Monster of the Day #1677

Updated on December 15, 2017 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

So I guess we can now officially call the ’60s the “Decade for Horror Movies with ‘Island’ in the Title.”

And wow, is that poster writing a check that film can’t cash. Amazing how less goofy the cartoon poster spider is than the one in the movie.

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  • Gamera977

    Guess it’s my turn to make a crack about the skirt-chasing monster being Harvey WEB-stein…

    And of course:

    GAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • If the movie were half as good as the poster, it would be 10 times better than it is. I seem to remember this one featuring a lot of girls in granny pants.

  • bgbear_rnh

    My favorite part is the plane going down full speed nose first into the ocean and everyone but the pilots surviving.

  • zombiewhacker

    Hard to believe this once got a full spread in Famous Monsters of Filmland… wait, who am I kidding, Forry Ackerman gave every horror movie ever made the full spread treatment.

  • Gamera977

    Speaking of horror movies about people trapped on islands has Ken used ‘Matango’ as a MotD yet?

  • Rock Baker

    Quite a history with this one. It played raincoat theaters as IT’S HOT IN PARADISE, and was sold as a quasi-romantic survival drama without a hint of the monster stuff being mentioned. The exact same film was then released to kiddie matinee audiences a few years later as HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND as an all-out monster movie. The film was never sold to television, and probably was first seen there via Mystery Science Theater 3000. Meanwhile, publicity materials for the original German version indicate that it was even racier and included some mild nudity. Euro bombshell Barbara Valentin was probably most visible to American audiences through this film’s two releases in ’61(?) and ’64, though I doubt the exposure helped any. I understand few saw the ’61 release and mostly kids saw the ’64. For those interested, a gorgeous transfer can be found on the disk from Something Weird Video (and even includes in the extras a musical number from American bombshell Joi Lansing).

  • Flangepart

    Oh, that! Yeah…the hero’s death exemption on a Groupon!

  • Flangepart

    A keeper of an MST3K. Like the gag with ‘Garyyyyy!’s shoes trick.

  • Marsden

    I agree. Rock’s impressive knowledge puts the movie in a clearer light for me as I really thought the “plot” was just there to glue together scenes of girls either auditioning in the beginning or running around the island in light clothing for the rest of it.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    That this movie had all the elements it had and still ended up being really boring is half-surprising.

  • Gamera977

    Yeah, I pulled out my Mill Creek ‘Fifty Krappy Movies for Forty Bucks’ collection and watched it last night. For a hour and fifteen minute movie boy does it drag. Not enough monster and frankly I only found Georgia, Ann, and Gladys attractive. And Kate’s accent, I think it was supposed to be Southern but believe me I’ve lived in the South my entire life and nobody sounds like that outside Hollywood, made me want to throw things at the TV.

  • The Rev.

    We watched this at a previous T-Fest and…yeah, I much prefer it with Mike and the ‘bots. That said, the goofy-as-hell spiders and man-spider bring joy whenever they’re on screen. Not to mention that guy hanging in the huge web, looking for all the world like he died in the middle of an Ed Grimley impersonation.

  • Gamera977

    The spider and Spider-Gary are a riot. They’re just weren’t on the screen long enough to hold my interest. And yeah the professor in a ‘web’ made of rope, bet that looked great on the big screen!

  • Gamera977

    BTW: In one of the Fallout games- I’m thinking 3 there’s a vault full of insane clones of some guy named Gary. As you progress though the place you’ll hear ‘Gary, Gary, GARY’ over and over. I’ve wondered if it’s a tip of the hat to this movie.

  • Ken_Begg

    That shock cut when they first reveal him in the web is one of the greatest “How the Hell did That Happen??” scenes in movie history.