Venom

After the grainy, low-budget VENOM aka THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST, British director Peter Sykes landed a job for legendary British horror production Hammer for DEMONS OF THE MIND, with more money, bigger names and continuing the psychological-horror sub-genre, only VENOM is a lot more affective...

Mostly set in a tree-shrouded, shade-soaked, shadow-splintered forest where lovely Neda Arneric (a combination of Sarah Miles and Mia Farrow) plays Anna, a nature-traipsing wild girl with an enigmatic spider tattoo on her shoulder, following bland/handsome journalist Simon Brent around until he winds up, seemingly safe in a local tavern where, once back in the forest, he has more problems connected to a gang of muscularly rural locals liken to the 60's British thriller THE SHUTTERED ROOM, only these guys are no (and there really needed someone intriguing like an) Oliver Reed...

Making the only real problem of this otherwise decent gothic programmer the lack of anyone else charismatic enough beyond Anna or secondary seductress Sheila Allen, daughter of the resident doctor who's a Nazi that, as described in the summary, has created some sort of nerve gas using spider venom...

But all the scientific expository stuff happens so far along it really doesn't matter... making VENOM only really matter when centering on Neda Arneric's energetic prowess and sensually exploitive, ravaging beauty.

In an opening scene in black and white with a blue tint to it, a young man and woman skinnydip together, and then go into the woods for a little sex. A large shadow of a spider looms, and the man is attacked. The woman has a birthmark or tattoo of a spider on her. There's seemingly some full-frontal nudity in a longshot, and there is toplessness despite the PG rating! Later there's some sadistic beatings and whippings. The Legend of Spider Forest almost makes this sound like it's for kids: nope!

I watched this on a double-sided DVD as Spider's Venom (the other title is Virgin Terror). Unfortunately full-screen, and I had to actually zoom the picture out a bit since it went beyond the edges of the screen. Probably taken from a videotape rather than a film print, given a weird glitch about thirty-five minutes in. Additionally, the sound quality is awful - whoever did the transfer wasn't checking the levels and it's particularly bad when the music swells and some notes just become loud hums and there's pops and crackles. So "Miracle Pictures a Division of PMC Corp. - Delaware," thanks for releasing this, but what a terrible job you did!

After the opening scene, the picture turns to color. Paul, a photographer/artist drives into a small German village and he manages to take a photo of the woman with the spider marking that he calls a scar. However, his pictures are stolen. He's met with a mixture of friendliness and hostility at the local pub. The mill owner shares a bottle of wine with him, and tries to interest him in his daughter. He does in fact wind up in bed with her shortly later, where they have a vigorous session, though it isn't graphic at all.

Paul wants to find out who the young woman is, and the townspeople want him to leave. He knows that there had been some paintings, including a Bosch, that had disappeared during WWII from the church. He finds one by a fresh body in the forest, but they too disappear.

The villagers do speak some German that isn't subtitled (putting us in Paul's shoes, I guess). The girl with the spider mark also sings some song in German as well.

Eventually, the mystery is solved along with a bizarre bit of transvestism that adds nothing. Cue the big fire, so common in Gothic horror movies of the 60s and 70s. Not bad, but a better release is clearly needed for a real idea of the quality of the movie.

The palpably flawed, but nonetheless entertaining 'Venom' remains a deliciously odd, avidly arachnophobe triggering Brit-horror curiosity. Partly shot in what handsomely appears to be the eerily bucolic Bavarian mountains, 'Venom' tells the bizarrely esoteric tale of the deadly mysterious man eating 'Spider Woman! This memorably malign mistress of multi-legged misanthropy is excitingly played with vulpine verisimilitude by the delectable starlet, Nada Arneric! An increasing number of libidinous young men have been inexplicably expiring whilst traversing the horror haunted forest. Are their obscure sudden deaths solely due to the dastardly machinations of the nubile nymph, Arneric? Or are there far more preternaturally sinister forces at work? 'Venom' even throws in a ubiquitously loony, medically deviated German scientist for some additionally lurid interest! Peter Sykes's mythologically muddled mishmash of hallucinatory 1970s Brit-horror kookiness brings a terrifyingly vivid meaning to the phrase 'better dead than web'!

Peter Sasdy made a lot of films that were disappointing; Demons of the Mind and To the Devil a Daughter were two of the worst of all the Hammer films and House in Nightmare Park was not nearly as entertaining as it could have been. The Legend of Spider Forest is actually Sasdy's least disappointing film, but that's only because I had no expectations going into it. The film really does make little sense and while the fantasy elements of it might have lifted it out of the bottom of the barrel, they unfortunately don't. The plot has something to do with a mad scientist, a mythical 'spider woman' and some spider venom; there's a forest involved too. It actually gets off to an interesting start as we witness an interesting sequence taking place in a forest but the rest of the film is an absolute mess. It's far too easy to get lost in what's going on, and since the film is not very interesting, it's difficult to find the motivation to actually care what is going on - which kind of makes watching this film rather pointless. I guess this might appeal to people who like daft films that don't make sense, but everyone else can feel free to leave this one languishing in obscurity!

"The Legend of Spider Forest", which is a way cooler title than the alternate and highly derivative "Venom", is a film that always intrigued me, and has been standing on my must-see list since forever. Like too often the case with films for which you have high (too high?) expectations, it turned out to be a minor disappointment. The first half hour, or so, is definitely promising. The opening sequences - dream or reality? - are atmospheric, and the setting is perfect. Clichéd as it might be, I love these sleepy little towns full of secrets. In this case, it's a German village right next to an immense forest where the ghost of a young girl with a spider-shaped scar may or may not dwell around. But then, director Peter Sykes makes one of the biggest mistakes you can make in a horror movie. He tries to uphold the mystery for so long, so desperately, and reveals so little clues about what is happening, that you eventually stop caring. A couple of suspenseful moments, one including the protagonist tied up while a spider crawls towards his face, and the fiery finale are probably the only things I will remember from this film.