La maldición de la viuda negra

This movie was great! Patty Duke & Donna Mills as (fraternal) twins?!? Guess there have been stranger things...like a man-sized Black Widow spider terrorizing Los Angeles! I won't give away who the "spider woman" is but within the first 2 minutes all you have to do is hear her voice & you'll know instantly it is either her or her proper twin cousin from Brooklyn Heights! Fortunately the fx in this film are so realistic you too may even believe that 6ft spiders are made of paper mache. Of course we also get the creature-point-of-view, and since spiders have 8 eyes we see 8 victims at once. If you have the opportunity to see this, you must watch it.

Take Patty Duke, Donna Mills, June Allyson and June Lockhart. Add schizophrenia, were-spiders (similar to -wolves, but with eight legs), 1977 Los Angeles and Dan Curtis. Sprinkle with a bit of nepotism (Tracy Curtis, daughter of director Dan, has 15 seconds showing off on a balance beam that's grafted on like a third arm), add a pinch of bad cinematography and annoying commercial fade-outs, and bake well for what seems like forever.

Garnish with stereotypical "Injuns", gay morgue directors and sassy streetwalkers, then soak in brine for two hours. Prop dialogue firmly on stilts and spit in its eye. That's this movie. I loved it.

Right down to the meaty, slappable smile of the implausible leading man, every detail seemed just a bit ... off. And happily so. If this one doesn't generate derisive howls of laughter at your next homocockail soiree, sweetie, you need to redecorate or something.

After all the movies I have seen, some of the most enjoyable, are those turned out for ABC's Tuesday Night at the Movies in the 1970's. They were B-movies in all their glory. The Curse of the Black Window is one such movie. Filled with good character actors, a fast plot and cheesy special effects, it filled a void for genre movies on tv. Other genre movies created in this time were-The Cat Creature, Black Noon, Dual and the great Night Staker(One of the great Vampire movies.).It was not just horror movies, but detective, war, love and comedies that entertained the viewers. The tv movies of the today are mostly teen flicks, love stories or social pronouncements. I do wish for a good old fashion cheapie horror tv movie.

Just keep your eyes open(0n cable,dvd or video)for the giant black spider of Dan Curtis mind.

ABC produced some entertraining, fast paced monster movies in the late 70's. This movie wastes no time getting to the action. Since it was made for TV and premiered on a Friday night, it had to be action filled before every commercial break to keep you tuned in. The twist at the end was neat. It's also interesting to see some TV star veterans who you might recognize from popular shows of the 60's, 70's and 80's, like Donna Mills from Knots Landing, June Lockhart from Lost in Space, and Rob Kelly who was one of two actresses that played Pinky Tuscadero on Happy Days.

If you enjoyed this movie, a couple other hidden gems that were ABC made for TV films are The Bermuda Depths starring Carl Weathers and Connie Seleca, about a legendary woman who turns into a giant sea turtle, and Cruise into Terror starring Dirk Benedict and John Forsythe about a cursed Egyptian mummy sarcophagus being transported on a cruise ship. These films won't win any Emmys, and some of the stars were embarrassed to be in them, but nevertheless they are memorable because they were so schlocky and yet well-cast with TV all-stars, and broadcast in an age of television where there were only three networks to choose from.

Some men are dying in horrific ways in SoCal and a private investigator seeks the answers (Tony Franciosa) while the detective in charge tries to keep a lid on the unusual details (Vic Morrow). A woman hires the private eye, who has a twin (Donna Mills and Patty Duke).

"Curse of the Black Widow" (1977) is similar to other spooky thrillers of the 70s by Dan Curtis, like "The Night Strangler" (1973), "The Norliss Tapes" (1973) and "Scream of the Wolf" (1974), all of which were made-for-TV. One critic said it's unintentionally funny, but I didn't see that. Sure, it's an outlandish state of affairs, which is acknowledged by the players, but the tone is kept serious with the cast respecting the material.

Aside from Duke and Mills on the feminine front, Roz Kelly appears as the private eye's assistant, Flaps. You might recall Roz as Pinky Tuscadero on Happy Days.

I was expecting something along the lines of 1987's "Black Widow" with Debra Winger, Theresa Russell and Dennis Hopper but, no, this is more in the vein of the aforementioned flicks mixed with Marvel's Werewolf By Night.

The F/X at the end aren't bad considering this was a television production long before CGI became in vogue. While a couple things in the story are predictable, e.g. The epilogue, there are also some interesting bits and one or two really creepy scenes at the dilapidated farm. Meanwhile Franciosa makes for a surprisingly good protagonist and his relationship with his spunky subordinate is entertaining.

The film runs 1 hours, 40 minutes, and was shot in 20th Century Fox Studios in Century City and other spots of the Los Angeles area, i.e. Piru Mansion, Malibu, Buena Park, Culver City and West Hollywood.

GRADE: B-/B.