Production Notes
Several references are made to the 1941 "scary movie," The Wolf Man, which is one of Lon Chaney's most famous character creations. In addition, Chaney sings the theme song, a parody of the "Monster Mash," during the film's opening titles.
The film was shot between August and September 1964. However, due to the original producer's bankruptcy, the film was not released until January 18, 1968. Spider Baby suffered from poor marketing as well as a series of title changes, being billed alternatively as The Liver Eaters, Attack of the Liver Eaters, Cannibal Orgy, and The Maddest Story Ever Told. Although these alternate titles have little or no relation to the plot, the latter two appear in the lyrics of the title song sung by Chaney: "This cannibal orgy is strange to behold in the maddest story ever told." The opening titles of the film also dub it Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told.
The cinematographer was Alfred Taylor, who had previously worked on the film The Atomic Brain. The entire production cost about $65,000, and took only 12 days to shoot in black and white.
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