Horrors Of Spider Island

Starring:Alexander D'Arcy, Barbara Valentin, Rainer Brandt, Harald Maresch, Elfie Wagner, Dorothee Parker, Helga Franck, Helga Neuner, Gerry Sammer, Eva Schauland, Helma Vandenberg, Walter Faber, Robert Raglan
Director: Fritz Böttger
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Description

Eight beautiful women alone with the world's most hideous monster! Eight sexy showgirls and their macho manager survive a plane crash and take refuge on a remote tropical island. As the gals adjust to the heat and humidity by shedding most of their clothes, they also meet one of their new neighbors: a dead scientist found caught in a giant web. Ignoring the obvious, testosterone-fueled Gary blithely takes a midnight stroll until he's bitten by an overgrown, crab-like spider and immediately transforms into a clawed, fanged, hairy-faced bogeyman who does exactly what monsters in horror films are supposed to do: chase women!

Customer Reviews:

Not the best but it was a fun to watch.......2006-06-30

The story has 8 beautifiul (well some were) models and their boss crashlanding with the plane they were on in the ocean. They all survive and find an island in the distance. They make it and explore the island finding (no not Polar Bears or a mysterious hatch with a button to push) but a dead scientist all up in a spider web. They seek shelter in a cabin place. Their manager wanders off by himself where he is attacked by a spider transforming him into (no not Spider-Man) but a creature. The girls all giggle and skinny dip and what not. Eventually they are accompanyed by some men who tell them that a boat will come back to the island in which case everyone will be rescused. But their spider bitten manager stalks them in the shadows. It has its fun moments. Especially those skinny dipping scenes. The effects are bad of course but I didnt mind it. Starring Harold Maresch.

Sigh...to think I watched this.......2006-01-11

I nearly gave this 1959/1962 movie one star, and had second thoughts and generously gave it 2 stars. It probably deserves 1 star, but I was feeling generous.

This movie seems to have a combination of English and German speaking actors in a thin plot designed to expose as much flesh as possible. I pondered including the pedigree of some of the actors, but was never able to get enthusiastic enough to do the research. There are some pretty awful B-movies about, and this one is one of the worse.

Supposedly a couple is hiring a bunch of dancers to go to Singapore. After some mildly racy scenes at the beginning of the movie (as in you see some panties), everyone hops on a twin engine propeller plane to head for Singapore. Somewhere along the line the plane gets four engines, and then it crashes in flames. Miraculously, the dancers and the couple survive. The pilots, of course, conveniently died.

Everyone survives to reach an island where they quickly discover a professor in a giant spider web, which yields the original German title, "Ein Toter hing im Netz," which is, roughly translated, a dead one hung in the net. Sadly, that scene was probably one of the high points in the movie. Soon women are shedding clothes, but the only living male on the island wanders off to be attacked by a giant spider. The giant spider was probably mutated by the uranium that may have been on the island, which is what the professor was seeking. Remember that in the 50s and 60s radiation explained nearly everything.

For the rest of the movie we see the now mutated guy looking sinister and occasionally killing someone. The rest of the time the movie focuses on the hot babes wandering about the island in various states of undress, including some nude scenes (depending on which version of this movie you have - some versions delete the nude scenes).

The food starts to run out and things are looking grim when a couple of fellows show up. Then there is steamy romance, the spider guy appears again, there is some running around and screaming and yelling, spider guy kills a couple of people, the movie ends, and you wonder what the heck it was all about.

This silliness seems to be an excuse to see the ladies in their undies and skinny-dipping in the ocean. The plot, what little there is of it, is very thin. We hardly see the spider guy once he is created, and we only see the spider (which looks very sinister) a couple of times at the beginning of the movie. Mystery Science Theater 3000 did a lampoon of this movie, but I have yet to see it. I have to believe the lampoon is better than the original.

I have been watching a lot of these movies. Many of them are weak, or outright bad, but most of them have at least some redeeming characteristics. This movie is just too bland and boring to be very interesting. The picture quality is also poor. Watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version and skip this one.

For those who like trivia, this movie has apparently been released under a variety of names according to imdb:

"Ein Toter Hing im Netz"
"A Corpse Hangs in the Web"
"Body in the Web"
"Girls of Spider Island"
"Horrors of Spider Island"
"It's Hot in Paradise"
"The Spider's Web"

The years vary with the release and re-release. I would think that some of these releases were to fill space in drive-in theater billings.

Garry's friends show real flare.......2005-04-04

This film has many original themes that are played out in the movies of today. For those that watched "Total Eclipse" you remember Damsel Washington sniffing hair from a concealed location. Yep Gary (Alexander d'Arcy was born as Alexander Sarruf in Kairo) did it first. You have seen peeking throw a bush or from a tree at skinny dippers well it is here also. How about things that bite in the night? Yep.
-----------------------
Gary is taking a dance troupe to Singapore. We get to see them audition. On the way the plane crashes in the ocean. Now it is just Garry and the women. They spot an island and setup house. We know they are not alone. It turns out to be a "radioactive" Island. Something is lurking in the bushes and waiting to bite. This something is not Garry; or is it?
---------------------
This movie is so well known and universal that it has many names:
Ein Toter hing im Netz (1960) [A Dead One Hung in the Net]
Body in the Web (1962)
A Corpse Hangs in the Web (1960)
Girls of Spider Island (1960)
Horrors of Spider Island (1965)
It's Hot in Paradise (1962)
The Spider's Web (1962)

Worthless, pointless, every copy should be destroyed.......2002-10-13

Okay, the story is about dancers and a manager who survives a plane crash and make it onto "Spider Island." Instead of seeing them being chased by spiders, one bites the manager and he turns into a half-spider, half-man. I don't care if the special effects in a 60s flick is bad, but the horrible acting and the stupidness of this movie is enough to make you cringe. You don't see the fake looking spiders or the manager wearing his fake werewolf mask for a long time. Most of the time you see the dancers talking in what sounds like the same voice. At one point, you see a fight between two of the dancers that lasts for twenty or thirty minutes(Seemed like it for me)! The acting and plot(maybe there was a plot. Who knows?) got dumber and dumber until I turned the TV off. What I don't get is why this trash got so many positive reviews. There are better B-movies out there people!This is not one of them!

GRADE Z STUPIDITY............2002-09-12

I have never understood why this film ranks so high on everybody's "camp" list. I have seen every incarnation of this thing under every title in a desperate effort to "get it" to no avail. There are bad/bad movies and bad/fun movies but this one falls somewhere near the garbage can. A plane of showgirls crash lands on an island and soon the girls are nude bathing and running around in various stages of undress. Their manager goes off in the night and gets bitten by a big goofy looking rubber spider. He turns into a monster and starts chasing the girls around. This Euro-trash flick is SO poorly made it's hard to enjoy it. Bad b&w photography, terrible dubbing....The possibilities are there, to be sure, but what could have been a trashy, fun (s)exploitation vehicle just flops out like stale jello. If you want fun Euro-Trash check out "PLAYGIRLS & THE VAMPIRE"...

Sci-Fi Classics 4-Movie Pack (Horrors of Spider Island; The Wasp Woman; Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet; Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women)

Average customer rating:

For this Price...
Spiders and wasps oh my

Sci-Fi Classics 4-Movie Pack (Horrors of Spider Island; The Wasp Woman; Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet; Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women)
Starring: Sci-Fi Classics 4pak
Manufacturer: Mill Creek Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Sci-Fi Classics: The Astral Factor/The Galaxy Invader/Battle of the Worlds/Unknown World
Sci-Fi Classics: Assignment Outer Space; Laser Mission; Blood Tide; Brain Machine [4-Movie Pack]
Sci-Fi Classics: King of Kong Island/Bride of the Gorilla/Attack of the Monsters/Gammera the Invinc
The Killer Shrews
First Spaceship on Venus

ASIN: B000ARXFR8
Release Date: 2005-11-08

Customer Reviews:

For this Price..........2006-01-23

This collection of four 50s/60s schlock films might be worth buying if you like watching movies that verge on being awful. If you have ever wandered how bad movies can be, here is a good selection of to find out. However, there are, sad to say, even worse movies than these.

"Horrors of Spider Island"

A couple is hiring a bunch of dancers to go to Singapore. After some mildly racy scenes at the beginning of the movie (as in you see some panties), everyone hops on a twin engine propeller plane to head for Singapore. Somewhere along the line the plane gets four engines, and then it crashes in flames. Miraculously, the dancers and the couple survive. The pilots, of course, conveniently died.

Everyone survives to reach an island where they quickly discover a professor in a giant spider web, which yields the original German title, "Ein Toter hing im Netz," which is, roughly translated, a dead one hung in the net. Sadly, that scene was probably one of the high points in the movie. Soon women are shedding clothes, but the only living male on the island wanders off to be attacked by a giant spider. The giant spider was probably mutated by the uranium that may have been on the island, which is what the professor was seeking. Remember that in the 50s and 60s radiation explained nearly everything.

The food starts to run out and things are looking grim when a couple of fellows show up. Then there is steamy romance, the spider guy appears again, there is some running around and screaming and yelling, spider guy kills a couple of people, the movie ends, and you wonder what the heck it was all about. This movie is just too bland and boring to be very interesting. The picture quality is also poor.

For those who like trivia, this movie has apparently been released under a variety of names according to imdb:

"Ein Toter Hing im Netz"
"A Corpse Hangs in the Web"
"Body in the Web"
"Girls of Spider Island"
"Horrors of Spider Island"
"It's Hot in Paradise"
"The Spider's Web"

"The Wasp Woman"

We see scenes of bees at the start of this movie, and then a scientist-looking character, Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark), captures a wasp nest. The excitement is so intense you can just feel it. Our scientist is fooling around with wasps while he is supposed to be working on royal jelly. The scientist gets fired (duh!) and encounters Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot in her last movie role; apparently "Wasp Woman" was the kiss of death for her movie career), the aging head of a cosmetics company. When I say aging, I mean she is in her 40s. She is very attractive, but apparently insufficiently attractive to sell cosmetics. Mr. Zinthrop convinces Janice that he can make her young by making a guinea pig young.

Mr. Zinthrop is involved in an accident and ends up being stuck in bed. Janice decides to start taking shots of royal jelly a bit quicker than Mr. Zinthrop had been giving them to her. Janice gets young really quick, but occasionally she gains a black face, claws and a nasty buzz in her voice. When this occurs, she tends to kill people and eat them, which most people would likely consider a serious side effect of Mr. Zinthrop's shots.

I would like to tell you that there are redeeming characteristics to this movie, but unless you are a hard-core Roger Corman fan, you should probably avoid this movie. The movie waits too long for the wasp woman to show up. When she does show up, Corman made up for the cheesy costume by using out-of-focus photography and brief flashes of the wasp woman. The ending was unsatisfying also. The wasp woman put up a really poor fight. After the big husky guys she killed and ate, you would have thought she could have put up a bigger fight at the end. Oh well. Just remember, there are lots of other cheesy movies waiting for you to watch.

"Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet"/"Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women"

In 1965 Roger Corman and a small gang of others took a Soviet movie, added some scenes with Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue, and created a reasonably serviceable science fiction movie title "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet." There were some strange moments and a few funny moments, but the movie was a reasonably campy, low-budget science fiction film. Apparently someone (Corman perhaps) decided the movie was insufficiently schlocky and gave it one more shot.

In the original movie we see two groups of men wandering around Venus. The first group crashed and is trying to get rescued. The second group of men is trying to find the first group of men. As both groups wander around they encounter a cheesy looking reptilian bird, a deluge, and an erupting volcano. In the second movie Corman and director Peter Bogdanovich provide an explanation for these happenings; an explanation that probably would have been better left unexplained.

It turns out that there were a bunch of blond Barbie clones wandering the planet with telepathic powers and excessive chest development. These women, who spend a lot of time lying around with 60s-looking pants and shell tops, walk around acting like a coven of witches with too much makeup, false eyelashes, and too little in the way of prehistoric attributes. Mamie Van Doren, one of the three M's of the 50s and 60s (Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe included), is the leader of the Venusian blonde babes, who include a cluster of women who may have been so embarrassed by this movie that most of them never appeared in a film again.

Spiders and wasps oh my.......2005-09-04

Horrors of Spider Island

Garry's friends show real flare

This film has many original themes that are played out in the movies of today. For those that watched "Total Eclipse" you remember Damsel Washington sniffing hair from a concealed location. Yep Gary (Alexander d'Arcy was born as Alexander Sarruf in Kairo) did it first. You have seen peeking throw a bush or from a tree at skinny dippers well it is here also. How about things that bite in the night? Yep.
-----------------------
Gary is taking a dance troupe to Singapore. We get to see them audition. On the way the plane crashes in the ocean. Now it is just Garry and the women. They spot an island and setup house. We know they are not alone. It turns out to be a "radioactive" Island. Something is lurking in the bushes and waiting to bite. This something is not Garry; or is it?
---------------------
This movie is so well known and universal that it has many names:
Ein Toter hing im Netz (1960) [A Dead One Hung in the Net]
Body in the Web (1962)
A Corpse Hangs in the Web (1960)
Girls of Spider Island (1960)
Horrors of Spider Island (1965)
It's Hot in Paradise (1962)
The Spider's Web (1962)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Wasp Woman

Maintaining that wasp waist

Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) head of a cosmetics company was told the she needs to stay young to promote the product. What can she do? Enter garage scientist Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark) with a dubious formula made from wasp royal jelly. He explains that "just a little dab will do you." She gets greedy and shoots up with the extra strong stuff. This gives her a BUZZ and can have biting consequences.

Average customer rating:

ALPHA DVD VERSION
No, No, No, I Said "HORRORS" Of Spider Island...
Of Spiders and Exotic Dancers.
Garry's friends show real flare
Almost Unbearable Without the MST3K Treatment

Horrors of Spider Island
Starring: Alexander D'Arcy , Barbara Valentin , Rainer Brandt , Harald Maresch , and Elfie Wagner
Director: Fritz Böttger
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Head
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ASIN: B0000D1FHR
Release Date: 2003-11-18

Customer Reviews:

ALPHA DVD VERSION.......2006-12-10

CLASSIC BABES STRANDED ON HOT TROPICAL ISLAND FLICK. YES, THEY DISROBE OFTEN, BICKER, CAT-FIGHT, DANCE, GIGGLE, SCREAM & TAKE BATHES AT THE DROP OF A....THEIR MANAGER, MACHO GARY WHO SEEMS PRETTY SLEEZEY RIGHT OFF ACTUALLY BECOMES A RATHER STRAIGHT-UP TAKE CHARGE GUY AFTER A PLANE CRASH LEAVES ALL STRANDED ON SOME DEAD PROFESSOR'S RADIOACTIVE DESERTED ISLAND. HOWEVER, GARY STRAYS OFF ONE NIGHT & GETS BITTEN BY SOME SPIDER-BAT-CAT-SOMETHING AND BECOMES A WEREWOLF-SPIDER-BAT? MAN WHO CHASES & KILLS SOME OF THE ALMOST NAKED GIRLS. I KINDDA FELT SORRY FOR POOR GARY.
THE ALPHA DVD VERSION IS CERTAINLY WATCHABLE, A LITTLE DARK IN SPOTS, A LITTLE JUMPY...IT ENDS ABRUPTLY. I'M SHELLING OUT THE EXTRA BUCKS FOR THE "IMAGE" VERSION. I THINK IT'LL BE WORTH IT.

No, No, No, I Said "HORRORS" Of Spider Island..........2005-07-17

Now, this is my kind of movie! A troupe of exotic dancers and their manager, Gary (Alex D'Arcy) are stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes into the pacific on the way to Singapore. Soon, the heat is unbearable, and our gaggle of strippers must shed most of their clothing. They find a shelterhouse, complete with a man stuck in a giant web! The gals scream. Gary takes a walk, only to be bitten by a huge rubber spider with a mosquito-like proboscus. Gary grows claws and his face turns into burnt toast! The gals search for Gary through the jungle. They insult each other and have occasional catfights. Gary kills the only gal who stayed behind. A small boat arrives with two men on board, one is named Bob. The gals go swimming. Bob watches from some nearby bushes. A party ensues. The gals wiggle, jiggle, and giggle. True love blooms. Bob takes a walk. Gary attacks Bob, killing him instantly. One of the gals finds Bob and screams. Gary kills her. Will Gary be stopped before he totally ruins the party? HOSI is for demented souls like me who enjoy half-naked babes running around screaming and / or dancing. It's like Gilligan's Island with ten Gingers and Mary Anns! So, get out the tanning lotion and get ready for a honeys-in-the-sun fiesta!...

Of Spiders and Exotic Dancers........2004-12-16

Please understand that I am a die-hard cheesy movie buff. Pause with me while I attempt to explain this movie. Around 1960, a European filmmaker blended sci-fi horror with sexploitation. What this premise lacks in originality it usually gains in our twisted curiousity. Hope springs eternal. An exotic dance troupe (i.e.; strippers) and their male manager, stranded on a remote Pacific island, find a dead scientist dangling in a big web. They find the dead man's research notes that reference a strange "hissing" around the perimeter of his camp. This is a promising start. The women are worth viewing as they display ample cleavage and bare legs. The "giant spiders" are not giant. They are about the size of cats. They are as "real" as discount store Halloween decorations. Never mind batteries, you can almost see the windup key turning. Classic sci-fi fans who recall "Tarantula" should adjust their expectations. Low budget is, after all, low budget. I know it sounds an unlikely thing to say, but the script spends too much time on the "girlie" show. Between the basic B&W photography and the constraints of the censor, attractive women just hanging out can get dull. Even the occasional catfight can't ease the tedium. When the boss turns monstrous with spider venom, I thought the story would get moving. No such luck. The mutated guy disappears into the jungle, and only sporadically reappears. The story comes to the inevitable climax. No, I don't mean that kind of climax. Ultimately, the script can't decide between sexploitation and horror. It succeeds at neither. This flick is okay for we of the cheesy movie hall of fame fan club. Not great, just okay. The low priced DVD edition is adequate from a technical quality standpoint. Go slowly into this dark night. ;-)

Garry's friends show real flare.......2004-11-08

Almost Unbearable Without the MST3K Treatment.......2004-03-27

'Horrors of Spider Island' was made in Germany and originally called 'Ein Toter hing im Netz', literally 'A Dead One Hung in the Net', a catchy title that is actually a bit more informative and true to the film than the English version. In this film a group of dancers are enroute to Singapore when their plane crashes vertically (and on fire) into the Pacific Ocean, leaving them totally unscathed along with their manager, Gary. Gary runs afoul of the lamest spider I have ever seen on film and becomes a monster that the box describes as 'half-man and half-insect', but I prefer to refer to as a mangy werewolf in need of braces.

The vast bulk of the film involves the girls walking around the island yelling "Gary!" in badly dubbed voices, although there are a couple of fight scenes and even an occasional glimpse of the monster. I had seen the MST3K version of this film and had enjoyed it, but then again, I like MST3K in general. I thought that I might enjoy watching the original version of the film, but I was wrong. Before watching this version of the film, I had no idea how much the staff at Best Brains suffered to prepare their version for television. I didn't do a timing comparison, but it seems to me that the MST version must have edited out some of the wandering around the island footage, as I didn't recall the movie being this long.

Product Description

The legends of Science Fiction are gathered here for you in this definitive DVD collection of some of the greatest Sci-Fi classics to ever come out of Hollywood. This 8 DVD collection is sure to provide you with countless hours of entertainment. Volume 2 includes: Phantom from 10,000 Leagues directed by Dan Milner and starring Kent Taylor; Track of the Moon Beast directed by Richard Ashe and starring Chase Cordell; Horrors of Spider Island directed by Fritz Bottger and starring Harald Maresch; Robot Monster directed by Phil Tucker and starring George Nader; Bride of the Gorilla directed by Curt Siodmak and starring Raymond Burr; Hercules and the Captive Women directed by Vittorio Cottafavi and starring Reg Park; Assignment: Outer Space directed by Antonio Marghereti and starring Rick Van Nutter; Blood Tide directed by Richard Jefferies and starring James Earl Jones

Man in the Attic / Juggernaut / House of Mystery / Bloodlust / the Rapist / Devil's Express / I Eat Your Skin / the Sadist / Mesa of Lost Women / Horrors of Spider Island [[[10 HORROR CLASSIC MOVIES]]]

Average customer rating:

Man in the Attic / Juggernaut / House of Mystery / Bloodlust / the Rapist / Devil's Express / I Eat Your Skin / the Sadist / Mesa of Lost Women / Horrors of Spider Island [[[10 HORROR CLASSIC MOVIES]]]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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