The Spider Woman Strikes Back is not a sequel to the Sherlock Holmes story but features the same actress in Gale Sondergaard credited as a different character. The Blu-ray from Kino Lorber comes out on November 2nd.
The Spider Woman Strikes Back
(1946)
Genre(s): Horror, Suspense
Kino Lorber| NR – 59 min. – $24.95 | November 5, 2021
Date Published: 10/27/2021 | Author: The Movieman
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Kino Lorber provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
PLOT SYNOPSIS |
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In this non-canonical spin-off of the Sherlock Holmes whodunit The Spider Woman, Zenobia Dollard (GALE SONDERGAARD) is a wealthy blind woman shrouded in mystery. Jean (BRENDA JOYCE) is hired as Zenobia’s caretaker after all the preceding caretakers vanish without a trace. She becomes entangled in a web of horror as she discovers that her employer, aided by a hideously deformed household servant (RONDO HATTON), has used the blood of her predecessors to create a death serum when it is mixed with spider venom – and that her own blood is now being harvested at night, while she is in a drugged sleep, to continue the experiment. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2¼/5 |
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Audio Commentary — Film Historians Tom Weaver and David Schecter Mistress of Menace and Murder: Making The Spider Woman Strikes Back (10:10) is a featurette with interviews by Historian/Author C. Courtney Joyner, Make-Up Effects Artist Rick Baker, Filmmaker Fred Olen Ray and others. Theatrical Trailer (1:15) |
VIDEO – 4½/5 |
| The Spider Woman Strikes Back comes to Blu-ray presented in the original 1.37 full frame aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. There’s no mention any sort of restoration to presumably Kino Lorber received this from the rights holder, Universal Pictures. In any case, this one looks good with sharp detail throughout and the black and white presentation is nicely balanced as well. |
AUDIO – 4/5 |
| The disc, as with most Kino Studio Classic releases, come with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track where dialogue does come across with fine clarity and there was no noticeable hissing or pops; rather impressive for a movie of its age. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.