Released in 1971 (but not until '75 in the USA), "Spider's Venom" (aka "The Legend of Spider Forest" and "Venom") is a mystery/horror about an artist (Simon Brent) who stumbles upon a village with secrets in the Black Forest, Germany: A beautiful redhead (Neda Arneric) frolics the local woods and seemingly leads men to their deaths, but people in the hamlet only willingly speak of it in hushed tones late at night when the fires burn low. The tangled web includes lethal spiders, neurotoxin and mad Nazi doctors. Sheila Allen is also on hand.The protagonist looks like an early 70's rock star (e.g. Jim Morrison) and I noticed an early 70's rock/prog rock soundtrack during the tavern sequence (think Jethro Tull or ELO). Arneric is a serious cutie and there's some tame, tasteful nudity. I favor the haunting backwoods European mood. It was directed by Peter Sykes, whose next film would be Hammer's "Demons of the Mind (1972); he also directed Hammer's penultimate "To the Devil a Daughter" (1976) and, believe it or not, "The Jesus Film" (1979).Unfortunately, the editing is amateurish, like a lot of 70's low-budget Euro flicks; it's just awkwardly done and takes you right out of the movie. Pictures like this make you praise Hammer Films in all their low-budget glory. Also, the DVD that I viewed (which is probably the only form of the movie available) had terrible audio and I could only make out about 50% of the dubbed verbiage; no kidding.The film runs 97 minutes and was shot at Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England with establishing shots of the Alps. WRITERS: Derek Ford & Donald Ford, with additional dialogue by Christopher Wicking. GRADE: C

Quite a curio this.'Legend of The Spider Forest' is partly shot in what appears to be the picturesque Bavarian mountains, concerning the bizarre, esoteric legend of the deadly Spider Woman; played by the truly delicious Nada Arneric. Various libidinous young men are dying in the uber spooky forest; is it really the dastardly machinations of the nubile Arneric or is there something far more sinister afoot? Throw in the ubiquitous mad German scientist and you have a giddy mish- mash of unctuous horror goodness that is bound to appeal to most Brit horror completists!

To begin with, I first became aware of this film through the biographical notes on director Sykes residing among the supplements included on the Anchor Bay Special Edition DVD of Hammer's superior latter-day outing DEMONS OF THE MIND (1972).Despite its obvious low-budget, this obscure but stylish thriller with fantasy and erotic overtones is an impressive and assured piece of work in its own right – starting out as it does in black-and-white with the first attack of the "Spider Girl" (played by a Serbian actress with the awkward-sounding name of Neda Americ but whose looks are decidedly stunning) after some full-frontal nudity by way of watery lovemaking! The male protagonist (Simon Brent), then, is a sturdy and compelling character; also notable in the cast are the vicious mature-looking woman (Sheila Allen) who forcefully seduces the hero in a steamy but short-lived sequence, her wily first citizen father (Gerard Heinz), and her ill-tempered blond boyfriend (Derek Newar) – who's incongruously whipped at one point by his own cohorts! Various unexpected twists come to light during the lively climax which sees the emergence of a cross-dressing ex-Nazi – who turns out to be the father of the Spider Girl and is intent on resurrecting the Party in his remote countryside village through the sale of art treasures retrieved in World War II and which lay hidden in a local church ever since! This is a very rare item indeed: I acquired it in a full-frame edition (with forced Finnish subtitles to boot), which format renders the compositions overly claustrophobic at times!

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!