I like a couple of Bert I. Gordan's films, one of my favorites is Empire of the Ants. This one, which I caught on Mystery Science Theater 3000, just was kind of bland by comparison. Perhaps, it is the fact that in Empire we got a lot more shots of the title character and more than just one appendage as far as what was made or maybe it was the ridiculously overused bracelet plot point that kept this film in the caves more than it did in the streets when the action was at its best. Whatever the reason, just nothing I was overly thrilled with...did make a funny episode of MST3K though. They did another film with scorpions and that one too had lots of cave scenes, but that one was actually pretty good. This one, just too slow for a short film, and too much girl and boyfriend going through a cave and getting lost for my tastes.The story has a father getting offed in the first portion of the film and his daughter gets her boyfriend to help her try and find them. Clues lead to a cave that isn't supposed to be entered, yet they keep rationalizing reasons to enter and proceed further and further in. They even keep going after seeing skeletal remains and then they find themselves falling into a web where a big spider is lurking. They end up escaping somehow, though never clear how as they fell downward and somehow still made it back to the entrance, and warn everyone...including the skeptical sheriff. Though it is nice they did not linger on the skeptical portion of the film for too long. Well, now the town has a problem as the spider is soon on the loose and causing destruction and mayhem...for about five minutes before returning to its lair. Still not quite sure how it managed to get the guy going for help on the motorcycle as it wasn't super fast and he clearly made it away...This made for a very funny episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as Bert I. Gordan films tend to do. Nice change of pace, as I usually prefer Mike Nelson episodes to Joel's and this is due to the fact that Joel did tend to use very similar films a lot of times like when he did all the Hercules films. When he did do different things he usually was golden though and here the riffs were very funny. You have a lot of ammunition as it is a giant spider film.So all in all a good episode and a rather bland movie. Bert I. Gordan did some good stuff, but only if one likes cheese. Food of the Gods and Empire to me are two of his best and they came out in the 70's so perhaps he was just able to do a bit more in later years due to advancements in technology. His earlier work usually consisted of quick shots and lots of padding and pointless plot points. Still, they did have a certain charm to them.

Earth Vs. The Spider is drive-in material if I ever saw it. The kind of film that you can relax at the drive-in and not miss a lot as you get down to business with your significant other.This film gets confused a lot with Tarantula, they're about the same though I would give not want to split the difference either way.Two kids Eugene Persson and June Kenney are the protagonists, they find the cave where the giant arachnid hangs out and which has been rumored to be haunted for years. Later on they go back to the cave looking for a present that the girl dropped and have a second encounter with the big spider.These two kids are dumb, but they can't be held accountable because they've got a colossally dumb science teacher in Ed Kemmer. He goes along with the sheriff to rescue them the first time and they think the big guy's dead after all kinds of giant quantities of DDT are sprayed at him. All it does is put him in arachnid coma.The sheriff wants to blow up the cave and bury the body, but no Kemmer says he'd make a great exhibit for study. So they take the body and store it at the high school gym. In the meantime the local rock and roll band doing a little practice wakes him from his coma and everybody has to do it all over again.Some of those Fifties science fiction movies were better than others. Earth Vs. The Spider is not on the A list.

To begin with, I have to wonder whether Universal ever brought charges of plagiarism against this film in view of their own superior take on the 'giant spider' theme i.e. TARANTULA (1955); the title, then, ripped off Columbia's solid alien invasion movie EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956)! All of which suggests this was a pure exploitation flick aimed at teenagers (even incorporating a rock'n'roll number at one point) and, on that level, it is not too bad – being also thankfully brief at just 73 minutes – though clearly offering nothing we have not seen before! The Carlsbad caves used for a good part of the duration supply an ideal otherworldly backdrop, even if the special effects involving the spider itself are less successful (the spider often changes color from dark black to light grey!); the wizened make-up created for the blood-drained victims is rather creepy, however. One thing which can be said about Bert I. Gordon is that he was a shrewd promoter and, to be sure, two of his other horror/sci-fi efforts get namechecked here, namely THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957) and ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (1958) – both of which, as it happens, I have acquired in time to be viewed this Halloween (along with three more of the director's work within the genre)

If you're looking for a classic-style American movie, try out Earth vs. The Spider. I won't say it's an actual classic itself, but it has all the elements that make low budget American drive in horror fun.Emotional teenagers: check. Skeptical, good ol' boy sheriff: check. Bit of mumbo jumbo scientific talk: got it. Killer giant insect: bingo.The whole production has a cheerfulness about it that I like. The small town, the high school janitor, the wanton use of DDt--there's an innocence about all these elements. Remember, with a movie like this, its about fun and not about being scared. Earth vs the Spider is a minor, but fun effort.