8mm Forum: The Giant Spider Invasion (Iver 2x400')

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Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on 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.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on April 22, 2014, 08:29 AM:

Marshall,

Thanks for the great review. I always mix up this film with the Derann 400' Kingdom of the Spiders. As for Iver, Mark Williams has a fascinating site devoted to them.

Doug

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on April 22, 2014, 12:57 PM:

Cheers for the plug Doug [Smile]

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on April 22, 2014, 07:26 PM:

Doug, thanks for the link! Mark, thanks for the site!

I remember seeing the Iver VHS tape of DRACULA'S VIRGIN LOVES on a rental store shelf here in the US, but that's about it. They seem to have released a lot of Bryanston product, God bless 'em. Can anyone confirm if they put out a 400' reel of THE REDEEMER? I thought I saw it mentioned elsewhere on this forum, but it doesn't seem to be on the list.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on April 23, 2014, 04:52 PM:

Cheers Marshall [Smile]

Derann released The Redeemer 400ft here in the UK and very rare it is too these days [Frown]

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on April 23, 2014, 07:00 PM:

Thanks--very helpful info!

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on April 26, 2014, 06:06 PM:

Marshall- THANKs for this review of "The Giant Spider Invasion". I've been waiting years for someone to review it.

IVER FILMS also released the theatrical trailer to this on super 8. Here are a few screen shots:

[ January 04, 2017, 09:23 PM: Message edited by: James N. Savage 3 ]

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on April 26, 2014, 07:27 PM:

Thanks for those pics, James!

One additional, trivial thing I noticed about the Super 8 digest is that the "night" shots (many of which were filmed during the day and then artificially darkened) are printed much brighter than they appear on the rather awful American DVD release. (I consider this a plus.)

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on April 26, 2014, 08:41 PM:

That really is neat trivia!

Even those particular "darkened" scenes you are referring to look lousy in the trailer (they used the American trailer, so it figures).

Strangely enough, I loved this movie when I saw it at the cinema in the 70's. I think my friends and I went back about 3 or 4 times to see it again [Smile]

.

One question Marshall- Are any of the original opening credits included on this digest? I really like the opening theme music for some odd reason. [Cool]

James

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on 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.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on April 27, 2014, 08:08 AM:

I quite like the 2 x 400' but I can now see that it helps in some ways if you have NOT seen the feauture! Clearly the editing could have been better, but from the point of view of it making sense and not having loose ends, it works pretty well. The trailer is also good fun for anyone who likes this sort of thing!

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