EDITOR’S NOTE: Curse of the Black Widow was on the CBS Late Movie on April 13 and October 19, 1983 and June 6, 1984. Bill Van Ryn also covered this movie for the site.

For the last few years, men have been found dead in Los Angeles with small bites all over them. It hits home for Mark Higbie (Tony Franciosa, Tenebrae)  when a woman picks up one of his friends and soon leaves him killed in the same way. As a detective, Mark knows some cops, like Lieutenant Gully Conti (Vic Morrow), who lets him in on the secret: the men are filled with spider venom and the same woman, Valerie Steffan (Patty Duke) is always near the scene of the murders.

One of the suspects, Leigh Lockwood (Donna Mills) — her sister Laura (also Duke) is the other the police are following — hires Mark, as she once dated every single one of the men who were killed. Also: the girls’ father was killed in a plane crash that they survived, after which one of them was bitten by spiders. When he meets the Native American who saved them, he’s told that some women are affected by an ancient curse passed through the female line. During the full moon, these women turn into giant spiders in times of stress — werespiders! — murder men, encase them in webbing and feed on them. These women have a red hourglass-shaped birthmark on their abdomens, like a black widow. The only thing that can kill them is fire. Also, a bartender says that he saw a giant spider kill one of the victims.

Spoiler: Valeria and Laura are the same person, driven by a hate of the sister and how successful she is with men. Only their mother (June Lockhart) — now in a coma after seeing her turn into her spider shape — and their nanny Olga (June Allyson) know the truth. Meanwhile, Mark is falling for Leigh when he should maybe pay attention to his assistant Flaps (Roz Kelly). But what do I know? I’ve never investigated a giant werespider murder mystery before.

I love this movie. It’s packed with character actors — Max Gail, Jeff Corey and Hard Boiled Haggerty are also in this — plus Sid Caesar makes an unexpected appearance. Directed by Dan Curtis and written by Robert Blees (Savage Harvest, Frogs), this movie will teach you so many things but foremost that giant spiders sound like Rodan.

You can watch this on YouTube.