Giant Spider on the Loose in B Movie Documentary

May 13, 2010 - PRLog -- Being bitten by a giant spider would be bad enough.  But being bitten by a giant spider and then turning into the scariest-looking creature since the Wolfman, well, that's just plain bad luck.

But that is the fate of a stranded nightclub owner in "Horrors of Spider Island," a thriller of a B movie that graced drive-in screens in 1962.

That giant spider is one of the featured players in "The Day of the B Movie," R. J. Thomas' documentary salute to (and spoof of) the beloved cheapies of yesteryear.

"'Horrors of Spider Island' was originally a German sci-fi picture," Mr. Thomas said.  "It was dubbed into English and started playing in the United States in 1962.  It is a great example of the drive-in B movie epic.  Clips of it had to find their way into my documentary."

Hosted by Mr. Thomas (sometimes as a B movie character himself,) "The Day of the B Movie" features clips of some of the funniest, corniest, most colorful, and most bizarre B movies ever made.  

The giant spider is not the only menacing creature in the playful documentary.  A giant Gila monster wages war on a small town and its' by-the-book sheriff.  A ruthless sea monster stalks innocent swimmers.  A nuclear explosion in the desert turns a brilliant scientist into a crazed beast.  An alien who sports a helmet and is without a face puzzles prominent scientists, while a bewildered good ol' boy, after seeing a giant leech in the lake, tells his buddies, "I wouldn't touch that critter for all the money ever made.  If you'd seen it, you wouldn't neither!"  

"The 1950s and 60s B movies had their share of giant creatures," Mr. Thomas said.  "Spiders, lizards, ants, you name it.  They made their way to stardom."

"The Day of the B Movie" is on DVD at BooksAndSuchMart.com.

A thirty-second promo for the film is available for viewing on YouTube.com.

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Temple Productions is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that specializes in independent films and books.