I thought about you watching this movie because
even I was a little put off by how, I mean, obviously
the spiders are real, like the little ones and
they're everywhere and they're, they're creepy.
They're crawly. Yeah, it is. It is not for people
like you. Right. I don't want to admit that to
Bill, to Mr. Robain. I don't want to admit my
arachnophobia. So we'll just keep that between
you and me. And I guess everybody listening to
this episode right now. I'm going to sell you
out 100%. Hello and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster
Movie Podcast. We're your hosts, Vince and Hannum.
And Matt Levine. And we're talking about all
our favorite monster movies, the good, the bad,
and the downright campy, and asking if they stand
the test of time. Traditional kaiju, creature
features, space invaders, the supernatural, and
everything in between. All strange beasts welcome
here. Camp Kaiju is brought to you by Zack Linder
and the Zack Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker
Realty. Whether you're looking for your dream
home, a savvy investment property, or expert
guidance in home rehab and flipping, the Zach
Pack has you covered. Reach out today for top
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investment opportunities. Don't forget to follow
the Zach Pack on social media for the latest
updates and insights. Check the link in the show
notes for more information. In a small Wisconsin
town, something was about to happen that would
send shock waves around the world. from another
world to destroy the Earth. It was the giant
spider invasion. It could be an abortive strike
from an unfriendly power. Oh, come on. You don't
think a missile landed here? I told you something
landed here last night. Look, it's full of them.
I'm very concerned. Well, frankly speaking, Doctor,
so is the United States government. by myself.
They're hell -bent on destroying that beast.
The crowd's beginning to take over. We'll call
the National Guard back. Tell them we need some
heavy equipment. Guns, tanks, anything. They
came by the hundreds, by the thousands, killing
and crippling, creeping, crawling creatures determined
to destroy the Earth. Could anything stop them?
Could anything stop the giant spider invasion?
There has never been a film like this before.
Matt, what an episode we got tonight. Indeed.
Yeah, we'll be talking about the giant spider
invasion. With none other than the man behind
it, Bill Robain, the producer and director of
this movie celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Yeah, so cool. And Bill, I'm sure we'll talk
to him about this a little bit, but he actually
shot new footage for the movie, which he's planning
on incorporating into the film and then re -releasing
next year, which is very exciting. And that's
what I really wanted to talk to him about, among
other things, but is now that we have access
to technology with computer graphics and whatnot,
how is he incorporating new technological aspects?
into a very 1970s picture. And this movie is
low budget. It doesn't detract from the movie,
but it's clearly a low budget movie. So I'd love
to see how that translates 50 years later with
new footage. Yeah, yeah, totally. It'll be cool
to watch the new version. And I would also like
to ask him just like, why now? I know it's the
50th anniversary of it, but are there other reasons
to revisit this project and re -release it? So
I'm sure we'll talk to him about that soon. Yeah,
yeah. Let's get to some quick nuts and bolts
while we're waiting for Mr. Rubain. So thanks
for hanging out with us, friends. Truly, truly,
truly. We couldn't do this show without you.
All your support, listener comments. I'm getting
them. I'm responding. I love the back and forth.
That's what I love about Camp Kaiju, that we
have this platform to talk to you all, engage
with listeners, and just talk about monster movies.
You can leave a rating and review of this here
show wherever you listen to podcasts, but follow
us on patreon .com slash campkaiju for more videos,
reviews, merchandise. Zoom happy hours, you name
it. We're really going to lean hard into the
listener experience beyond the show in 2026.
Get in touch with us. Let us know your thoughts,
what you're looking forward to at campkaiju at
gmail .com, campkaijupodcast .com, Instagram,
or even our voicemail number. Our hotline is
612 -470 -2612. And a special thank you to our
current Patreon members and supporters, Jason,
Chris, Sean, Peggy, and our anonymous patron.
And if you all out there want to make the jump
to a paid supporter of the show at patreon .com
slash campkaiju, if you sign up before 2026,
we will send you a free tote bag. I don't know
what it will look like yet, but it will be awesome
and well worth, what, $5 a month? So... All that
and more and eternal thanks first and foremost.
Absolutely. Yeah. All right. Coming up on Camp
Kaiju, it might be the addiction. The addiction
might come out before this episode. Unsure yet.
But Matt, let's talk about the addiction as if
it's our next episode. Yeah, The Addiction, directed
by Abel Ferrara from 1995, a vampire movie starring
Lily Taylor. Black and white, a little artsy,
very philosophical. Frank Olsen was the guest
star on that episode. Great to talk to him and,
of course, to you, Vincent, about that movie.
Really fascinating. One of the better vampire
movies that I've seen, I would say, personally.
So yeah, fun conversation. Please check out that
episode if you haven't already. 100%. And then
following that... Sean Childers will join the
podcast and we're going to break down Guillermo
del Toro's Pacific Rim from 2013. So I think
I think, you know, was that 12 years? That's
enough hindsight, you think, to gauge a movie's
lasting impact? Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think
like definitely in the context of del Toro's
career. and maybe just the monster movies that
have come out since then, like all the Godzilla
X -Kong movies and all that. Yeah, it'll be interesting
to talk about. Yeah, for sure. Following that,
December is jam -packed, and it's a great problem
to have here in the editing room. But after that,
we will announce our Season 6 lineup. First six
months of Season 6 in 2026. There's like a 666
theme going on here. Yeah, but... We'll have
some guest hosts, some previous guests from the
podcast joining us for about an hour. Just to
have some fun, drink some eggnog, talk about
all the good times from 2025. Can't wait. Honestly,
the reveal of our upcoming titles for the next
season is probably my favorite episode of the
entire year, so I'm looking forward to it. It's
fun. Yeah. Man, we've been doing this such a
long time now that, yeah, we do have a bit of...
We have like our own traditions on the show.
Yeah, totally. Yeah. So the giant spider invasion,
we'll have Bill talk about it, obviously. But
it is about a meteor that crash lands on Earth
in rural Wisconsin behind a farmhouse. And the
meteor spews these like little geodes, they're
called, little balls of rocks. That happened
to contain tarantulas. And the tarantulas dosed
with high levels of radiation because apparently
they were born out of a dying star and there's
a black hole element to the story. But some of
these spiders do grow to gigantic proportions
and eat and terrorize the townspeople. Yeah,
it's it gets to be a little bit gruesome at times.
But I would say like the giant spider is not
really all that scary, although it does look
pretty cool. But as I think I mentioned during
our arachnophobia episode, I do actually have
arachnophobia. I'm very scared of spiders. So
like the small like normal size tarantulas freaked
the hell out of me in this movie. I thought about
you watching this movie because even I was a
little put off by how. I mean, obviously the
spiders are real, like the little ones. And they're
everywhere. And they're creepy, they're crawly.
Yeah, it is not for people like you. Right. I
don't want to admit that to Bill, to Mr. Rubain.
I don't want to admit my arachnophobia. So we'll
just keep that between you and me. And I guess
everybody listening to this episode right now.
I'm going to sell you out 100%. That's fair.
But I do want to talk to him about... using the
live animals on set were they easy to wrangle
we talked about that in our episode about arachnophobia
now i'm not going to talk to bill about this
but i mean i could i guess but let me ask you
did you i didn't i didn't see any maybe like
overt or obvious signs of harm to the spiders
There is one shot where we see a tarantula on
top of like a dresser and then it cuts to the
young girl. I forget the character's name in
the movie. And she is screaming. She's very scared.
And then she like crushes it with an iron and
we do see blood splatter. So I think maybe they
killed the spider in that shot, but I don't totally
know. But I need to look it up because there
was so much. It was like a blood pop. Yeah. And
I don't know if a real tarantula would pop like
that. And the cut was so quick. Maybe we ask
them about it. Should we ask them about it? Yeah,
yeah. Were any animals harmed during the making
of the movie? And look, despite how I may feel
about it, I don't want harm to come to any animals
in the movie. But I'm not going to ask that question
from a place of judgment. Right. I'm a filmmaker.
I'm just curious how it was done 50 years ago.
Yeah. Right. On a very low budget also. Yeah.
Maybe they couldn't afford to kill a tarantula.
Or maybe they had to like actually kill a tarantula
because they didn't have special effects for
it. I felt like it could go either way, but I'd
be curious to hear that too. Okay, let's ask
him. Or we could, you know, like you said, we
could just ask him what it was like working with
the animals and how they were, you know? Yeah,
yeah. Listeners, I've spoken to Bill on the phone
a little bit. He's a very sincere sounding, genuine
man and individual. Me and Matt are here just
to generally learn from him about the making
of this movie, his career. He worked apparently
with Herschel Gordon -Lewis. Can you speak a
little bit more to that director? Yeah. I actually
haven't seen the movie that they worked on sort
of together. Although I think actually Bill Robain
shot footage for it and then Herschel Gordon
-Lewis kind of took it over. So I don't know
how much they actually worked together on it.
But let me just pull up a list of his filmography
real quick because I don't want to get any of
the names wrong. Yeah. I think the movie you're
thinking about, we're talking about is called
Monster A Go -Go from the early 60s. Yes. And
I have not seen that one, unfortunately. But
Herschel Gordon Lewis, one of his nicknames is
the Godfather of Gore. So he was one of the,
you know, pioneers of low budget kind of schlocky
shock horror cinema. The Gore Gore Girls is an
example of one of his movies. And that title
kind of says it all. The Wizard of Gore. I have
seen that one's a lot of fun. Let's see here.
Color Me Blood Red. I actually highly recommend
that movie. And that's about a painter who uses,
you know, human blood for his masterpieces. That
one's good. Blood Feast is another good one.
So yeah, Herschel Gordon -Lewis kind of just,
The Wizard of Gore is another nickname that he
had. Very like influential for the giallo genre
and other horror movies as well. An unknown species
of horror is born as science fiction becomes
science fact. If you find any problems out there
at the Colby place, just keep it to yourself.
He's over at Colby's. He's found another 20 or
30 hills just like the one we burned. I mean,
this right here is scientific phenomenon. As
you know, all species of megalomorphs are cannibalistic.
If you put them together, they'll kill each other
off. They just don't colonize like ants or bees
do. An army of deadly predators, searching, destroying
anything in their path. Why did they come? What
do they want? In the tradition of the great science
fiction thrillers, Dimension Pictures presents
Kingdom of the Spiders. Starring William Shatner,
Tiffany Pauling, Woody Strode, and introducing
Althavise Davis. The spiders in this area have
organized themselves into an aggressive army.
I've never seen anything like it. One minute
they weren't there, the next minute they were
everywhere. Jump out of there! and just thousands
of them out there will never make it. Why haven't
we heard from the sheriff? He must know we're
trapped in here. I'm telling you, I don't think
we should chance it. Your nightmares will never
be the same. Kingdom of the Spiders. The next
victim could be you. But what if circumstances
were to magnify one of them in size and strength,
took it out of its primitive world and turned
it loose in ours? Then expect something that's
fiercer, more cruel and deadly than anything
that ever walked the Earth. Even science was
stunned. The new atomic miracle should have been
mankind's greatest boon. Instead, when such power
to cause phenomenal growth proved dangerously
unstable, man was confronted with his most shocking
blunder. The isotope triggered our nutrients
into a nightmare. A blunder that transformed
a tiny insect into the 100 -foot spider that
was now ravaging the panic -stricken countryside.
The Jennings family has just moved to the small
town of Kanaima. Oh, Ross, smell that air. Oh,
God. In search of a simpler life. Wanna blow
up a bullfrog? Okay. It's the perfect place.
Goodbye crime, goodbye grime. Except for one
pesty little problem. Come with me and look at
the web. The web? I have terrible fear of spiders.
Come on, we live in the country now. It's time
to work through this irrational, paralyzing terror.
It's not irrational. Hollywood Pictures and Amblin
Entertainment present Jeff Daniels. Honey, we're
in the living room. We need you to kill a spider.
And John Goodman. Don't pretend to talk infestation
here. Oh, my God, it's just a spider. Would anybody
object if I tore this floor out? I would. False
alarm, then leave on. There's no spider here.
Every so often in a little town somewhere, there
is a health scare. There's a rumor going around
that some kind of spider might have killed Sam
Metcalf. Doubtful. Spiders make convenient culture.
There's no spider here. I think one of your Venezuelan
spiders hitched a ride here. There may be some
spiders around here that are very dangerous.
Dad, chill out. Just run. They spread out from
a central nest in a web -like pattern and dominate
the entire area. When that happens... This town
is dead. Better record my private stock. Rock
and roll! Hollywood Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
present Arachnophobia. Eight legs, two fangs,
and an attitude. Perk up, Lloyd. If we find the
spider that did this, you can arrest him. Arachnophobia.
A thrill -omedy. What? You know what? This episode
is the giant spider invasion of Camp Kaiju episodes.
Where there's a will, there's a way. Yeah. Okay,
listeners, so here's what happened. We had Bill
Rubain on the call through no fault of his own,
through no fault of anyone's. You know, the gremlins
were at play in the machines here, and we had
trouble getting Zoom to work. Said, okay, we'll
pivot. I threw Riverside at... Matt and Bill.
And that was able to work. But as we were just
saying, just like the bandwidth capabilities
of the technology wasn't exactly what we wanted.
So our interview with Bill Rubain is extremely
truncated. I've salvaged what I could in the
editing room. I've bumped up the audio as much
as I can. So listeners, just be forgiving, but
know that Bill. as a sweetheart. And we really,
really did get some great insight out of him.
Unfortunately, here's the last bit of news. Unfortunately,
the recording on Riverside literally only got
12 % of his audio. So there is 88 % of his audio
that we did not pick up. Lost to time, which
is sad. But what we do have is great. And Matt,
you and I are going to fill in a little bit.
what that conversation was. Yeah, totally. Hi,
Bill. This is Vincent Hannum with the Camp Kaiju
podcast. Good. Yeah. Oh, sure. Yeah. No, we're
getting it ourselves here in the Twin Cities.
Is now still a good time for you to chat about
the movie? Definitely. Yes, absolutely. I'll
be online with the Zoom link. Okay. Yeah, take
your time, sir. I'll be here waiting for you.
I totally understand. Yeah. All right. Thank
you, sir. You got it. Bye -bye. Bill's getting
a heavy snowstorm. He's on the North Shore of
Wisconsin, and he is bringing in outdoor furniture
right now. Oh, okay. You know, that's cool. We're
supposed to get snow here, too, so I understand
that. Yep, but he said he'll be on in five minutes.
Okay, cool. Just to get one more chair in. Thank
you, man, for doing this with me. Yeah, no problem.
Hope he's able to join. yeah yeah we'll get it
we'll get it yeah i mean it's exciting but you
know talking to a like legitimate filmmaker here
yeah yeah for sure hi bill i just sent you the
email link okay here's what i will Do I have
a plan B, but I'll need to just send you another
link and I'll give you a call back in about five
minutes. Is that OK? OK, OK. Thank you, sir.
I'll be in touch. OK, thank you. I think we've
got you. Yes. We did it. All right. Thank you,
sir. I'll hang up the phone and talk to you on
the computer. All right. Hey, we're here. We're
met. We'll make it work. Yeah, I wish. You know,
getting old sucks. Getting old sucks big time.
You make it look good. I mean, you're on your
feet all the time. I was watching. clips of you
on the news just a month ago. You're running
this new restoration of the giant spider invasion.
Oh yeah. What a nightmare that was. Could you
talk a little bit about how the last year has
been with this new project? Yeah. It's been pretty
strange. And you know I sold the negative in
the original picture to a friend in La La Land.
And at that time I was already either working
on the 50th anniversary version, so I made a
deal with the owner. I have three other copyrights
on the picture, by the way, for the retrospective.
the 30th anniversary cut, and now the 50th anniversary.
So I have a lot of materials, but I've filmed
Jeffrey Epstein in Hollywood. I think it's real
pain to cut a deal where we'll join forces and
find to, he has the remake. I mean, congratulations
on the new footage and the re -release. It's
such good news that it's going to receive a wider
audience and a new generation of people to love
the movie. It's great news. But Bill, Mr. Rubain,
we'll let you go. We got snow here. I've got
furniture. I know I should have brought in out
in the back. But with that said, if you want
to come back at all and just shoot the breeze
about your movies or other movies, we don't have
to talk shop all the time, but we value your
time and your insights and would just love to
continue the conversation another time if you're
open to that. Go, go to this theater to see the
science fiction picture to end all science fiction
pictures. Did he or didn't he? Is he a monster
or isn't he? Only his space agency knows for
sure, and they won't tell. When the capsule comes
down without the astronaut, everyone is on the
go, including who or what did come down. Monster,
a go -go. Here's the picture that grabs the screen
and shakes it. The picture that makes you wonder
if the Earth is coming to an end right in the
theater in front of you. Never in your life have
you seen such a combination of happy, sad, good,
bad, rock 'em, sock 'em action. When you walk
out, you wonder what you've seen because never
has there been a motion picture like this. Monster
a -go -go, with a genuine 10 -foot tall monster
to give you the whim -whams. Monster a -go -go,
with astronauts and space capsules and pretty
girls, and cosmic radiation and pretty girls,
and screams and pretty girls. There's something
for everyone in the picture they're all talking
about. The picture with go. Monster a -go -go.
and they have claimed the lives of some five
thousand people. Scientists and medical experts
from all over the globe have not been able to
diagnose the disease and they are unable to get
within 100 miles of the affected area. Deadly
disease. Strengths, disappearances, and panic
in the streets. Has the world gone mad? Or is
it extraterrestrial beings? Like that. A motion
picture to penetrate the inner boundaries of
your mind. The Alpha Incident. I've never seen
anything like this before. That's a reasonable
remark. Cut the crap, Jim. We've got final clearance
on this stage of the project. You, me, and Fielder.
Does he know? No. Where is he? He's getting the
animals ready. Alpha 795. A frightening story
of four men and one woman caught in the nightmare
of secrecy, forced to face their own worst fears.
If you had any sense, you'd be fast asleep. The
Alpha Incident. Why did you get around those
lasers? You know, I was falling for the intellectual
type. What the hell happened here? The Alpha
Incident. God, the shock to the system must be
unbearable. Mama. Mama! The Alpha Incident. The
only time I stay in one spot this long is when
I'm in bed with a chick or when I'm just sleeping.
The Alpha Incident. A most unusual science fiction
thriller. That wasn't a wild animal out there.
We can't fall asleep. If we do, we die. Where
does science fiction end and science fact begin?
You will never know until you see The Alpha Incident.
Only a handful of people knew the truth. And
there was only one ultimate solution. The Alpha
Incident. A drama so horribly close to the truth,
it will blow your mind. What a guy. What a gentleman.
First of all, how impressive it is that he made
all these low -budget movies just out of sheer
love for the art form and having fun with it,
like you said, and just being creative, and it's
still going strong. It's all amazing. So cool.
So where do we begin? I mean, I'm assuming...
The 12 % is the beginning. Bill was talking about
the restoration efforts he's been leading. Did
you pick up much on that? Little bit. I, you
know, I'm excited to see when new stuff has been
added. He didn't really talk about that too much,
but he said that they'll have some kind of like
sneak preview screenings coming up in Wisconsin.
Hopefully more theatrical screenings later in
2026 and, you know, streaming in Blu -ray sometime
thereafter. So not a lot of specific information,
but more on the horizon, you know? Yeah. And
Bill is, he lives and is based in Northern Wisconsin.
And he was talking about getting the film screened
in local theaters around that neck of the woods,
including Duluth, Minnesota. So all of our Minnesota
listeners, all of our Midwest listeners, you
all in Chicago, especially, you're within driving
distance. And Matt, you know, northern Wisconsin
is beautiful on the shores of Lake Superior,
very woodsy. Yeah, totally. I think he was saying
that one of the screenings might be in Minocqua.
Or maybe he was talking about the shooting of
the movie was around Minocqua. But either way,
Minocqua is a very, very beautiful town. Yeah,
I love that area of the country. So it's exciting,
though. Like I do, I think on December 13th,
he mentioned there is going to be a showing.
I'll have those links in the show notes. But
I'm serious. I mean, if it lines up, if I have
a weekend, I'll drive up. I'd love to meet the
guy in person. Yeah, definitely. What did we
ask him? We asked him about the casting of the
movie. I was very interested in that. This is
a strong, you know, if we're talking good, bad,
and the campy, one of my good elements with this
film is the cast of the picture, the veteran
casts. A lot of TV actors supporting roles in
Hollywood, but long careers. Bill talked about
his friendship with Steve Brody, who plays Dr.
Vance, the NASA scientist. called in to investigate
the goings -on. Opposite him is Barbara Hale
as Dr. Langer, the local physicist. And what
I mentioned to Bill, what I had to commend him
on was the chemistry of those two actors. And
Robert Eastman, who wrote the script, but Robert
Eastman plays the philandering alcoholic redneck
who adds a lot of camp to the film. But you wouldn't
know it. Robert Eastman is a noted dialect coach
and longtime veteran actor in Hollywood. So there
are some names in the cast. Yeah, and I'm not
sure if you mentioned Alan Hale of Gilligan's
Island fame, who's also in the movie as the maybe
lovable, maybe not lovable, sort of like boisterous
sheriff of the town. Yeah, I asked Bill about
Alan Hale. Because I had read, and this is what's
so great, I mean, what a treat to get the actual
director and producer of the film on Camp Kaiju.
Because you and I, we read our notes and resources,
but sometimes apparently they differ from the
real experiences. So I had read that Alan Hale
improvised a lot of his lines. For example, towards
the end of the film, when the spider's running
rampant in the city, he... He makes a Jaws reference
as the sheriff. He's like, that spider is as
big as Jaws. Yeah. And this, so this came out
in 1975, right? Which was the same year as Jaws.
So that was a very timely reference. Yeah. So
anyways, I'm sure that was improvised. But I
asked Bill Rubain, you know, did Alan Hale improvise
a lot of his lines? And Bill said no. Alan was
a professional. Now, Bill did crack a joke saying
that the script, there was hardly a script at
all. Like, they didn't really finish one, which
I had read anecdotally. A lot of collaboration
with the actors on the script. And Bill did talk
about Robert Eastman in particular having ideas
of camp to bring a more campy vibe to the picture.
Yeah. Which is kind of strange because like,
you know, we were talking about this a little
bit at the beginning of the episode or like before
maybe before we started recording. But, you know,
it's campy and also like a little bit sad at
times. Like there's alcoholism. There's like,
you know, there's a brief reference to like a
baby that died and like a couple sort of having
marital strife after that. So, yeah, it's strange.
It's it's campy and it's kind of sad and bleak
at the same time, at least in certain moments,
you know? Yeah. But sorry, just on the casting
note, I wanted to ask about I asked Bill about
the extras in the movie, too, because one of
my favorite things about it is just you like.
You feel that the supporting characters, like
the townspeople, were just walking on the streets
of small town Wisconsin and walked into this
movie. And that's one of my favorite things about
it. There's a scene where a bunch of guys who
were just drinking at the bar get their shotguns
and they're ready to go kill the spider. Similar
to a scene in Jaws, I guess. And just the people
in that scene, they have so much character and
personality. I love the kind of like the background
flavor. And I feel like you would know that this
was shot in a small town somewhere, if not specifically
Wisconsin, even without knowing that backstory,
you know? I do. And I love that aspect. And I
mean, Bill's the real deal. He's just a Midwest
guy. Listeners, he was smoking a cigar, multiple
cigars when we were talking to him. He was talking
about driving through the snow during a blizzard.
It's like, if you live in this area, you know
what it's like to drive 25 miles an hour to get
to a destination. And it takes three hours to
get there because the snow is sideways and nobody's
plowed the roads. I've been there. It's awful.
Yeah. Yeah. He's a true Midwesterner. And it
was cool to hear him talk about, he didn't talk
a lot about his origins in Chicago, but that's,
I think where he and his family moved at a very
young age. And then he kind of like made his
way up to Wisconsin from there. So it was kind
of cool to hear about that backstory. Yeah. Yeah.
Very easy to talk to. Very down to earth. He
said, I don't know if this is kept in the 12
% we got, but I asked him sort of tongue in cheek,
you know, what's more brutal driving in that
blizzard or making any of his movies, which I
didn't mean as a knock. And I don't think he
took it that way, but he could naturedly said,
you know, he. The number one thing he kept in
mind when making movies was to always have fun,
which I appreciate. So if anything, I think his
movies do have a sense of fun if you get to see
other ones. Yeah, sadly, Giant Spider Invasion
is the only one I've seen so far. But I do think
there is a sense of fun involved, even if some
elements are surprisingly a little bit downbeat
every once in a while. There's still like an
air of, yeah, creativity, imagination, like just
having a good time. You did ask him about the
spiders. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, there's a lot
to say about both the real animal spiders, actual
tarantulas that were used in the filming of the
movie, and then the titular giant spider of the
movie. But yeah, I asked him about the real live
tarantulas, because there are a lot of them that
are seen in the movie. And I mentioned this briefly
earlier, but I am actually scared of spiders.
So some of those scenes were a little bit hard
to watch. You know, I missed some of what he
said, but I think he was saying that like, you
know, his friend loved tarantulas and like they
were kept in Bill's basement like during the
making of the movie, which he didn't enjoy very
much. But yeah, I mean, I like that element and
he didn't really talk too much about like how
difficult they were to work with. But I assume
his friend who was like a lover of spiders and
a spider handler kind of took care of that element.
Yeah, that was the special effects. The man behind
the special effects on the movie. Yeah. Friends
with Bill. Let me see if I can find that name
and pull it up. Is it Bob Millay? Yes. Millay.
Yep. Yep. It's pretty good. I do, too. I mean,
there are and we didn't talk to Bill about this,
but well, I did mention to him again, a genuine
general praise that I have for was is the giant
spider itself. He Bob Millay. rigged this thing
up to a Volkswagen Beetle. And Bill did talk
about, you know, he was working with the executive
producer. What was the name? I forget the names,
but this guy came to Bill to make a movie about
a spider. And the guy told Bill, we need it bigger,
bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. And Bob Millay
rigged this thing up to a Volkswagen Beetle.
It looks like the legs are puppet -like. So honestly,
I don't know how they rigged this thing up. I
don't know exactly either. From what I read online
and a little bit of what he was saying in the
interview, I think there were two people inside
of the Beetle, the VW Beetle, who were like,
like one of them was driving in and I think the
other one was like operating the legs, like puppetry
or animatronics or whatever you want to call
it. But yeah, it must have been extremely difficult
to do. Like to drive, like to do both those things
at the same time, you know? Yeah. And now it's
just me and you just talking as reviewers. I
found the fact that the giant spider was on a
car gave it a kind of fluidity, a fluid forward
movement that I thought really worked. Yeah.
And like it didn't look clunky. And you know
what? I think the film, the spider itself, objectively
is goofy looking. But I was noticing the way
it was shot. Long, shot at a distance. Shot very
up close. Shot from like angles. All these techniques
to hide the fact that it does look goofy. You
know what I mean? Yeah. I think that works especially
well in the scene where the spider... arrives
at a little league game and like all hell breaks
loose and all the kids and the adults are like
screaming of course and running away from this
thing i that scene is pretty exciting and like
it at least looks very striking and unique you
know because we see this giant spider in the
background but like you said we never get a good
look at it and there's like all this chaos in
the scene it works pretty well and the scene
where the spider's on top of the roof of the
house and it's and it's breaking in to get at
the the young woman i mean that scene Again,
as goofy as the crop may look, the giant spider,
it's shot well. And you have the arms coming
in through the walls. There's a lot of shaking
happening. Dishes are falling off the furniture.
I mean, I think he did as good a job as he could
with the budget he was working with. Yeah. Absolutely.
And Bill was saying there was a different giant
spider that was used for the scenes where humans
are actually eaten by the spider. And I was surprised
how gory those scenes were. Like you see a human
like sucked up into the spider and it's like
blood pouring out everywhere. And like you see
some of the corpses afterwards and they're all
like mangled and they have like tooth marks in
them or fang marks, I guess. It's like maybe
not scary, but like definitely gross and a lot
more just gruesome than I thought it would be.
Which helps this movie so much when they can
get a little shock value out of it. Yeah. Right.
Yeah. I didn't expect people to get chewed up
in the beginning. There are mutilated bodies
of cattle that are strewn about, which looks
like bill went to the butcher shop and purchased
a bunch of meat. So it's like all very real.
And I love it for that. It's got that real, like
seventies. grit to the to the overall aesthetic
of it right yeah that's kind of one of the reasons
i feel like it's both campy and kind of like
sleazy and i don't necessarily mean that in a
totally negative critical way but just like yeah
it's it's gritty it's like kind of unseemly or
like on yeah unseemly it's a better word than
unsettling but there's just like something yeah
gritty is a perfect word for it include something
gritty about yeah it's like low budget but taken
very seriously and and and most you know mostly
done really well i mean i what else do we talk
to bill about we talked to him we went a little
off tangent and are on a tangent and talked to
him about like his favorite movies he's a fan
of the producers the mel brooks film uh which
i love yeah and musicals also which was cool
cool to hear donald o 'connor in particular Yep,
I asked him, are you Fred Astaire or a Gene Kelly
fan? And he said Donald O 'Connor. I love that.
Yeah, unexpected. He worked with Donald O 'Connor,
he mentioned. I heard that, but I couldn't quite
hear what movie that was. Were you able to hear
that? Yep, Miracle in the Manger. Does not sound
like a horror movie. No, Bill said he was not
initially drawn to horror films. That was not
his favorite genre, you know, but for what it's
worth, that's where he's made his legacy. I was
going to ask him what made him go in that direction,
like sci -fi and horror. And, you know, like
you said, Vincent, we were kind of having some
recording issues and kind of didn't really get
to that question, but I'd be curious about that.
Like, was it just like a budget issue? Was it
like, that's what they could make on a low budget,
but still make a lot of money off of it? Or was
it, you know? Were there other reasons for it?
I'd be curious to know that, but we didn't really
get a chance to ask him that. Yeah, same. But
it sounds like he's had a long, varied career.
Yeah. But clearly most known for his horror movies.
So there's a box set called Weird Wisconsin from
Arrow Video with a number of his films. Monster
Go -Go, Invasion from Inner Earth, Twister's
Revenge, which is apparently about a killer truck
that comes to life. all this stuff that we love,
but I brought it up and he made us laugh. Cause
he said, I'm not going to talk about that. I
couldn't tell if there was a sore spot for him
or if he was just like done with the interview,
you know, it was hard to sell. So you've seen
a couple of movies from that box set, right?
Or just one, maybe just one invasion from inner
earth. Great title. The movie starts off very
strong. Shot on his, so he bought this property
out in Wisconsin. He dubbed it the shooting ranch.
Not at first, he said it was like the funny farm,
Green Acres. He's a big Green Acres fan, we've
learned. But yeah, so he shot a number of his
movies there on the ranch. An Invasion from Inner
Earth is about a group of young people. shacked
up in a cabin during a snowstorm but there are
aliens that have apparently invaded unclear if
it's from inside the earth or outside the earth
but there's like a mass hysteria like the the
aliens have infected the the greater population
i mean there's not much more to the plot than
that but to me it's it struck me as a combination
of night of the living dead With the unexplained
mass hysteria and people turning into zombies,
if you will, meets the thing from another world
because you have this small party of people snowbound
in a cabin. So it's like a great concept. It
doesn't totally keep you on the edge of your
toes to the end. But it's a strong start, like
a really strong first third of the picture. Yeah,
you can find it for free if you're curious. I
am. Yeah, I would love to watch it. Sounds a
little bit like The Evil Dead maybe, but maybe
that's just like where my mind is going, you
know? Yeah, I mean, Evil Dead. Can we get Sam
Raimi on this podcast? Well, that might take
a little, you know, that might take some work,
but we'll see, possibly. But yeah, I do want
to see more of his movies. Twister's Revenge
sounds kind of cool. I hope it's better than
Killdozer though. I hope so. It's from 1988.
So I think it, it might. And so it's post spider
invasion. And, you know, honestly, spider invasion
bait. Cause I, cause I was watching invasion
from an earth, which came out the year before.
And it's so low budget that honestly, I was surprised
at how high budget in giant spider invasion was.
So I'm hoping anything post that film kind of
continues on a little bit of more polished track.
Yeah. It helps as a viewer sometimes. Yeah. Yeah,
for sure. Yeah. What else do we talk about or
anything else that we, that we want to talk about?
I mean, I liked some of the other special effects
in the movie too. Like the opening credits are
against a shot of like the cosmos, like the night
sky or whatever. And then you see like the, the
meteor, I like streaking through the sky. That
was a cool way to open the movie. Yeah. Okay.
That reminds me, I think. what Bill was talking
about at the end was this new footage. I think
he's trying to, to bring out the, the alien connection
a little bit more because we know that the spiders
came from outer space from a black hole, but
beyond the initial meteor crash, like there's
nothing to do with, there's nothing that happens
with extraterrestrials or anything. Right. That's
cool. I hope the new footage kind of goes more
into that because I like that element of it.
There's one kind of cool moment where there's
like a helicopter hovering over the crater where
like the spiders come out of. And it looks kind
of blurry and weird. And I couldn't totally tell,
but I feel like the guy on the chopper was like,
you know, it's like a black hole. I can't tell
what's going on down there. And I was like, oh,
that's a cool idea. I like that. So maybe they'll
go more into that in the new footage. That would
be interesting. I'd like to see that. Yeah. I
liked. Yeah, let's do like a quick breakdown.
Oh, there was actually one jump scare that got
me. It was the the alcoholic wife. I think her
name was Evie. She's in bed in her bedroom and
she's these tarantulas are everywhere like these
live tarantulas. And this is where it gets kind
of sad because her husband thinks she's seeing
pink elephants. You know, the. The DTs, when
you're an extreme alcoholic, you start to envision
nightmare things. And she's seeing these tarantulas.
Anyways, she wakes up. The scene is very calm.
She goes to her dresser drawer. She opens the
drawer. And a giant, fuzzy puppet spider jumps
out at her. As goofy as it looks, it got me a
little bit. yeah agreed the suspense in that
scene is actually sort of well done because you
keep on thinking that she's gonna like see one
of the actual tarantulas or it's gonna crawl
on her or something but it's not that it's the
giant like spider in the dresser you know yeah
yeah it's a good gotcha moment it got me i'll
say that yeah you know nothing really like i
didn't hate anything in this movie sure some
of the more you know the sexually exploitive
moments for what it is but You know, I kind of
lost the plot a little bit towards the end. Yeah.
Like, was there a black hole in the area on Earth?
Like, the physics escaped me. And knowing that
the script was half -baked, you know, I guess
that comes with the territory. Yeah, makes sense.
Yeah. One good thing, if I could add a good thing
real quick. You and I talked about this earlier.
We didn't really ask Bill about this, but there's
like this priest. character, like this preacher,
preacher is a better word for it, who is like
talking about sin and how like, you know, people
committing sin that will like, you know, experience
their comeuppance and have to atone before God
and all this stuff. And that's like kind of like
a through line during the movie. Like that's
I like there's an early scene and a late scene
featuring that preacher. And he also appears
like certain moments throughout. And I don't
really know exactly what that has to do with
the spider storyline, but it is kind of like
an interesting. structure to just have that guy
reappear every once in a while. And it makes
for kind of like, like just, I don't know. There
are some scenes that kind of drag and get a little
bit boring. And then suddenly that guy appears
and he's like screaming at you. And it's like,
Oh, that's like an, an effective way to like
regain your interest, you know? So I like that
guy. I don't, I would not like that guy in real
life, but like as featured in the movie, that's
a good element. I like that. Agreed. And Alan
Hale, he was campy. I was saying this to Bill
too, that. He seemed to just, well, Bill said
that Alan was just being himself. He's kind of
a good -natured sheriff, a little larger than
life, kind of yucking it up. But it works for
him, and he knows what he's doing. He breaks
the fourth wall at one point. He looks at the
camera, which I found so funny. And someone has
a line. There's a campy line about... Oh, because
the doctors, Dr. Langer and Dr. Vance, are trying
to explain the physics to the sheriff. And Dr.
Langer, Barbara Hale, she says, well, sheriff,
you remember your physics, right? And he says
something like, I used to take physics, but now
I take prunes. Something like that. What does
that even mean? yeah you know to be honest some
of the sheriff stuff did grow kind of old in
my opinion and i think some of those stock characters
maybe i would put more in the bad category like
there's some good stuff too but like the sheriff
and then like you know like the young kid who's
like dating the attractive sister -in -law of
Evie, the alcoholic wife. That storyline gets
a little bit old. And also the moment where Dr.
Langer and Dr. Vance first meet each other. And
Dr. Vance is surprised to see a woman in the
planetarium or the research facility. And he's
like, oh, Dr. Langer must be your dad or your
brother or your husband. And she's like, nope,
that's me. And I kind of rolled my eyes and was
like, oh, of course they have to have a moment
like this. So some of that gets a little bit...
dull and boring but then like i said there's
like you know a giant spider or some like gross
weird thing that kind of like captures your interest
again yeah it's it's something i i'm glad i watched
it i'm glad i connected with bill yeah i'd like
to make this work again at some point i don't
know we'll see i hope so and maybe we'll go to
a screening in person that'd be great maybe honestly
i think I think in person might be the way to
go with Bill. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. He mentioned
this. He wants to start like a workshop thing
for Wisconsin filmmakers, which sounds amazing.
I think he was saying that he wants to have that
in his house, which is pretty cool and such a
great idea. I wish, you know, I just wish there
were more film workshops and libraries and resources
just like everywhere. That'd be amazing. Yeah,
definitely in touch with his community. his his
state what was he saying like you're saying something
about madison and or milwaukee like the film
societies correct me if i'm wrong but they want
to do screenings down in those cities and he'd
rather do things up north yeah i think that's
what he was saying yeah and maybe like My takeaway
from that is just like he was saying that like
that's where the film organizations are located,
you know, many wishes that it was like in more
remote rural northern areas. But yeah, I think
he was saying that organizations in those cities
want to want to screen the film as well. Yeah,
there's a lot of interest for it. Deservedly
so. You know, I think because I think it does.
It's that perfect. So bad. It's good type of
movie. Yeah, agreed. Like. Just to be totally
candid, you can cut this out of the episode if
you want, but for me, I feel like Troll 2, for
example, is the height of So Bad It's Good, where
it's so surreal, so bizarre. Every moment is
like, how did this happen? And there are moments
in Giant Spider Invasion that, like I said, do
kind of get a little dull. But yeah, I mean,
certainly this movie is in the So Bad It's Good
pantheon, and there are so many moments that
are like... and fun to watch and really striking
and unique. And just the fact that it was shot
for like $300 ,000 and I think made like 23 million
worldwide is amazing. It's incredible. Yeah.
There was something about it. Yeah. It's in the
Pantheon. I like that. Yeah. You know, Plan 9
from Outer Space, most Ed Wood movies, like,
yeah. For sure. Yeah, because that's, it was
made so earnestly, I feel like. Like there's,
like, That's to me like a true campy movie where,
yeah, it's rough around the edges. The effects
are bad, but the actors aren't playing it tongue
in cheek. Even Alan Hale, like he does drop it
in at times. And like when he's on the phone,
you know, he's doing some real acting. He's not
phoning it in. No pun intended. So, you know,
like Edwards, like Plan 9, like Troll 2, like
they're a mess. don't tell the directors that
to them. They were making a real movie. Absolutely.
Yeah. And I think if you have that love for movies
and just like the creative drive, then like that
will make the movie worth watching no matter
what, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm happy to end
this conversation on that note. Cool. I love
it. I think, yeah, we can make something out
of that and then add some bill quotes to something,
social media or something. I don't know. And,
you know, I'll add trailers and things. Cool.
Yeah. Well, yeah, you know, good job just like
trying to make that work on the fly. Sorry, maybe
the audio didn't quite work out. But, you know,
I think it worked out okay in general. We made
it happen. We made it happen on a wing and a
prayer. Thank you for rolling with it. Thank
you. I feel like you made that work. So yeah,
glad we talked to him. And I think we'll be able
to pull something fun out of that. I think so
too. Dearest listeners, thank you so much for
going on that journey with us. It was truly a
memorable experience, and we hope we did salvage
enough to make this an enjoyable listening experience
for you. Do check out The Giant Spider Invasion.
It's on Tubi. It's widely available on streaming.
If you want to buy the DVD, I'm sure those proceeds
go to Bill Urbane and his company, so you can't
go wrong there. It really is a a movie you should
experience for yourself. But let us know what
you think of it. Please, please let us know what
you think about this episode, about whether or
not you'd like to hear more from Bill Urbane.
Honestly, we would have him back on the show
in a heartbeat. You can leave a rating and review
of this podcast, Camp Kaiju, on your favorite
streamers, on your favorite podcast apps. Visit
patreon .com slash campkaiju for more reviews
and special content. You can get in touch with
us there on CampKaijuPodcast .com, CampKaiju
at gmail .com, on Instagram. Leave us a voicemail
number. Join the ranks of Bill. Be a brief voice
that will live on in eternity. on the airwaves
at 612 -470 -2612. Now Camp Kaiju is recorded
in Minneapolis, St. Paul with Menia's Mailbox
music by Ben Cook -Felts. We'll get back to Menia's
Mailbox and our regular programming next time
with The Addiction. So join us with that one.
Thank you, thank you for listening. And until
next time, stay campy. Ever see the movie Jaws?
Well, it makes that shark look like a goldfish!
I know, I know. Vance, I have a feeling the sheriff's
putting you on. I'm sure he's taking physics.
Oh, I used to take physics. But now I find that
prunes do the better job.