Review: The Deadly Spawn: Millennium Edition

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2014
Images from the Internet

 

The Deadly Spawn: Millennium Edition
Directed by Douglas McKeown            
Elite Entertainment
81 minutes, 1983 / 2012
www.thedeadlyspawn.com
www.mvdvisual.com

When this direct-to-video film first came out, it was a divisive moment. The general public saw this as a piece of cheezy shit to be mocked and used as an example of bad cinema. For the fan, especially a newbie to the nascent VHS home market, it was a touchstone moment in indie cinema that was one of the leaders in the explosion in micro-budget horror, opening the door to what was to come. And y’know what, it’s a pretty damn fine film.

My issue with it was that the tape looked terrible: grainy and too color saturated that made the creature and gore look unclear, especially since many of the scenes take place in a dark basement. So much was viewed through my squinted eyes trying to figure out just what was going on.

In a scene that could have come straight out of the original The Blob (1958), two campers find a fresh meteorite that apparently has a stowaway in the form of a multi-headed creature with massive rows of teeth and a hunger for blood, which helps it grow and reproduce. After the subtextual homoerotic tenters become spawn fodder, the blind creature finds its way into a suburban basement, where, for a while, people seem to be constantly going down to the basement (where are the Ramones when you need ‘em?) and are chomped on in various, and graphic and enjoyable fashions.

Although obviously a puppet-like appliance that apparently takes four people to operate, the creature looks great, having rows and rows of sharp teeth, looking much better in this release taken from the original 16mm print than the faded and fuzzy VHS one. The use of primary colors, the gore, and the creature are all clearer for personal enjoyment. There has been some controversy over an earlier Synapse released DVD version that is reported to be even clearer than this Blu-ray, but as I never saw it, I’ll go with what I have seen.

The story itself is kind of slim, as we are introduced to quite an extended New Jersey family (the state where this was filmed). In the house are a husband and wife (supplying the only shot of a mild milf midriff though a lacy nightgown). Their high school age son, Pete (Tom DeFranco), is a science nerd, presented in a positive light. The younger son, Charles (Charles George Hildebrandt), who is around Bar Mitzvah age, is also highly bright and probably easily identifiable by the presumed target audience, a horror film and effects fanatic (and the lead role in the film). He has cool 1950s-‘60s indie film posters on his bedroom wall. Then there are the visiting aunt and creepy uncle (who gets the best kill in the picture). The New Agey vegetarian (i.e., mocked) grandmother lives a few blocks away, and we meet her and her biddies – er – I mean buddies for social (herbal) tea and non-meat goodies. Lastly, we are introduced to the older son’s possible love interest, Ellen (Jean Tafler) who is as bright as he is, their clueless friend Frankie (Richard Lee Porter, wearing overalls like he just stepped out of a hillbillies cosplay), and the friend’s possible love interest, Kathy (Karen Tighe, a Farrah Fawcett type you actually want to see in the see-through nighty). Of course, a large cast means a larger amount of victims, so it’s all good.

Just about all the effects, by John Dods, from faces being chewed off to small-but-toothsome slithering eel like offshoots (an idea borrowed in Cloverfield [2008], perhaps?) are done with practical appliances, rather than then-crude digital effects. This gives it an interesting appeal that’s the equivalent of seeing a thrashing punk band like the Heartbreakers (JT, not TP), and thinking, I could do that; let’s make a movie!

Like much of the films of the period that used unknown actors, and for many here this is their only IMDB credit (including the director), the acting is occasionally iffy, but the filmmaking itself is actually very well done. With an inexperienced cast, a creature needing many handlers, an often confined space, and a budget of spit and tape, they manage to make a turning point production that deserves the accolades it has received, especially as the years roll on. However, whoever designed the décor of the house, be it a real one or just a set, deserves to be put in a pillory for making us look at the world’s fugliest wallpaper throughout. One eyesore after another! Obviously not much of the cost of $25,000 (equivalent to $60,000 in 2014) went into this aspect.

Extras include a dopey opening with producer Ted A. Bohus (who, for some reason, is better known than the director), commentary track, gag reel, interesting backstage slide show, some pointless images of a Deadly Spawn comic book (the whole comic, that would have been nice), local television coverage from the ‘80s, and the casting tapes.

Despite the controversy, and whether you buy this or the previous DVD, the film itself holds up after all these years, and in fact is more enjoyable over time. As the person I watched this with said, “This is awesome; how did I not see this before now?”