Spider Island With Prof. Dr. Marcus Stiglegger
· Audio Interview with Actor Alexander D’Arcy by Horror Historian David Del Valle
· Alternate Clothed Scenes
· Trailer
· Revisable Artwork
· Comic Book [WEBSTORE EXCLUSIVE]

Fans of old monster films will enjoy this one, as well as horror fans in general. It’s a great throwback film with a good creepy atmosphere, good effects, and lots of beautiful women. Throw in the fact your getting it uncut, and it’s a gorgeous transfer and you have a must own title on your hands. Pre order this one today.

Overall 3 out of 5 stars!