Giant spiders from outer space travel across the galaxy to invade Earth. They take the form of Earthmen (you can tell they’re spider men because they all have a small spider tattoo behind their ear) and begin harvesting human brains, the vital foodstuff for their queen, Arachnea. Naturally, the only one who can stop them from conquering the world is everyone’s second favorite luchador, Blue Demon! The aliens know this too, so they create their own invincible wrestler to go one on one with the champ in the ring.
I love it when low budget movies steal their special effects footage from other films. Usually though, they try to pinch footage from higher budgeted and/or slightly better made features. Director Federico Curiel probably had his pick of footage to blatantly steal from and put into this flick. What makes Hellish Spiders so great is that he went and stole the UFO footage from Plan 9 from Outer Space, the one picture that’s notorious for its famously awful pie tin/hubcap spaceships and flying saucers.
I fucking love it.
Not content to steal only from Plan 9, Curiel lifts whole scenes from Teenagers from Outer Space too. The famous dog disintegration scene from that movie is shown in its full glory. It’s fitting though, because like the teenagers in that flick, the aliens in this movie leave a trail of fleshless skeletons in their wake, so it all kind of synchs up. Not only does Hellish Spiders borrow footage from Plan 9 and Teenagers, it recycles some familiar musical cues from Creature from the Black Lagoon and This Island Earth. Also, the spiders themselves look a lot like the ones found in Horrors of Spider Island, which only adds to the fun.
While the invasion is going on, Blue Demon spends most of his time wrestling. There are at least five wrestling scenes, or seven if you count the two sparring sessions in the ring. The brawl with the alien champion is particularly fast-paced and entertaining. The shit really hits the fan when Demon smashes his opponent’s arm to reveal his spider appendage, horrifying the spectators in the process. Blue Demon also does battle outside the squared circle with the spider soldiers, who wear pretty sweet looking Dracula capes.
Once again, Curiel shows why he is one of the premier directors in Lucha Libre cinema. Sure, the production may be cheap and shoddy, but the sequences set in the aliens’ underground lair are loaded with atmosphere. The shots of the heroine clinging to the giant web as a slimy spider inches ever closer to her are particularly well done.
In short, this is one of Blue Demon’s best solo efforts. There’s tons of wrestling, cool monsters, and very little plot to get in the way. Ed Wood devotees will also love seeing the footage from Plan 9 being repurposed here. What more can a B movie fan ask for?
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