History Film / EarthVsTheSpider

* HollywoodDarkness: The cave. They don't even bother with flashlights or torches in the slightest.

** There's a reason for this: The movie was filmed in Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, but only if they didn't use any studio lights, as that would accelerate the growth of microscopic organisms that would deteriorate the cave's structure much faster.

* GenreSavvy: Averted. You'd think Mike would be this, given that he seems to be a movie buff, but that doesn't happen.

* FollowTheLeader: 1950s and big bugs and giant arachnids kind of go together once ''Film/{{Them}}'' came out. And on all the ads the film became "The Spider" once TheFly saw success.

* EnforcedPlug: We see ads for two other films by Bert. I Gordon: ''Attack of the Puppet People'' and ''Film/TheAmazingColossalMan''. The former is also worked into the dialogue.

** Unusually for a movie of this type, Cagle ''does'' take the appropriate actions for a giant spider outbreak - even calling in a tanker truck of [[=DDT=]] and gas masks - on the say-so of the kids' science teacher Mr. Kingman. Neither he nor the half-dozen deputies and insecticide techs take it seriously, until one of them dies...

For the ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' version, please go to the [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S03E13EarthVsTheSpider episode recap page]].

* BadassNormal: Mr. Kingman.

* EnforcedPlug: We see ads for two other films by Bert. I Gordon: ''Attack of the Puppet People'' and ''TheAmazingColossalMan''. The former is also worked into the dialogue.

* CassandraTruth: The sheriff refuses to believe the kids about the existence of the giant spider until he can see it for himself. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor He quickly changes his attitude about it when he does see it.]]
** Unusually for a movie of this type, the sheriff ''does'' take the appropriate actions for a giant spider outbreak - even calling in a tanker truck of [[=DDT=]] and gas masks - on the say-so of the kids' science teacher. Neither he nor the half-dozen deputies and insecticide techs take it seriously, until one of them dies...
* ChekhovsGun: The teacher's lecture on electrons and poles, complete with demonstration. (A bit ...heady for a ''high school'' science class, then or now, but it works.)
* DisconnectedByDeath: The high school janitor at the start of the spider's rampage in town.

* TooDumbToLive: The heroine drops her bracelet in the giant cave after nearly being killed by the giant spider. What does she do? She goes back in to look for her bracelet, resulting in her and her boyfriend nearly getting killed six ways to Sunday.[[note]]The bracelet was something her dad was planning to give her when he was killed, and she had every reason to believe the spider was both dead and ''not'' in the cave the second time they entered it.[[/note]]

* ChekhovsGun: The teacher's lecture on electrons and poles.
* DisconnectedByDeath: A victim at the start of the spider's rampage.

* FollowTheLeader: 1950s and big bugs and giant arachnids kind of go together once ''Film/{{Them}}'' came out. And on all the ads the film became "The Spider" once TheFly saw success.
* HollywoodDarkness: The cave.
* TooDumbToLive: Every single person in the movie, even if not that many end up dead. The heroine drops her bracelet in the giant cave after nearly being killed by the giant spider. What does she do? She goes back in to look for her bracelet. She very nearly gets herself and her boyfriend devoured.[[note]]The bracelet was something her dad was planning to give her when he was killed, and she had every reason to believe the spider was both dead and ''not'' in the cave.[[/note]]
* VersusTitle

* TooDumbToLive: Every single person in the movie, even if not that many end up dead. The heroine drops her bracelet in the giant cave after nearly being killed by the giant spider. What does she do? She goes back in to look for her bracelet. She very nearly gets herself and her boyfriend devoured.

''Earth vs. the Spider'' (also known as ''The Spider'' and ''Earth vs. the Giant Spider'') is a 1958 American black and white science fiction horror film produced and directed by BertIGordon, who also wrote the story which the screenplay by George Worthing Yates and Laszlo Gorog is based upon. It starred Ed Kemmer, Eugene Persson and June Kenney.

* ProductPlacement: For two other films by Bert. I Gordon: ''Attack of the Puppet People'' and ''TheAmazingColossalMan''. The former is even worked into the dialogue.

''Earth vs. the Spider'' (also known as ''The Spider'' and ''Earth vs. the Giant Spider'') is a 1958 American black and white science fiction horror film produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, who also wrote the story which the screenplay by George Worthing Yates and Laszlo Gorog is based upon. It starred Ed Kemmer, Eugene Persson and June Kenney.

''Earth vs. the Spider'' (also known as The Spider and Earth vs. the Giant Spider) is a 1958 American black and white science fiction horror film produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, who also wrote the story which the screenplay by George Worthing Yates and Laszlo Gorog is based upon. It starred Ed Kemmer, Eugene Persson and June Kenney.

More entertainingly it was featured on the third season of MST3K

[[NamesTheSame The name is also shared by]] a 2000s horror movie, though this version can be seen more as a DarkerAndEdgier {{Deconstruction}} of SpiderMan. This movie revolves around a comic book-loving security guard at a lab doing genetic modification research on spiders. When his partner is killed, he deliberately infuses himself with spider [=DNA=] in hopes of becoming like his favorite super-hero. Instead, he is warped into a [[BodyHorror grotesque hybrid of human and spider traits]] and is consumed by an insatiable appetite for human flesh, voraciously eating person after person until a police officer manages to shoot him before he can snack on the girl he had a crush on.

* BigCreepyCrawlies:

-->'''Crow''': "Hello? Mr. "Oh My God Crunch Crunch"?"

--> 'Crow: *After Steve and Carol full into the web* "How come we can see and you can't?"'

----
!!The ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' presentation contains these tropes:

* BigEater: Tom complains that the spider keeps eating the opening credits.
* ContinuityNod: At one point, the spider eats a character who looks very similar to Dr. Erdhart (Dr. Forrester's previous aide, who had gotten brushed off with a simple "He's missing"). The crew immediately declare that ''this'' is where he wound up, the last mention of him in the entire series.
** Earlier, during the Invention Exchange, Joel expresses his disgust with the Mads, and Dr. Forrester and Frank respond with a simultaneous "Thank you!", in the same way Forrester and Erhardt had done during the first season. Clay and Frank then uncomfortably stare at each other for a moment.
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Tom promises that no spiders were squashed, stomped on, flushed or suffered serious emotional trauma during the film. But one died from old age and two letters from doctors confirm it.
* RunningGag: This is where the saga of Crow's screenplay for ''Earth Vs. Soup'' started.
* StylisticSuck: In-universe Crow reeks of it.
-->Joel: 'Crow she's just going "no" for the next six pages!'
-->Crow: 'Do you think that's enough?'

* BadWriting: In-universe Crow reeks of it.
-->Joel: 'Crow she's just going "no" for the next six pages!'
-->Crow: 'Do you think that's enough?'

* FollowTheLeader: 1950s and big bugs and giant arachnids kind of go together once ''Film/{{Them!}}'' came out. And on all the ads the film became "The Spider" once TheFly saw success.

* FollowTheLeader: 1950s and big bugs and giant arachnids kind of go together once Them! came out. And on all the ads the film became "The Spider" once TheFly saw success.