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List Price: $19.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 34185
Released: July 29, 2003 |
| Our Price: $4.18 |
| Used Price: $1.99 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A brilliant and powerful psychological thriller about a deeply disturbed boy, Spider, who ‘sees’ his father brutally murder his mother and replace her with a prostitute. Convinced they plan to murder him next, Spider hatches an insane plan, which he carries through to tragic effect. Years later, his delusional account of his past begins to unravel and Spider spirals into fresh madness. Starring: Academy Award® Nominee Ralph Fiennes (Red Dragon,Schindler’s List,The English Patient), Golden Globe Winner Miranda Richardson (Enchanted April, Damage), Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects, Enemy of the State), Golden Globe Winner Lynn Redgrave (Shine, Gods and Monsters), Directed by award winning David Cronenberg (eXistenZ, Crash).
Description of Spider:
Internal madness is hypnotically externalized in David Cronenberg's Spider, a disturbing portrait of schizophrenia. Adapted by Patrick McGrath from his celebrated novel, this no-frills production begins when "Spider" Cleg (Ralph Fiennes, in a daring, nearly nonverbal role) returns to his childhood neighborhood in London's dreary East End, where a traumatic event from his past percolates to the surface of his still-erratic consciousness. Released from a mental institution and left to fend for himself, he pursues elusive memories while staying in a halfway house run by a stern matron (Lynn Redgrave), unable to distinguish between past, present, and psychological fabrication. The distorting influence of Spider's mind is directly reflected in Cronenberg's cunning visual strategy, presenting a shifting "reality" that's deliberately untrustworthy, until the veracity of nearly every scene is called into question. With an impressive dual-role performance by Miranda Richardson, Spider falls prey to its own lugubrious rhythms, but like the acclaimed 1995 indie film Clean, Shaven, it's a compelling glimpse of mental illness, seen from the inside out. --Jeff Shannon
Spider Reviews:
Dark and twisted Fruedian horror film 
2009-10-29 - The Bottom Line:
The mature Cronenberg who showed us two fine films in Eastern Promises and A History of Violence is very much in evidence here, abandoning his lifelong themes of the horror of the human body in favor of a more twisted study of mental illness; with a vulnerable and nuanced performance by Ralph Fiennes as our potentially unreliable narrator and very effective cinematography, Spider is a distinct and worthy horror film.
3.5/4
Superb acting! 
2009-09-12 - This is yet another example of Fiennes' finesse. He surpasses acting and becomes the troubled protagonist in this dark movie. Hard to watch at times but compelling, it exposes the underbelly of family dysfunction, and details how wounds to the psyche rarely heal and often fester. THis is not a movie to watch with the young or the squeamish. It is also not a film found amoung video store and library catalogs so this seller's price makes trying it worthwhile. Arrived quickly, new and well packaged.
We Can All Go Home Now.
2008-12-23 - Spider. He remembers everything and nothing.
He likes to go into a picture that is hanging in this café he visits. In the picture, he and 2 of his friends say and do the most hilariously perverse things to one another. Then Spider takes nudey pics out of his pants and it's flippin' uproarious
Spider likes to put together jigsaw puzzles but instead of taking a break when he gets stuck, he freaks out and throws the puzzle all over the floor! Missus whatshername yells at him that he has to pick all the pieces back up and you know damn well he's not going to do what she says.
Spider gets completely hypnotized by the gasworks across the street from his house, he just stands there and he can't even move. His best friend has to come and literally drag him back into the house. I think he killed his mom that way but I wonder if he knows. He must because he can't move when he looks at the gasworks. Yet his mind is working just like that gasworks, automatic. I'm still so confused and I've scene this bloody movie 5 times.
He smokes like a total fiend, so much so that his hands are all yellow, he'll smoke at really inappropriate times, too, like when he's laying in bed. He writes and writes and I'm not convinced yet that he can speak coherently. It's all face and eyes. Mostly eyes.
His hair cut makes him look like a little kid when it's clean and when his mate breaks a huge mirror and tries to kill himself, Spider steals (he's an expert theif) and then turns in the piece of glass he's stolen. But he can hardly speak, so damaged.
And when he takes a bath, he lays on his side in the rust stained water, completely still, joyless, cold. Hard.
You just want to heal this man, at least I wanted to. Ralph Fiennes (Super Hot? And what does that mean this time around?) is spot on as this afflicted damaged schizophrenic suffering and dangerous man. I've seen everything Fiennes has ever done and for me, this is IT.
The Best. EVER.
This was good
2008-11-27 - This was a movie with character study, and that is something that I like a lot. Ralph Fiennes was a very believable schizophrenic.
The plot of the movie was decently involved (but not overwhelming).
Especially good points:
1. The characters were developed in a certain way to lead us to think one thing, but it later became clear that they were viewed through the lens of schizophrenia.
2. One woman played several characters, and she did a great job with all three of them. That was a testament to training and study!
3. The movie came together at the end in an "Aha!" sort of way. It is not one of those types of movies that would hve to be watched two or three times to put everything in place-- but not so pedestrian as to be boring.
One of my favorite movies ever
2008-09-16 - I am a massive Ralph Fiennes fan. Let's just get that out of the way right now. I have no doubt that this man could act out the phone book and make it interesting. With that said, this is my favorite RF movie, and subsequently, one of my favorite movies of all time.
It's difficult to describe the plot because, as others have said, it's complex and filled with twists that I really don't want to give away. So my only real option is to focus on the direction and acting, both of which are brilliant. This is a more restrained version of a Cronenberg movie, but no less interesting. He uses a massive amount of symbolism that makes you feel like you're inside a work of art, as opposed to just watching it.
The two best performances are from Miranda Richardson and Ralph Fiennes. Richardson plays three different characters (more of that symbolism) and by the end, manages to blend all three together into a sum where you can actually pick out what aspects belong to each character. It's a really incredible sight. Fiennes, on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction. He gets so into his character, it becomes totally and eerily believable. He barely says a single comprehensible word so the entire film relies on his body language. I think it's incredible that he carries the movie so well.
Some have said this film moves at a slow pace, but that wasn't the case for me. I was really interested in what was happening and what was going to happen, although I can understand that some might find it tough to sit through. This is a movie that will make you think, and I would definitely suggest it to anyone who's interested.
