the maddest story ever told.

Though my most recent photo session with Janelle might seem to indicate otherwise, I am not goth...even if I did have dyed black hair for most of twenties (I was under the perhaps mistaken impression that it was very mod). Furthermore, I usually do not enjoy horror movies because they scare me! And, like a child, I usually have nightmares later.

But...I did watch a pretty cool film this weekend that may inspire a future photo project with Janelle...

Spider Baby (or The Maddest Story Ever Told) was released in 1964.

The plot summary (ganked from Wikipedia):

"Three children of the Merrye family live in a decaying rural mansion with their guardian and chauffeur, Bruno. The children suffer from 'Merrye Syndrome', a genetic affliction unique to members of their family, which causes them to mentally, socially, and physically regress backwards down the evolutionary ladder, starting in late childhood. When two distant relatives and their lawyer arrive to take control of the property as rightful heirs, Bruno's shaky control over the children is lost. Chaos and insanity take over. "

My favorite character is Virginia (shown above). From Wikipedia:

"Virginia, is obsessed with spiders, thus, "Spider Baby". She stalks and eats bugs, moving in a strange and spider-like grace. She also wraps unsuspecting victims in her rope 'web', and then 'stings' them to death using two butcher knives. In one scene, while murdering an innocent delivery-man, Virginia cuts off one of his ears, which she then keeps in a match box."

I am a sentimental packrat, so I can relate to her desire to keep the ear.

One of the greedy relatives spent a majority of the movie inexplicably wearing lingerie. This is always the hallmark of a fine film.

She bears a striking resemblance to Meryl Streep, don't you think?

P.S. Not to fuel the fire of evil, but my pre-grocery shopping food purchase at Wegman's yesterday came to a total of $6.66.

P.P.S. I now live with two black cats, as Moe "$$$" McCarty has moved to Philadelphia.