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Author
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Topic: The Giant Spider Invasion (Iver 2x400')
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Marshall Crist
Master Film Handler
Posts: 300
From: San Pedro, CA USA
Registered: Oct 2008
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posted April 21, 2014 09:40 PM
This is my first run-in with Iver Film Services. Saw this film at the drive-in with GODZILLA VS. MEGALON back in '76, and I own the DVD. It wasn't too great then and I'm not sure it's gotten better. Had no idea this digest existed, so when it popped up on eBay, I figured "What the heck." It's always interesting to see what decisions the digest editors made.
Reel 1: A glowing object falls from the sky onto a Wisconsin farm, setting loose a windstorm. Fighter jets are scrambled and find their radar jammed. In the morning, a farmer and his wife find some of their cattle mutilated. They also find the impact site of the space object, and dozens of geode-like objects. They take one inside and crack it open, failing to notice a tarantula scurrying out. Also inside are what appear to be diamonds. Later the wife is in bed as a tarantula crawls toward her butt. She gets up before it reaches her, but opens a drawer and finds a MUCH larger spider inside. She runs out of the house into a barn and is taken out by and even bigger arachnid. Her husband is out in the field collecting geodes and is also attacked by a gigantic spider. (To give you an idea of the size, the special effects people used a Volkswagen for it's body.) No optical matte effects like in the '50s big bug movies--these are all "practical" effects. Not superb by any means, but still slightly creepy if you are not a fan of eight-legged things.
Reel 2: Wearing a towel and panties, the sister (I think) of the farmer's wife has a conversation with a gem expert/sleazy relative about the possible value of one of the geode "diamonds." Gem guy leaves and panics when a spider starts crawling toward him on his car seat. He plows into a giant web (occupied) but manages to get out. Still distracted by the spider in the car, he crashes into a gas station with predictable results. Back at the farm, the young woman is besieged by small spiders from inside and a huge spider from outside. A pair of scientists arrive as the huge spider moves onto other projects. It breaks up a little league game and runs amuck in a small town. The scientist discuss possible causes of the spider phenomenon (black holes, folks) and formulate a plan. During its implementation, a police officer attempts to single-handedly hold off a giant spider. And fails. Finally the signal is given, the plan is put into effect, and the big spider is reduced to a pile of goo.
As a frustrated digest editor, I can't say I am too impressed with the scene selection of this cut-down. Dialogue scenes with pseudo-scientific gobbledygook are allowed to drag on (although nowhere near as bad as in full feature) and a few obvious highlights are missing or cut way back. Particularly missed are the scene where the farmer's wife accidentally includes a tarantula in the blender as she mixes a drink (Stephen King singled this out as the best part of the film) and much of the scene where the giant spider attacks the farmhouse is gone as well. The film's one fleeting nude scene is very intentionally trimmed, and some of the (PG-rated) "gore" seems purposely toned-down too. The farmer's death was originally particularly bloody, but may have been shortened to omit the voice-over of a fire and brimstone preacher's sermon, which would have been without context here. Not a total waste by any means, but I am tempted to delete a couple of BORING dialogue scenes to squeeze the remainder of the film onto a single 600' reel.
I would be highly interested in reading any comments about the film, the digest, or Iver Films in general, of which I know nothing.
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Marshall Crist
Master Film Handler
Posts: 300
From: San Pedro, CA USA
Registered: Oct 2008
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posted April 27, 2014 02:08 AM
Yeah, the credits are interesting on this digest. These are my recollections from a single viewing. First, my print has no leader and begins during the title card. Then the first few actor credits happen, followed by a cut to the director credit with slightly delayed jump in audio. These are the original titles, with what definitely sounds like a portion of the appropriate music from that part of the film.
At the end of the film, we get the freeze-frame that occurs in the feature, followed by a generic Iver "The End." We do not hear the preacher's sermon that accompanies the end credits in the theatrical version. However, music plays. Boy, does it play. It keeps playing even after the end card finishes and we see all that other post-movie nonsense like "end of reel 2," etc. It just goes and goes. The style of the music seems in keeping with the rest of the movie, but I am not well-versed enough to comment beyond that. Next time I watch it I will try to pay more attention.
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