Rant #1,842: Love Is Strange

Happy Valentines Day to all!

Get your candy, the flowers, the cards and the jewelry today ... if I sound like a carnival barker, I guess that that is what this holiday has come to.

Buy, buy, buy!

But if that is what it takes to show your love, then so be it.

One of the most romantic things that you can do is to sit down with your loved one and watch a movie, and do I have a Valentines Day movie for you ... and it is all for free on YouTube!

It is called "Spider Baby," and honestly, I just discovered this little gem last week while searching for other things. The title grabbed me, and let me tell you, it gave me more than a kiss on the lips when I watched it with my wife this past Saturday evening after we came home from our pre-Valentines Day dinner that I told you about yesterday.

Maybe a kiss of death?

Anyway, "Spider Baby" is a 1964 film--that because of financing problems, did not come out officially until 1968--starring Lon Chaney Jr., yes, the same actor who portrayed the Wolf Man in so many 1940s and 1950s horror flicks.

It can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHfPDRYJaeY.

Chaney plays the chauffeur and the caretaker of the Merrye Family, or the last remnants of the family. He also sings the title song, which should give you a real peak into the weird world you will soon be entering.

Due to interbreeding, the family has a psychological malady named after them, one where the mind, at puberty, actually regresses--in other words, instead of maturing normally, those afflicted with this disease go back to childhood, go back even before that to babyhood, and eventually, the brain basically withers away to nothing.

There are only a few survivors left, and Chaney's character, Bruno, has promised the since-deceased wealthy father of the last remaining younger people afflicted with this disease that he would take care of them forever.

There are three of them, two sisters and one brother.

Enter distant family members, who want to take over conservatorship of the family, for their own nefarious means, and they all come together one day to do just that--or so they think.

Along with the distant relatives are a lawyer and a law assistant, the latter of whom one of the distant relatives falls in love with almost immediately.

All the fun happens after dinner, when the entire brood supposedly retires to rooms in the Merrye mansion.

And it all revolves around a "game" called "Spider," and not only do the people I just described get caught in the Merrye web, but the viewer does, too.

This black and white movie is as macabre as it gets, and you can see where it was quite controversial, even for its time, as it depicts those a little off center in a way that our modern society frowns upon.

That being said, the film has lots to say, but I can't really say more, because it would give away the movie.

I will only say that the film does come to an interesting conclusion, first because of the true anti-hero of the film--Chaney's Bruno--and then it comes to a second conclusion, which is kind of obvious but still fun.

The movie also stars Carol Ohmart, Sid Haig, Beverly Washburn and Jill Banner, and was written and directed by Jack Hill.

The movie has gone under several names, including "The Maddest Story Ever Told," and it was later made into a musical stage show, and there was talk that it would be remade as a film, but that has not yet happened.

The movie has retained a cult following, and a website was created to honor it and its stars, at http://www.spiderbabyonline.com/.

This film is both a comedy and a macabre drama all rolled into one. Maybe it would have been better to see it on Halloween than on Valentines Day, but the love that Chaney's Bruno character has for this strange brood shows just how "strange" love can be at times.

I found the film to be the perfect movie to watch when I watched it with my wife, and I really suggest that you give this film a try.

And to hear Chaney warble the title song is worth the price of admission--which, of course, is nothing, as it is on YouTube, ripe for the taking.

So give "Spider Baby" a whirl.

I guarantee it is a film you won't soon forget.

And don't forget the cards, the candy, the flowers and the jewelry, too!