MovieChat Forums > The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946) Discussion > Perhaps the earliest botanical horror?

Perhaps the earliest botanical horror?


Plant-based horror has always been of interest to me (perhaps because growing up, the Goosebumps book and two-part episode Stay Out of the Basement were favorites of mine), and botanical-related horror films have always fascinated me to (such as The Ruins, The Revenge of Doctor X, The Mutations/The Freakmaker, The Little Shop of Horrors, and one of the segments in Twice-Told Tales).

To be fair, the plants in this movie aren't the antagonistic force - that's Gale Sondergaard's character. But there is a scene in which some plants are being fed blood, and they seem somewhat able to move (one wraps a vine around Sondergaard's arm), so while not exactly in the same vein as something like The Revenge of Doctor X, I think it qualifies.

It's a short movie, just under an hour, but I certainly found it decent. The print I saw was scratchy, but if you're into classic horror, this might be worth a look.

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Botanical horror to any extent I think you're right. There is an exotic spooky flower sequence in 'Werewolf of London' (1935). The werewolf has been linked to plant life in movies. Wolfsbane in 'The Wolf Man' (1941) with some weird plant folklore. But these films don't go so far into that territory as much as 'The Spider Woman Strikes Back.'

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I've actually not seen Werewolf of London as of yet (though I do own it on DVD), but that certainly makes sense.

Actually for 1946, I'm sort of surprised that they'd show feeding a cup of blood to a plant - seems a bit gruesome for the time period - but it was certainly a nice surprise, however small.

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I've just watched this movie on You Tube. The print was good. No scratches so it's worth trying the different runs of it on there.

Gale Sondergaard feeding blood to her beloved plants is surprisingly gruesome for a 1946 film as you say. It's a good piece of creepy menace with her talking to those plants as she smiles that sinister smile of hers.

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I actually saw a nice, clean print after I had finished the movie. Not sure how I didn't run into that video as opposed to the copy I watched, but either way, it didn't impact the film for me at all.

Yeah, this is one I don't think I've heard many talk about, but definitely a solid little movie.

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