The Spider Labyrinth (1988)

"There's no God. There's no light. There's nothing."

A young boy runs into a shed while being chased by his friend. The friend decides to lock him in there as a prank, as kids do. Suddenly, a large spider drops down on the boy, sending him into an hysterical fit of screaming. Professor Alan Whitmore (Roland Wybenga) awakens in his bed from the nightmare, soaked through with sweat. Alan has been heading up what is known as the 'Intectus Project'; a world-wide academic study of a mysterious, ancient cult. He gets called into a meeting with the University directors, who advise him that their professor in Budapest has gone quiet, and that he needs to step up and head over there to find out what is going on.

Alan, reluctant to leave his role as lecturer, bites the bullet and jumps on the next plane to Budapest. He is met by the mysterious but beautiful Genevieve (Paola Rinaldi) who will act as his guide for the duration of his stay. He is soon dropped off at the home of wayward Professor Roth, who gives him some secret documents showing that he has found an ancient tablet involving the cult, and urges him to return later that evening. Before Alan leaves, a leave ball smashes through the window, frightening them both. Roth then disappears, and his wife escorts Alan from the property. She advises Alan that Roth has not been well, and to not trust anything he says.

Genevieve brings him to his hotel for him to rest. Later that evening, he returns to Prof. Roth's home, much against the advise of the hotel owner, Mrs Kuhn (Stephanie Audran; Babettes Feast, Faceless ) who doesn't seem to want him wandering around. He finds the professors home swarming with police; Roth has been murdered, and strange web-like stuff surrounds the ropes from which he hangs. The police are suspicious of Alan, as he was one of the last people to see him alive. They think him mad: Roth apparently has no wife. 

Later that night, the young maid, Maria (Claudia Muzi), tries to warn Alan about trusting anyone. When she returns to her quarters to sleep, she is murdered by a terrifying witch-like woman and her body hidden. Things soon start to spiral out of control for Alan. Who is the crazy old man chasing him through the streets? Why is there a plot against him? Is it all connected to the cult and its terrifying cosmic beliefs?

If you are familiar with Italian horror from the late 80's, then you will be surprised with how good The Spider Labyrinth is. Good? It's actually great. As the Italian genre industry slowed to a crawl by the end of the decade, many horror 'auteurs' such as Lucio Fulci, Ruggero Deodato and Umberto Lenzi found themselves having to make the leap to the small screen in order to stay in a job. Even a respected international name like Dario Argento was struggling with budgets and finding it harder and harder to get a picture made. Despite the changing of the tides and a move away from horror by the industry in general, The Spider Labyrinth somehow manages to feel mature, dark, artistic and genuinely unsettling. 

I've been purposely vague about the plot (where I described to is only about 40-odd minutes in) as to dig any deeper would spoil it for those who haven't seen it. What starts out as potentially uninteresting giallo fare takes a dive into Lovecraftian territory, whilst still keeping those things we loved about the classic Bava and Argento films from the 60's and 70's. The lighting is colourful and the camera work fluid. Great use is made of the sparse sound and score (for once it wasn't over-baked) and the use of animalistic screeches during the murder sequences actually had my hair standing on end. The murder scenes are particularly well handled, and have a nice sense of brutality to them, even if they aren't too gory. Things take a turn for the surreal around the 60 minute mark, and the climax will definitely keep you glued to the screen. Once again, no spoilers, but special effects man Sergio Stivaletti (Terror at the Opera, Demons, The Church) definitely earns his keep with the horrors that unfold in the last 25 minutes.

Throughout the film, director Gianfranco Giagni keeps the atmosphere building through carefully selected camera angles and sound design and lighting. Visually, the film feels like it could have been the final part to Argento's 'Mothers' trilogy, if not quite on the same budget or scale as either Suspiria or Inferno. The film is much less about showing off technically than it is about getting you into the atmosphere to be able to swallow the climax. And even if the final freeze-frame feels a bit naff, it doesn't take away anything from what went before it.

Of course, the film isn't flawless. Some elements seem a little obscure and unexplained, and more information would have been welcome in the first half of the film. Some people do find the first act a tad slow, but it works well enough for me. Roland Wybenga is particularly bland in the leading role, but it may be more to do with the dubbing than his actual performance. Still, a stronger leading man would have worked better, even if he was going for plain-old university professor. The ladies more than make up for him, however, with Paola Rinaldi doing good work, both in and out of clothing. Audran is also fantastic as the creepy hotel owner. 

Sadly, Giagni didn't do much else as a director in horror, and it is a great pity. Coming across as the bastard child of The Wicker Man and Inferno, The Spider Labyrinth is one that has shamefully been overlooked. I'm unsure as to whether this is due to legal reasons or lack of interest, but the film has yet to be released on DVD anywhere. Please don't miss out on this one if you get a chance to see it, especially if you are a fan of the genre output from Italy. The film for me is one of the last great 'hurrah's of the spaghetti horror industry, before Cemetary Man finally closed the coffin lid on it altogether, six years later.