Seduction Cinema presents

Spiderbabe: CE (2003)

Patricia: Has any of this radioactive exposure had any side effects on the spider? You know, like negative side effects?
Dr. Dowell: As a matter of fact, yes. I would have to say that the greatest side effect is that he has become prone toward procreation, more amorous, or as you kids like put it nowadays, 'horny, baby!'- Misty Mundae, Michael A. Thomas

Stars: Misty Mundae, Julian Wells
Other Stars: Darian Caine, Kelli Summers, Shelby Taylor, Michael A. Thomas, Adam Cox, Peter Quarry, Bubbles VaVoom, Ruby LaRocca
Director: Johnny Crash

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for nudity and sexual situations
Run Time: 01h:29m:31s
Release Date: 2003-10-14
Genre: late night

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B-	C+	B+	B	B+

 

DVD Review

In SpiderBabe, Seduction Cinema's anchor starlet Misty Mundae becomes a sexy, web-slinging, crime-fighting superhero after she is bitten by a radioactive spider. Sound familiar? Well, it's broad stroke parody time, and of course the target is the Sam Raimi rendition of the pop hit Spider-Man, with Mundae here playing Patricia Porker, a meek, mild student (high school? college?) chickie with a suppressed libido who gets to dabble on the wild side, which in Seduction parlance means lotsa soft-core sex. Instead of battling the mentally challenged Green Goblin, Mundae's SpiderBabe has to duke it out with mentally challenged Femtilian, the sexy alter ego of cutthroat executive Lucinda Knox (Julian Wells).

Transplanted Brit Johnny Crash, who often takes on the cinematographer/editor role, handles the directing chores on this outing, and the Terry M. West script covers the expected targets of satire and parody, and if you've seen the Raimi version you can get out a checklist to mark off all of the salient points as they're mocked. West doesn't come to topping his Seduction spoof Lord of the G-Strings, but this one includes a steamy variation on the wrestling sequence, with SpiderBabe testing her newfound powers by getting into the ring with the busty and muscle-bound Queen Bee (Shelby Taylor). Considering this is a Seduction release, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the match eventually evolves into a full-fledged sexual romp right in the middle of the ring, with Mundae and Tyler giving it the old school try to make the usual soft-core gyrations look fresh, which they do extremely well, I might add.

The trouble with an outright spoof is that it really needs to be consistently funny for it to work well, and SpiderBabe manages to weave all over the road like a New Year's Eve reveler. West's script doesn't deliver as much bawdy humor as the aforementioned Lord of the G-Strings, so we're left with tons of nudity and simulated sex that has to pick up the slack during the comedic dead spots; girl-girl sex is certainly one of Seduction's greatest strengths, and in defense of Crash, the assorted couplings here are easily some of the better moments from the studio's catalog, including a dandy bit of ice cube relief between Mundae and Darian Caine. Mundae, Taylor, Wells, Caine, and Kelli Summers all have their fair share of spicy scenes in SpiderBabe, and it is their presence that held my interest more than the jokes through the 90-minute runtime.

No one will ever herald any of these films as full of great, emotive acting (let's not fool ourselves, it's really all about the naked chicks), but after a slew of Seduction titles over recent years I have become more aware of a marked improvement in their core talent pool (Mundae, Wells, Caine) to deliver silly, sarcastic humor in a way that doesn't always sound as if they just were handed the script three minutes earlier. Mundae, of course, does her innocent/lusty schoolgirl routine daringly well, and in SpiderBabe she seems relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera. And even though she still gets a lot of dumb lines, she gives them the requisite amount of self-mockery that they deserve. Julian Wells, who gave Dr. Jekyll & Mistress Hyde a quasi-serious lift, shows herself equally adept at stepping up to the low key humor as the schizoid Femtilian, even if most of the jokes never get a proper payoff.

I get the feeling that Seduction is working to lay the groundwork to branch out slightly from their usual all-girl content , as SpiderBabe does feature a handful of male/female sexual scenes, though these are still on the soft-core side of things. I'm not so sure if this a great idea or not; it's like getting tea at Starbucks, its something that they're not really known for, and most fans just want the usual coffee, if you get my drift.

Rating for Style: B-
Rating for Substance: C+

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: Presented in 1.33:1 full frame, SpiderBabe benefits from having been shot on high-end digital video (using a Panasonic 24hp High Definition camera) which gives the finished product the appearance of perhaps having been shot on 35mm, or at least a pretty close approximation. The look helps mask some of the production value limitations, and give the feature a richer, more legit look. The effect is certainly a step up from the cheapo video look off earlier Seduction titles, and the transfer here is nicely done. Colors, and the paydirt fleshtones, look perfectly natural. Some elements of the overall transfer tends to run a bit soft in spots.

Image Transfer Grade: B+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: All the audio nuances of two (or more) women having simulated sex are rendered more than adequately on the 2.0 English language track, and as with previous Seduction releases, the presentation is acceptable without offering any particularly exceptional moments. Dialogue is clean and discernible, and is mixed well above the score. The SpiderBabe theme song, done during the opening credit sequence, showed great promise of a slightly more expansive audio track that utilized the rear channels, but that was about as it went before things settled in to a largely front channel-centric presentation.

As an added plus, a 2.0 Spanish track is also provided.

Audio Transfer Grade: B 

Disc Extras

Animated menu with music
Scene Access with 19 cues and remote access
1 Original Trailer(s)
9 Other Trailer(s) featuring Screaming Dead, Lord of the G-Strings, Play-Mate of the Apes, Lustful Addiction, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Satan's School for Lust, An Erotic Vampire in Paris, Roxanna, Mummy Raider
3 Deleted Scenes
Production Notes
1 Documentaries
6 Featurette(s)
Packaging: Gladiator style 2-pack
Picture Disc
2 Discs
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:

1. Punishment music video
2. Photo Gallery

Extras Review: Seduction rarely skimps on extras, even if most of the content is generally just an excuse for more nudity, and this two-disc set certainly qualifies for the "quantity over quality" moniker. Disc One, which contains the R-rated version of SpiderBabe (01h:21m:07s), also carries an Electronic Press Kit (04m:41s), with your usual dose of promotional happy talk from Mundae, Wells, Crash, etc. An Outtakes and Bloopers segment (04m:40s) is as dumb as most outtake and blooper reels, but we get more Misty Mundae and Julian Wells, so you take what you can get, right?

Also on this disc is a short music video from Punishment for the song Rising (02m:32s). Punishment is one of those outlaw speed metal outfits apparently, and the clip merits inclusion here because Misty Mundae plays a schoolgirl (surprise!) who gets comeuppance on a disheveled-looking scary guy. Making of Rising (09m:30s) features video director Joe Frantz chatting about the project, and tacks the video once again onto the end of the segment.

A collection of Seduction trailers and a huge Photo Gallery (upwards of 65 images) rounds out Disc One.

Disc Two, in addition to the unrated version of SpiderBabe, houses a handful of oogle-worthy goodies. Special FX: Behind the Scenes (10m:45s) covers the green screen work of Mundae and Wells, as well as their climactic battle, and this piece includes a steady line of chatter from director Johnny Crash. The Out There UK TV Clip (07m:15s) features Emily Booth (Pervirella) as Fly Girl, here doing a scene with Mundae and Wells as their SpiderBabe characters. Booth talks the talk, but this piece is really designed as a bonus coupling between Mundae and Wells.

SpiderBabe: Behind the Scenes (25m:42s) delves into Julian Wells getting outfitted in her Femtilian costume, and spends an inordinate amount of time covering fight training and stuntwork. The Costume (05m:46s) covers the evolution of Mundae's SpiderBabe costume, from drawings to fittings.The segment ends rather abruptly, for some reason. Wrapping things up is a trailer for the upcoming Screaming Dead release, as well as three Deleted Naughty Scenes, featuring some steamy male/female soft core couplings worthy of any late night Cinemax film. The scenes run 09m:23s, 10m:03s, and 05m:41s respectively.
br>A spiffy 11-page color booklet is included, with photos and a long interview with director Johnny Crash. The unrated version is cut into 19 chapters, with the R-rated into 18, and neither include subtitles.

Extras Grade: B+
 

Final Comments

I'm not sure why Seduction really felt compelled to include the R-rated version on this two-disc set, because any self-respecting aficionado of Misty Mundae will opt for the unrated version, which provides an additional nine minutes or so of unveiled flesh and fantasy. The extras, while not particularly deep, are plentiful and feature oodles of nudity, which I'm pretty sure a purchaser of SpiderBabe would appreciate more than technical substance.

Uneven comedically, but, more often than not, quite titillating. And when all is said and done, what else really matters?

An easy recommendation for Seduction fans.

Rich Rosell 2003-12-22