This combo of favourite Italian 'Giallo Supernaturale' aesthetic and Lovecraftian 'Wierd/Cosmic Terror' plot; "Il Nido del ragno/The Spider Labyrinth" deserves far more attention.
Prof. Alan Whitmore; a standard Lovecraftian man of science (haunted by a childhood nightmare of being locked in a closet with a strangely sentient spider seemingly watching him from its' web), is co-coordinator of the 'Intectus Project' - which is studying a mysterious and ancient, world-spanning cult.
Sent to Budapest, Hungary to recall data obtained by colleague Prof. Leo Roth, Prof. Whitmore is sent into 'the vortex of madness' as the hideous truth of his childhood nightmare spins a web of the greatest horror.
My first knowledge of "The Spider Labyrinth" came from Travis Crawford's review in the 'Eyeball Compendium', as other reviewers here have pointed out this film is easily obtainable on 'boot-leg', but cries-out for a better DVD release.
Gianfranco Giagni has certainly crafted a classic, beautifully merging the cinematic supernaturalism of Mario Bava ("Kill, Baby Kill!" and "Lisa and the Devil"), Dario Argento ("Suspiria" and "Inferno") and Lucio Fulci ("The Beyond" and "Manhattan Baby") with the literary plot-work of H.P. Lovecraft ("The Call of the Cthulhu", "The Whisperer In Darkness", "The Dunwich Horror", and the piece which inspired Lovecraft; Arthur Machen's "Novel of the Black Seal").
Prof. Alan Whitmore; a standard Lovecraftian man of science (haunted by a childhood nightmare of being locked in a closet with a strangely sentient spider seemingly watching him from its' web), is co-coordinator of the 'Intectus Project' - which is studying a mysterious and ancient, world-spanning cult.
Sent to Budapest, Hungary to recall data obtained by colleague Prof. Leo Roth, Prof. Whitmore is sent into 'the vortex of madness' as the hideous truth of his childhood nightmare spins a web of the greatest horror.
My first knowledge of "The Spider Labyrinth" came from Travis Crawford's review in the 'Eyeball Compendium', as other reviewers here have pointed out this film is easily obtainable on 'boot-leg', but cries-out for a better DVD release.
Gianfranco Giagni has certainly crafted a classic, beautifully merging the cinematic supernaturalism of Mario Bava ("Kill, Baby Kill!" and "Lisa and the Devil"), Dario Argento ("Suspiria" and "Inferno") and Lucio Fulci ("The Beyond" and "Manhattan Baby") with the literary plot-work of H.P. Lovecraft ("The Call of the Cthulhu", "The Whisperer In Darkness", "The Dunwich Horror", and the piece which inspired Lovecraft; Arthur Machen's "Novel of the Black Seal").