Spider Labyrinth - In den Fängen der Todestarantel

A professor sent to Italy to check on a reclusive colleague finds himself in a world whose reality seems less and less certain. That's about all one needs to know about the plot. Most Italian horror is mood driven not plot focused. The Spider Labyrinth certainly owes a debt to Dario Argento. We have a mystery, a sect, a hotel with strange residents, and the unsettling feeling that the protagonist left reality behind the moment he stepped off the airplane. The world of the film is one of magic, just like in Suspiria or Inferno, yet the film does not fall into the trap of being a rip-off of those films. Only one scene, the murder of a maid in a room with hanging sheets, suffers from being overly familiar. Otherwise, the film has the feel of an Argento film without coming across as theft. While The Spider Labyrinth is not without problems (some hokey FX; an at times easy to predict plot), it seems more daring and evocative than Mother of Tears, Argento's last Three Mothers film. I am surprised by how little attention the film has gotten in the U.S. even with horror film fans like myself.

Not really bad Italian production of the late Eighties, with a story of an ancient religion of a spider-god survived till our days in a ghostly photographed Budapest. A few scenes are well done (like the death of a maid similar to one of the finest scene in Argento's Suspiria) or evocative (like the nightmarish underground voyage of the American professor in the spider nest, full of human remains), while the major faults of the movie are in the dialogues and in the fact that a good idea is wasted in a too derivative ending

An American professor of archeology Alan Whitmore is ordered by his superiors at his university to go to Budapest.He travels there to work with another researcher and stumbles into pagan worshippers of a giant subterranean spider monsters.A crazed demonic killer is slaughtering those who stumble unto the secrets of 4000 year old cult and there seems no way out of the labyrinth."Spider Labirynth" is an eerie and very stylish homage to Italian horror as well as the film with extremely dense Lovecraftian atmosphere of terror and menace.The use of colors in "Spider Labirynth" reminds me Dario Argento's brilliant "Suspiria" and "Inferno".The special visual effects by Sergio Stivaletti are gruesome and bloody and the suspense slowly builds up.9 out of 10.Along with Michele Soavi's "Deliria" definitely the best Italian horror movie of late 80's.

Not only do I hunt the independent flicks, I also try to track down those flicks that were never released in a proper way, no DVD or official VHS was released. Sometimes they were only available on VHS at a rental base. Most of those flicks are well sought after and aren't cheap to buy. But sometimes if you hunt and are patient you can find those gems. This is one of them. It's an Italian horror movie but I wouldn't say that it is a giallo. Therefore there are to much strange things going on, the occult takes an important factor in the storyline. It never bores but as always with the Italian ones the sound isn't what it should be. The added sounds like doors closing or the wind is always too loud and that makes you look for failures. Like when the wind blows hard you see leaves flying away in front of the street but further the trees are standing still. Do I need to say more. But the movie works and has his creepy moments. the killings aren't bloody or gory but they work and that's good, isn't it. There is some stop motion used with the rip off of the spiderhead scene in The Thing, but still it's worth seeing. The version I have is English spoken with Japanese subs and clocks in at 87 minutes, uncut. And for those perverts out there, yes, some nudity is involved but due the Japanese release private parts are blurred, you know what I mean...

This largely unknown Italian horror movie encapsulates the best of Italian horror. We've got Giallo elements, supernatural elements, surreal ambiance and a dark, sinister plot. Despite a lovely murder scene that takes place in the middle of a load of bed sheets, the first half of the film is largely rather uninspiring; but as the film moves on, it mutates into one of the most grisly assaults that I've ever seen from Italy. Many people that have seen this movie have labelled it a Giallo, and while the film does have it's Giallo moments in the first half - I'd put Spider Labyrinth in with the robust Gothic horror films such as Kill Baby Kill, Inferno and Suspiria before listing it amongst the likes of Solange and The Bird With the Crystal Plumage. The plot follows a professor who is sent to stay with a fellow professor for reasons that are always left rather vague. It's not long before his professor host ends up dead, and our hero is being plunged into a world of mystery and sinister cults, which all seems to focus around some strange 'fist-sized' black balls.

Italian horror is well known for not making a lot of sense and this film suffers from a screenplay that adheres to that 'rule'. The intrigue is generated towards the start mainly because of the fact that the film is so difficult to follow, but once the film enters it's more satisfying second half, these problems are somewhat resolved. Even while the film isn't making a whole lot of sense, however, it still remains interesting by way of its atmosphere. Atmosphere tends to be more important in this sort of film anyway, so the fact that this one relies on it is largely to its credit. The beautiful Italian locations are well shot and the lighting in the scenes indoors gives the film exactly the right mood. The underground scenes towards the end represent the film's strongest location shoots, and are one of the main reasons why it ultimately succeeds. The special effects look extremely cheap and are mostly stop-motion. However, they're really disgusting also, and the final scene; even though the 'monster' is a doll, really is nightmarish. Overall, I could easily understand anyone that doesn't like Spider Labyrinth; but it hit the nail on the head for me, and I definitely recommend it to my fellow Italian horror cinema fans!