“What… the eff was that?” That’s a very good question! Join your faithful Grue-Crew – Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr – as they check out this legendary low-budget film with big-budget effects, The Deadly Spawn (1983).
Decades of Horror 1980s
Episode 213 – The Deadly Spawn (1983)
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Alien creatures invade a small town and four teenagers, along with a young boy, attempt to escape from them.
IMDbDirector: Douglas McKeown Writers: Douglas McKeown (screenplay); Ted A. Bohus, John Dods, Douglas McKeown (story by); Tim Sullivan (additional dialogue) Special effects director: John Dods Music by: Paul Cornell, Michael Perilstein, Ken Walker Art Department: Tim Hildebrandt (poster artist) (uncredited) Selected Cast: Charles George Hildebrant as Charles Tom DeFranco as Pete Richard Lee Porter as Frankie Jean Talfer as Ellen Karen Tighe as Kathy James L. Brewster as Sam Elissa Neil as Barb Ethel Michelson as Aunt Millie John Schmerling as Uncle Herb Judith Mayes as Bunny Tim Hildebrandt as Doctor Rita Hildebrandt as Nurse #1 Diane Bohus as Nurse #2 Ted Bohus Sr. as Mayor
The Deadly Spawn is Jeff’s pick by way of Doc Rotten. For him, this movie is balls out once the title characters appear. Charles, the film’s monster kid, saves the day while everyone else flounders. He loves the scene with the women’s group, the head removals, and the body thrown out the upstairs window.
Chad first heard of The Deadly Spawn in Fangoria, but it never seemed to be available for him to view it. He finally got it on DVD and holy cow, he loves this movie. The creature is absolutely bonkers and with characters that are interesting, the movie is a fun-as-hell, crazy romp. Crystal can’t believe how low-budget The Deadly Spawn is and how good the acting and the special effects are. Bill also first heard of The Deadly Spawn in Fangoria but assumed it would be one of those movies where the monster looked good in the stills but not so good in the movie. Instead, he found a really good, practically iconic creature feature. It’s hard to believe the budget is so low and yet the monster is better than those in some pictures from Holywood with much bigger budgets.
If you haven’t seen this legendary film, the 80s Grue-Crew command that you do. As of this writing, The Deadly Spawn is streaming from Shudder and is available on DVD from Synapse Films.
Every two weeks, Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1980s podcast will cover another horror film from the 1980s. The next episode’s film, chosen by Bill, will be The Fly II (1989) with Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga and directed by Chris Walas.
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