Horrors of Spider Island

Grade C lost-on-a-deserted-island flick entertains despite itself

A plane transporting a female troupe of eight dancers from New York City crashes into the sea en route to Singapore, but several of them survive and make it to a deserted island where huge spiders dwell. Will they make it back alive?

A West German production, “Horrors of Spider Island” (1960) is a black & white ‘B’ movie that’s basically an island adventure with some old-fashioned horror elements. I call it “Grade C” because there are some glaring flaws. For instance, the story starts in Hollywood, but when the plane departs for Asia it’s clearly New York City. Furthermore, when the plane crashes into the sea off camera, it is shown going straight down into the water. Needless to say, if this were actually to occur no one would’ve survived.

If you can overlook these faults and the flat B&W photography, this is actually an entertaining B flick. All eight women are alluring one way or another, but voluptuous Babs (Barbara Valentin) is easily the most physically attractive. The director effectively displays their beauty without resorting to raunch.

It’s also interesting going back in time to 1959, when the film was shot, and see one of the blueprints for all these sci-fi/horror adventures that have emerged since.

The episode of Gilligan’s Island that featured the goofy giant spider must’ve been inspired by this movie, although the spider here is actually pretty creepy-looking for a B flick shot in 1959. Of course, the spider is strictly peripheral; the lovely ladies lost in the wilds are the showcase here. On that level, the picture delivers.

The film is short ‘n sweet at about 1 hour, 17 minutes, and was shot in what is now Croatia on the Adriatic Sea (then Yugoslavia) with establishing shots of Los Angeles and New York City, plus other stock footage.

GRADE: C