- Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne, Lynn Redgrave, John Neville
- Directors: David Cronenberg
- Writers: Patrick McGrath
- Producers: David Cronenberg, Catherine Bailey, Charles Finch, Guy Tannahill, Hannah Leader
- Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Surround Sound, Widescreen, NTSC, Import
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Sony Pictures
- Release Date: July 29 2003
- Run Time: 98 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00000F4MA
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Product Details |
Product Description
Video Details
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).
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
No Exit
Feb 3 2012
Format:DVD
Written by Patrick McGrath, based on the novel of the same name by Patrick McGrath; directed by David Cronenberg; starring Ralph Fiennes ("Spider" Cleg), Miranda Richardson (Mrs. Cleg/Yvonne/Mrs. Wilkinson), Gabriel Byrne (Bill Cleg), Lynn Redgrave (Mrs. Wilkinson) and John Neville (Terrence) (2002): David Cronenberg, bless his soul, likes to go places other filmmakers don't, won't, or can't. In the case of Spider, he heads back into the territory of Dead Ringers, giving us a horror story in which there is no catharsis, no growth, and no hope. It's an astonishingly bleak film.
Ralph Fiennes, complete with hair that was apparently an homage to Samuel Beckett (the playwright, not the Quantum Leaper), plays the titular schizophrenic without the bells and whistles someone like, say, Robert DeNiro might have demanded. There's no showiness, no look-at-me-acting scene of yelling or imploring the audience for empathy. Spider is almost completely mute, and when he does talk, he mumbles incoherently.
Spider's been released from a mental asylum into a halfway house when the movie begins, in a rundown, vaguely 1980's-looking urban England. His nickname comes from a tendency he's had since childhood to weave elaborate webs out of string and pieces of rope. He's a pattern maker. But he's also schizophrenic. The patterns he makes, the viewer needs to remember, may look sound, but they're inherently flawed.
The movie takes us through Spider's reminscences of his childhood, of what seems to be an ogre-ish and unfaithful father and a saint of a mother. How reliable are Spider's memories? Therein lies the mystery of the movie, inevitable as death. This isn't a movie to enjoy in a normal way -- it's horrifying, and there's no attempt to make Spider warm and cuddly, a Hollywood madman. He's very sick. And schizophrenia doesn't spring from some easily understandable childhood trauma: it's a disease, a cancer of the mind.
I was exhausted by the end of the movie, and that was from watching it in 20-minute increments over several days. But it was a good exhaustedness. But this isn't Rain Man or A Beautiful Mind. There are no easy life lessons here, no Nobel Prize, no well-meaning brother who learns valuable things from someone with cognitive difficulties, though there are, even for Spider, flashes of clarity amidst the crushing horror. And the clarity just makes the horror worse.
Ralph Fiennes, complete with hair that was apparently an homage to Samuel Beckett (the playwright, not the Quantum Leaper), plays the titular schizophrenic without the bells and whistles someone like, say, Robert DeNiro might have demanded. There's no showiness, no look-at-me-acting scene of yelling or imploring the audience for empathy. Spider is almost completely mute, and when he does talk, he mumbles incoherently.
Spider's been released from a mental asylum into a halfway house when the movie begins, in a rundown, vaguely 1980's-looking urban England. His nickname comes from a tendency he's had since childhood to weave elaborate webs out of string and pieces of rope. He's a pattern maker. But he's also schizophrenic. The patterns he makes, the viewer needs to remember, may look sound, but they're inherently flawed.
The movie takes us through Spider's reminscences of his childhood, of what seems to be an ogre-ish and unfaithful father and a saint of a mother. How reliable are Spider's memories? Therein lies the mystery of the movie, inevitable as death. This isn't a movie to enjoy in a normal way -- it's horrifying, and there's no attempt to make Spider warm and cuddly, a Hollywood madman. He's very sick. And schizophrenia doesn't spring from some easily understandable childhood trauma: it's a disease, a cancer of the mind.
I was exhausted by the end of the movie, and that was from watching it in 20-minute increments over several days. But it was a good exhaustedness. But this isn't Rain Man or A Beautiful Mind. There are no easy life lessons here, no Nobel Prize, no well-meaning brother who learns valuable things from someone with cognitive difficulties, though there are, even for Spider, flashes of clarity amidst the crushing horror. And the clarity just makes the horror worse.
misfire
Dec 5 2003
Format:DVD
This is an incredibly tedious film from the usually excellent David Cronenberg. It takes a huge amount of patience to sit through the seemingly interminable 93 minutes. That said though I will give it one more go just to make sure before I consign this disc to the trash.
Cronenberg Understands McGrath
Aug 14 2003
Format:DVD
Patrick McGrath is a fine writer of bizarre, beyond the edge stories and finally someone has found the courage to tackle one of his basically 'inner mind' stories. SPIDER dates back to 1991, before McGrath wrote ASYLUM, DR HAGGARD'S DISEASE, BUTCHER BOY, MARTHA PEAKE etc and that story showed all the promise of the author's ability to find entry into the dark interstices of the ill mind, a line of detail he continues to follow and expand.
David Cronenberg, that master of the macabre, was the absolute right director to transpose this map (read 'web') of the schizophrenic mind to film. His cast is impeccably correct: Ralp Fiennes manages to create a three dimensional character out of the title role, while Miranda Richardson, Lynn Redgrave, and Gabriel Byrne and all the bit players feel fully in character at all times. The grisly story is beautifully photogrpahed and meticulously scored (a very finely orchestrated score by Howard Shore) and if at times the film feels longer than the usual movie, realize that this is the way a disturbed and immobile brain deals with the outside world.
For the story read the other reviews. For your edification, buy or rent this amazingly disturbing film and keep your mind open.......
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Most recent customer reviews
Quietly Fascinating Film
Ralph Fiennes' performance as 'Spider' is captivating. He is well supported by the rest of the cast: Gabriel Byrne ('In treatment'), Miranda Richardson ('Rita Skeeter' of 'Harry... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Steven Smith
Haunting
After sitting on my self for well over a couple of months I decided to give this movie a try. My expectations weren't very high and I expected something on par with Willard. Read more
Published on July 20 2004
A daring and brilliant psychological study
This movie, by Canadian director David Cronenberg, fulfills the earlier promise of his tragicomic reprise, The Fly. Get the connection? Read more
Published on July 19 2004 by John Colville
Touching and Disturbing
If Samuel Beckett himself had written and directed this film, I would not have been surprised. I would qualify that statement by saying that Beckett probably would not have... Read more
Published on Jun 17 2004 by J from NY
Rare look inside dark world
Spider is unlike most films you will see. A slow, deliberate pace, sets the tone, as we first get to learn the current circumstances of the newly released mental patient, Mr. Read more
Published on May 9 2004
Stuck with Me
Director David Cronenberg and lead actor Fiennes do a dead-on job of not only showing the viewer, but by sucking the viewer into the life of a schizophrenic. Read more
Published on May 9 2004 by S. Sommerville
Clothes maketh the man.........
'Spider' is a deftly drawn character study of a schizophrenic who relives his past when he returns to the area where he grew up. Read more
Published on April 12 2004 by R Jess
A Hallucinatory Psychological Masterpiece
I loved this movie, but I'll be among the first to admit that most viewers are going to be less than thrilled with it. Read more
Published on April 6 2004 by Totally Anonymous
One of Cronenberg's best films
So no, this isn't typical Cronenberg. It's obvious that he didn't write the script, and that he's adapting someone else's story. But, what a bang-up job he does with it. Read more
Published on Mar 15 2004
sweet gentle claustiphobia
Big warm blanket of madness slowly suffocating. Making the tiny world in his mind too huge to bear. The smooth descent, a beatiful gentle horror.
Published on Mar 14 2004 by UpItOnUp
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