Web of the Spider

A lot of the horror movies from the early 1970s were more into substance and atmosphere, than shock, blood and gore, but that's not to say that they weren't terrifying, in their own way. They could grab the audience, transfer them back into a by gone era and show them things that, in the right setting, would scare the daylights out of them. Yet as time has gone on we, as an audience, grew up and wanted more and more to shock us into that same feeling that we would get when we were younger. This film harkens back to the time when all you needed to do was turn down the lights to get the added effect of the movie.
A newspaper writer is convinced by Edgar Allan Poe to spend a night in a haunted castle, and survive, in order to get an interview with the famed author. There are some things that you would notice right away about this film, first it still has the grainy picture of the original 1970 film, it was never cleaned up for the DVD transfer, but ultimately it helps with the creepiness of the story. Second, when anyone lights a candle it has the ability to light up the whole room, and throw light in impossible directions. Klaus Kinski as Poe does a wonderful job at showing the real man that he was, a drunkard who at times could weave a story that could spellbind the reader, or in this case the listener.
The plot for the story actually comes from one of Poe's own short stories, so that alone helps this manufactured tale, knowing that one of the greatest writers in American history contributed to the screenplay. I grew up on horror movies like this one, some of my favorites are the Poe adaptations that were done in the 60s and 70s, but I had never heard of this one and it was a pleasure to see it. Unless you're a Poe fan, or a fan of the 70s horror genre, you probably wouldn't like this. But if you are, and you can suspend your feeling of the fantastic, you just might find a gem amongst all the rubble.