Most British horror films are good and I've enjoyed watching them ever since I was a kid. I've spent my adult years tracking down the ones I never got to see, for whatever reason, when I was growing up. Today I finally got to see VENOM, which I'd never heard of to be honest. It could have been one of those "hidden gems" we all come across from time to time. But sadly it isn't.The plot revolves around a mad scientist trying to create a poisonous nerve gas from spider venom. The idea is interesting and one could imagine Hammer, Amicus or Tigon making an interesting film out of the premise. But sadly, VENOM is as dull as dishwater. It's also very incoherent and it seems that every five minutes or so, the main character is chasing this girl through the woods. The problem is that there really isn't much mystery other than the motive of the mad scientist. The characters aren't interesting and nor do they do anything that holds your attention through the film. If you stick with it, you're merely doing so just so you can "cross one off" your list of British horror films to see.Director Peter Sykes has made only two other horror films besides this one - DEMONS OF THE MIND and TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER. What makes his style different from most other directors of British horror films is that he goes out of his way to try shocking the viewer. In TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER the shocks are quite effective in my opinion. But VENOM just fails to escape its flat feeling so much that one could be forgiven for falling asleep before the shocking moments arrive. I won't explain what happens but it's tame and not as compelling viewing as it should be.The whole production has the feeling of everyone simply going through the motions. The acting isn't awful by any means. But the whole production just feels flat and lifeless most of the time. Derek Newark, usually cast as a police inspector or detective in films and TV shows from the 1960s and 1970s, is wasted here. Gertan Klauber is better in his brief appearances in the CARRY ON films, as well as his small role in SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN. The remaining cast members are nearly all unknown to me and Simon Brent is particularly bland as the lead.Overall, VENOM is a very boring film. It remained obscure in the UK for a long time for good reason. Recommended only for British horror completists.

Released in 1971 (but not until '75 in the USA), "Spider's Venom" (aka "The Legend of Spider Forest" and "Venom") is a mystery/horror about an artist (Simon Brent) who stumbles upon a village with secrets in the Black Forest, Germany: A beautiful redhead (Neda Arneric) frolics the local woods and seemingly leads men to their deaths, but people in the hamlet only willingly speak of it in hushed tones late at night when the fires burn low. The tangled web includes lethal spiders, neurotoxin and mad Nazi doctors. Sheila Allen is also on hand.The protagonist looks like an early 70's rock star (e.g. Jim Morrison) and I noticed an early 70's rock/prog rock soundtrack during the tavern sequence (think Jethro Tull or ELO). Arneric is a serious cutie and there's some tame, tasteful nudity. I favor the haunting backwoods European mood. It was directed by Peter Sykes, whose next film would be Hammer's "Demons of the Mind (1972); he also directed Hammer's penultimate "To the Devil a Daughter" (1976) and, believe it or not, "The Jesus Film" (1979).Unfortunately, the editing is amateurish, like a lot of 70's low-budget Euro flicks; it's just awkwardly done and takes you right out of the movie. Pictures like this make you praise Hammer Films in all their low-budget glory. Also, the DVD that I viewed (which is probably the only form of the movie available) had terrible audio and I could only make out about 50% of the dubbed verbiage; no kidding.The film runs 97 minutes and was shot at Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England with establishing shots of the Alps. WRITERS: Derek Ford & Donald Ford, with additional dialogue by Christopher Wicking. GRADE: C

Peter Sasdy made a lot of films that were disappointing; Demons of the Mind and To the Devil a Daughter were two of the worst of all the Hammer films and House in Nightmare Park was not nearly as entertaining as it could have been. The Legend of Spider Forest is actually Sasdy's least disappointing film, but that's only because I had no expectations going into it. The film really does make little sense and while the fantasy elements of it might have lifted it out of the bottom of the barrel, they unfortunately don't. The plot has something to do with a mad scientist, a mythical 'spider woman' and some spider venom; there's a forest involved too. It actually gets off to an interesting start as we witness an interesting sequence taking place in a forest but the rest of the film is an absolute mess. It's far too easy to get lost in what's going on, and since the film is not very interesting, it's difficult to find the motivation to actually care what is going on - which kind of makes watching this film rather pointless. I guess this might appeal to people who like daft films that don't make sense, but everyone else can feel free to leave this one languishing in obscurity!

SPIDER FOREST looks like it had some intriguing ideas in place prior to filming, but the final product is a crabbed and often hard-to-follow farrago with a light smattering of atmospheric moments. A lovely young lady dwells within a European forest where super-venomous spiders roam, although she is, it seems, impervious to their deadly bite...her male lovers, however, aren't so lucky.When a young artist takes lodging in the aforementioned locale, he becomes smitten with the mysterious spider-girl, pursues her, and becomes inadvertently embroiled in a covert Nazi experiment to create a highly lethal neuro-toxin.Far too much going on, and quite sloppily presented. Whatever potential may have been in play here is sadly lost to mishandling of the material, mostly in relation to editing/continuity problems and a knotted-up tangle of a screenplay. Pity.4/10