The Sizzlin’ Something Weird Summer Challenge 2024: Horrors of Spider Island (1960)

Softcore Smorgasbord (August 4 – 10) All of the movies on this list have at one time or another been available through Something Weird Video. I’m sure I’ve missed some but many of them are still available on their website (until the end of 2024). These are their vintage softcore movies listed under categories with ridiculous names like: Nudie Cuties, Sexy Shockers, Sexo a-go-go, Twisted Sex, and Bucky Beaver’s Double Softies.

Also known as Ein Toter Hing im Netz or A Corpse Hung in the Web, this West German horror film is all about Gary, a nightclub manager who invites several pretty ladies to strip dance in Singapore. They crash land on the way, make it to an island and find a giant spider web. Soon, Gary is bitten by the spider and becomes a mutant.

First released here as an adults’ only nudie cutie called It’s Hot in Paradise, it was re-released without nudity as Horrors of Spider Island. Your enjoyment of this film depends on how much you like watching women wrestle one another and pull hair. I mean, who amongst us can say no to that?

Maybe just look at the awesome German poster, hmm?

When I first saw this, I was way too dismissive of it. It has the same cinematographer as Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, Georg Krause, shooting a movie with nearly nude women menaced by spiders. Was I in a bad mood the first time I wrote about this? What was wrong with me?

You can get a great version of this from Severin.