Web of the Spider – Garagehouse Pictures (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1971
Director: Antonio Margheriti
Writers: Giovanni Addessi, Bruno Corbucci, Giovanni Grimaldi, Antonio Margheriti
Cast: Anthony Franciosa, Michèle Mercier, Klaus Kinski, Peter Carsten, Silvano Tranquilli, Karin Field, Raf Baldassarre, Irina Maleeva, Enrico Osterman, Marco Bonetti, Vittorio Fanfoni, Carla Mancini, Omero Capanna

Release Date: November 7th, 2017
Approximate Running Time: 93 Minutes 17 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: OOP

"An intrepid reporter by the name of Alan Foster (Anthony Franciosa, Tenebrae), accepts a wager from Edgar Allan Poe (Klaus Kinski, Nosferatu the Vampyre) and his companion, Thomas Blackwood, to spend a single night in the reputedly haunted Blackwood Castle on All Souls Eve. Shortly after settling into the spooky abode, the reporter meets the beautiful Elisabeth Blackwood (Michele Mercier, Black Sabbath), and begins to witness ghostly phenomena and visitations from beyond the grave, as an assortment of specters relive the last moments before their ghastly murders. Soon, Foster realizes that the damned spirits of Blackwood Castle require human blood to continue their unnatural existence!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "In HD for the first time ever, fully restored and mastered from anuncut, domestic theatrical negative."

Web of the Spider comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.6 GB

Feature: 12.2 GB

Sourced from a theatrical print, which is going to have its own limitations, the source used for this transfer looks very good. Colors and flesh tones look correct, image clarity is strong, and black levels generally look good. Also, any compression-related issues are minor, and though the image retains an organic look, the grain can look thicker in some moments than others.

Audio: 4/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The source is in good shape, and any audio imperfections are minor. Dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and range-wise things are satisfactory.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image and art gallery, a German theatrical trailer (1 minute 44 seconds, Dolby Digital mono German with removable English subtitles), a deleted scene (4 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital mono German with removable English subtitles), German super 8 movie digest part one (16 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital mono German with removable English subtitles), German super 8 movie digest part two (16 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital mono German with removable English subtitles), the uncut Italian version of Web of the Spider (110 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles, presented in standard definition), an audio commentary is with George Reis and Keith Crocker, an audio commentary is with Stephen Romano, Antonio Margheriti trailer reel: Castle of Blood, Lighting Bolt, The Wild Wild Planet, War Between the Planets, The Stranger and the Gunfighter, The Squeeze, Killer Fish, Yor, the Hunter from the Future and Code Name: Wild Geese, and a trailer reel for titles previously released by Garagehouse Pictures.

Summary:

Directed by Antonio Margheriti, whose notable films are The Virgin of Nuremberg, Castle of Blood, The Long Hair of Death, and Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes. Before Antonio Margheriti made a name for himself in the gothic horror genre, he was the premier Italian filmmaker working in the sci-fi genre, directing Assignment: Outer Space, Battle of the Worlds, and the Gamma One Quadrilogy (The Wild, Wild Planet, The War of the Planets, War Between the Planets, and Snow Devils).

The narrative revolves around a journalist who takes a bet to stay one night in a haunted castle.

There are a few genres that work better in black and white than they do when shot in color. And nowhere is this more evident than the Gothic horror genre and its striking use of black-and-white cinematography. By the early 1970s, gothic horror films shot in black and white were few and far between. Notable examples of gothic horror films shot in color are Hammer Films 1958 adaptation of Dracula and Roger Corman’s The Pit and the Pendulum.

Italian genre cinema throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s was filled with films that knocked off whatever genre was in vogue at the time. And though many Italian directors from this time frame were pigeonholed into a specific genre, there were a handful of directors who were able to be successful in multiple genres. 

Case in point: Antonio Margheriti, an Italian director whose career spanned five decades. His most successful periods were the 1960s and 1970s. And it is his work within the Gothic horror genre during the 1960s that is arguably his best film as a director. In the 1970s, he would return to the Gothic horror genre with Web of the Spider. And for the first time, he would shoot a Gothic horror film in color. The Web of the Spider would mark the first of two gothic horror films that he shot in color. The other film is Seven Dead in the Cat’s Eye.

Content-wise, Web of the Spider is a remake of Castle of Blood, a film that he directed seven years before and shot in black and white. And though there are many areas where these two films are virtually identical, when it comes to their visuals, they are like night and day. That said, both films create a tremendous amount of atmosphere, albeit in different ways. The way in which Web of Spider-Lights scenes give the visuals an unnatural look that superbly reinforces the state of limbo that the protagonist finds himself trapped in.

Though the performances in Web of the Spider are very good, none of the cast ever came close to matching Barbara Steele’s (Black Sunday) captivating performance from Castle of Blood. The most memorable performance was by Klaus Kinski (Count Dracula) in the role of Edgar Allen Poe. His character fills a similar role to the character he portrayed in Jess Franco’s Marquis de Sade’s Justine, a name actor brought in for a role that required limited screentime. Other notable cast members include Irina Maleeva (Kidnap Syndicate), Michèle Mercier (Black Sabbath) in the role of Elisabeth Blackwood, and Anthony Franciosa (Tenebrae) in the role of Alan Foster. Ultimately, Web of the Spider is a very good remake and one of the best examples of an Italian gothic horror film in color.

Web of the Spider gets a great release from Garagehouse Pictures that comes with a good audio/video presentation, two versions of the film, and informative extras, recommended.

                                                       Italian version screenshots.

Written by Michael Den Boer