Curse of the Black Widow
| Curse of the Black Widow | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime Horror Mystery Sci-Fi |
| Written by | Robert Blees |
| Directed by | Dan Curtis |
| Starring |
Anthony Franciosa Donna Mills June Allyson Vic Morrow |
| Music by | Bob Cobert |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Dan Curtis |
| Producer(s) |
Steven North Steven P. Reicher (associate producer) |
| Location(s) | Piru Mansion - 829 & 837 Park Road, Piru, California |
| Cinematography | Paul Lohmann |
| Editor(s) | Leon Carrere |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
ABC ABC Circle Films Dan Curtis Productions |
| Distributor | ABC |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release |
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Curse of the Black Widow is a 1977 American made-for-television horror film directed by Dan Curtis and starring Anthony Franciosa, Donna Mills, Patty Duke, Vic Morrow and June Allyson. It originally aired on ABC on September 16, 1977.
For the past four years, Los Angeles has been terrorized by a series of mysterious murders, in which several men have been found dead with huge puncture wounds in their chests. The latest happens when private detective Mark Higbie (Tony Franciosa) is visiting a bar. A dark-haired woman with a German accent needs help with her car, and one of Higbie's friends goes out to help her. The woman makes a pass at him, but is turned down. Minutes later, the man is found dead.
Higbie does some digging, and finds out that Lieutenant Conti (Vic Morrow), who is leading the investigation, knows who the culprit is but is covering up details. He soon finds out why--all of the victims have had their bodily fluids sucked out of them, and the wounds are filled with spider venom. Each time, the mysterious woman, Valerie Steffan, was in the area. Conti suspects that the Lockwood twins, Leigh (Donna Mills) and Laura (Patty Duke) are somehow involved. Leigh hires Higbie, concerned about the police focusing on her. It turns out she dated all of the men who have died so far.
Higbie eventually gets in touch with a former bartender who saw one of the murders, who tells him that at least one man was killed by a man-sized black widow spider. Checking further, he finds out that Leigh and Laura's father died in a plane crash several years ago, and one of the girls was nearly bitten to death by spiders. Higbie finds out that the plane landed in an old vineyard owned by the Lockwoods, and meets the aging Indian who found the girls. The Indian says that according to an old legend, some women are affected by an ancient curse passed through the female line. During the full moon, these women turn into giant spiders in times of stress, kill their victims, encase them in webbing and feed on them. These women have a red hourglass birthmark on their abdomens, similar to those found on black widow spiders. They are practically indestructible in spider form; the only thing that can kill them is fire. The twin who was bitten by the spiders is the one affected with the curse.
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Wikipedia