A Vingança da Mulher Aranha

Having read the other reviews of this movie, I am struck with the idea that people must have been expecting another Dracula or Frankenstein or The Black Cat. This movie is emblematic of dozens of B horror films of the period that were fun to watch but were hardly great art. It adds the distinction of great atmospherics: the "old dark house", the fabulously creepy Rondo Hatton, the deliciously evil Gale Sondegaard and the handsome, wholesome hero, Kirby Grant. Citizen Kane it ain't, but in the context of films like "Fog Island", "The 13th Guest", or "a Shriek in the Night" it was certainly more enjoyable. Plot wise, it incorporates elements of vampire flicks (blood sucking), wolf man flicks (rare plant research), and the good versus evil conflict within Rondo Hatton's character. Oscar material? Hardly, but great fun. Lighten up people!

Spider Woman Strikes Back, The (1946)

** (out of 4)

Rare and forgotten Universal horror film has a nurse going to a creepy house to take care of a blind woman. The blind woman actually has her sight and is poisoning cows so that she can run the farmers off. Sound dumb? It's actually very dumb and the title is quite misleading, although I guess they were trying to cash in on the Sherlock Holmes film. This is the type of film where you keep waiting for something to happen but it never does. The performances are all rather dry as is the direction but it does move at a nice pace making the 57-minutes go by very fast. Jack Pierce is credited as the makeup artist yet there's no makeup in the film!

Gale Sondergaard was terribly misused by Universal Studio's. She had a great talent but was wasted in grade Z film's such as this tripe. Two years before she had made a big impression as one Sherlock Holmes most diabolical and resourceful adversaries in "The Spider Woman" 1944. She and Basil Rathbone were wonderful as they tried to one up each other right to the end. This movie promised to be a return of that original character. But that wasn't the case.It's a mystery with more plot holes the you could imagine with a story line that makes very little sense.

Brenda Joyce is the damsel in distress, and Kirby Grant is her rescuer and hero of the story. Grant went on to play Sky King a decade later. Rondo Hatton is around to be sinister but is just sort of "there".

You can figure out what's going on fairly quickly. The question becomes WHY is it going on. When that WHY is reveled at the end of the film it's totally unsatisfying. If you are are a Sondergaard fan you will like the way she gives it her all to keep things going. She's the only reason to watch this picture. Beyond that there really isn't anything to recommend The Spider Woman Strikes Back.

It's hard to hate anything with Gale Sondergaard in it. This subpar Universal thriller is light on thrills or chills. It's not much fun either. It does move quickly, however. As I realized the film was reaching its climax I was surprised as I thought it had only been on maybe half an hour. Outside of Sondergaard and (visually, at least) Rondo Hatton, the cast is pretty forgettable. The script is riddled with holes, too. When the villain reveals their big master plan I guarantee you'll say "Wait, what? Really? But what about..." It's that kind of movie. Still, it's watchable enough. Fans of Universal's horror classics from this period will enjoy it more than most.

Back in the late 1930s into the 40s, Rondo Hatton was a very sad figure in films. Bluntly put, Rondo was an ugly guy...due to the effects of acromegaly. It seems that during WWI, he was exposed to poison gas which damaged his pituitary gland...causing the disorder. This made his hands and face deformed. Sadly, Universal Studios hired him to mostly appear in horror films to take advantage of his face. It sure might have been nice had some of these movies NOT feautured him as a monstrous creature and a bit of sympathy might have been nice. Here in "The Spider Woman Strikes Back" (a film, despite its title, which is NOT a sequel), Rondo plays a mute servant who helps his mistress do experiments with human blood!

The story begins with Jean arriving in a small town to be the personal assistant and companion of Zenobia, a blind woman....or so she claims. What Jean doesn't know is that she's also been hired to supply blood to Zenobia's pet plant...a huge thing somewhat reminiscent of Audry from "Little Shop of Horrors". Now Zenobia doesn't take all of Jean's blood. Instead, she takes a bit while Jean is sleeping...leaving her, naturally, tired and anemic. To combat this as well as to knock her out, Zenobia insists Jean drink lots of milk...something she dislikes. What's next? See the film and find out for yourself.

So is this any good? Aside from the logical problem i mention in the next paragraph, it is pretty good...especially for a cheaply made B-movie. It has a nice creepy atmosphere and despite many no-name actors, it's effecive.

I have no idea why Zenobia didn't let folks know about her plant and the blood. Had she gotten locals donate very small amounts of blood for cash, this might have worked out just fine...instead of stealing it from her assistants. Heck, if the job paid well and they only took a pint here and there, I might have loved the job!

By the way, throughout the film, Gale Sondergaard plays blind Zenobia strangely. Instead of facing people who are talking with her, she stares off into space...something I never noticed any blind people doing. I think this could have been played better.

Also, the sign language Mario (Hatton) uses in the movie is nonsense and not at all related to American Sign Language.