MovieChat Forums > Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967) Discussion > The End

The End

posted 17 years ago by christine1014
17 replies | jump to latest

Just saw this on dvd. In the end, Uncle Peter is summarizing, and he says he got two things from that experience, his family's inheritance, and his wife and daughter. So he marries Ann, and they have a daughter, who looks remarkably old (and Ralph'ish), and this is set 10 years after.

So my question is, the last scene of the movie implies the daughter is "afflicted". Since all the nastiness happens off-screen, and Ralph spends some alone time with Ann, I would guess this would imply that we're looking at Ralph's progeny at the end?

Was that obvious or am I reaching?

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cuechick 17 years ago

I think you may be right, makes sense to me.

[–] trypanophobic34 17 years ago

I got the impression that Ralph raped her all those years ago, and they just weren't aware that it was his baby. If you remember, Virginia and Elizabeth were talking about how Ralph liked her when he was restraining her. So it implies that he was left to his own devices and might have raped her.

[–] jtyroler 17 years ago

That sounds very plausable - a while before Bruno blows the place up, I was kind of confused as to who was Emily and Ann. So, that would make Jessica the child of Ralph and Ann?

[–] littlekaren 17 years ago

More amazing is that the flick is still being discussed:) Perhaps you should've added "spoilers" to your title? Anyway, never thought that the child was Ralph's but you do have a point.

[–] pl122 17 years ago

I Couldnt Really Figure out the End Either? Glad I Ordered the DVD, Will have to check it out again? Ecspecially the Ending.. Still A Great Flick!

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 16 years ago

"Perhaps you should've added "spoilers" to your title?"

A subject called "the end" makes it kinda obvious that there will be spoilers.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] caligulathegod 17 years ago

Ralph is never alone with Anne enough to have impregnated her. The ending was just a simple sting typical of horror films. They are in no way implying Ralph is the father of Jessica.

[–] dudeamis 16 years ago

I agree, he definitively raped Emily though.

[–] caligulathegod 16 years ago

Don't forget, too, that Peter is related by blood to the Merryes, his own branch being "quite distant". Just not distant enough.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] pl122 16 years ago

Thats Right.. He Is In Fact The Girls Uncle!!

[–] andrsbckly 16 years ago

yes....I thought of something the other day, too....remember when peter says "hey I *like* spiders..."...? It seems as though we are indeed being told that perhaps he IS too closely related; I also made an observation in this board elsewhere that although bruno says they are the result of 'inbreeding' he never says how far back....and that means maybe unky pete is afflicted...he also acts VERY goofy in the intro and wrap-up, too.........

[–] andrsbckly 16 years ago

Just to add:
1, virginia makes the comment they should drain some of Ann's blood so ralph can 'play with her *BETTER*'....seems to indicate something; but,
2. All of us seemed to have forgotten what Bruno says to them; that they are 'the unfortune result of inbreeding' BUT he never says how far back it occured, how many generations, which *could* indicate 'uncle peter' is more closely related than we think..!

[–] elongmire 16 years ago

I agree with caligulathegod, the child is Peters and the affliction is passed through him, although I do not doubt that Ralph raped Ann, hell, Ralph would rape anything that didn't rape him first.
I always thought the draining of the blood was just to weaken her, and you make an excellent point on not knowing how closely Peter may be related!

[–] CognacJacquet 15 years ago

I was very confused as to the relation--I think the lawyer introduced them as "Uncle" Peter and "Aunt" Emily simply as courtesy titles and to put them in an authoritarian light--if they were really the children's aunt and uncle, they would be Titus/Daddy's siblings and therefore they would know about Uncle Ned and the aunts in the cellar. I think Peter and Emily must be distant cousins.
I have to say I vote for Jessica being Ralph and Ann's child--Ralph would have been operating on basically animal instinct and the act wouldn't have taken long, to be absolutely crude here. She had that funky stare & obssession with spiders apparently. If the events happened 10 years prior, she would have been around 9 yrs old which is the age the regression would have started ("in the tenth year", assuming the first year begins at birth). Also, on my DVD it ends with "The End?"

My question--why didn't Titus Merrye suffer from the syndrome, who was his wife and what happened to her?

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]