Tag Archives: Giant Spider Invasion

2023 Year End Review – Part 1: The Highlights

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2023 was one crazy year. A lot of things changed, had some amazing travel adventures, another year on the convention circuit, movie screenings and marathons, and more than a few visits to the drive-ins. Plenty of be grateful for really. That should be the first thing to mention because it is one that we only bring up on certain holidays, when it should be celebrated each and every day. It is a time to not only look at the upcoming year, but also to look back on your accomplishments from 2023. Sometimes, just getting through the year is something to be proud of, because we know that that alone can be difficult. So don’t think you have to list off a dozen or so things that you did. Just be proud of what you did. But we can always make those lists of what we want to do in 2024. I don’t like to use the word resolution because that seems to come and go with the holiday. Write it down. Make a list. Set a goal. And then work your way there. Doesn’t have to be a huge one either. Could be just to watch all the Hammer Frankenstein films. Then on to the next thing. Most importantly, remember why you put it on your list in the first place. Have fun with it.

My website hit the 25 anniversary this year. Still hard to believe, but honestly, when you know how stubborn I can be, it makes perfect sense. The Krypt has helped keep my passion alive and well, as well as thriving. It is the one place I can go and spout my views and opinions to those that are always checking in with what this slightly obsessive horror fan has to say. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everyone’s continued support. So, thank you!

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History Hunt in the Land of Rebane!

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Last October, we traveled 5 hours up north to Merrill, Wisconsin, for the opening of a Bill Rebane Museum at the Merrill Historical Society, which we reported on HERE. There was talk of some directions to some of the filming sites of some of his movies, since he pretty much stayed in and around Gleason, Wisconsin, which is where his Shooting Ranch film studio was located, but it just never happened. Fast forward almost a year, and Brandon Johnson, the man behind the exhibit, lets me know that they are planning sort of a Bill Rebane scavenger hunt, called the 2023 Merrill Historical Society History Hunt, where teams will be given sort of a scavenger hunt map to visit different locations, and even interact with people that worked either on the films, or were in some way part of them. Without putting much thought into it, I sent out the emails to those that joined me last time and see if they’d be up for it again, which they all agreed!

So, Aaron Christensen and I left my house at 4:15am on Saturday the 9th, drove about 90 minutes just outside of Milwaukee to pick up Dave Kosanke, and then drove another 3+ hours further north into Merrill, getting there around 9:30am, meeting up our last team member, Gavin Schmitt.

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The Rebane Exhibit Report

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As I reported a few days ago, on Saturday the 22nd, myself, along with Aaron Christensen, Dave Kosanke, and Gavin Schmitt, made the trip up to Merrill, Wisconsin for the Bill Rebane’s Hollywood Midwest: A Retrospective on Wisconsin’s First Feature Film Studio, an exhibit being held at the Merrill Historical Society, put on by Brandon Johnson. Because it opened at 9am and we wanted to be there right when it opened, it meant that I had to leave at 3am, drive into Chicago to pick up Aaron, then head north to pick up Dave, and then meet Gavin at the Museum as close to 9am as we could. We got there at 8:55am. Pretty good planning if I do say so myself!

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A Pilgrimage to Merrill WI, and then Insanity

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This weekend, a few friends and I will be making a trip up to Merrill, Wisconsin, which is about a 5–6 hour drive for us. Why, may you ask? Because the Merrill Historical Society there is having a special Bill Rebane exhibit, which Mr. Rebane himself will be attending, possibly along with some other cast and crew from his films.

Bill Rebane, to those that don’t know, is probably most known for his film The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), but he had made quite a few other titles, such as The Alpha Incident, The Demons of Ludlow, Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake, and Blood Harvest, which even starred Tiny Tim. One of the things that set Rebane apart from most directors is that he made most of these films without leaving Wisconsin. In fact, in the town of Gleason, he created his own little film studio, called The Shooting Ranch, where he could film, edit, looping, everything else needed to make a film start to finish. Sure, some of his budgets were pretty low, but that doesn’t mean they are not entertaining.

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Bill Rebane Exhibit

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There’s a lot of independent filmmakers out there, even ones that worked for decades, continuingly cranking out feature after feature. But there’s a selected few that went past that and actually created their own functioning movie studio way outside of Hollywood. There were people like Larry Buchanan in Texas or Earl Owensby in North Carolina. Then was Bill Rebane, who created the Shooting Ranch in Gleason, Wisconsin, which was a complete movie studio, from a post-production, recording studios, to even having lodging for the actors to stay, not to mention its own restaurant. This was Rebane’s way of keeping production costs down for his movies, if he could keep all the expenses low by providing them all within the studio. Smart man.

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Convention Memories: The Bill Rebane Film Festival 2005

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Rebane fest posterBack on our old site, there is probably close to a hundred different convention reports, or film fests, and whatnot. I used to post on those religiously, but after doing so many, it started to become tiresome because a lot of them started to sound the same. As well as some of the shows becoming more and more overpriced autograph shows, it was getting even hard to not be negative all the time. There are a ton of photos posted of many different celebrities that we’ve seen over the years. I thought about bringing them over to the new site, but haven’t completely decided on that just yet. But there are a few that I will be bringing over, such as this one, mainly because this is quite different than most of the conventions and film fests that I’ve been do over the last 20 years. Hope you enjoy!

I don’t remember the exact date, but it was early in 2005, but I remember calling my good friend Eric Ott with some exciting news. I had known Eric for maybe 10 years, and had never known anybody that was a bigger fan of the work on Wisconsin filmmaker Bill Rebane than him. Most notably for making The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), but Rebane had directed about 10 films throughout his career. Eric was always on the lookout for VHS tapes of his movies, as well as posters, and any other material from his work, even scoring some 16mm prints over the years. So when I read online that in Madison, Wisconsin, there was going to be an actual Bill Rebane Film Festival, and that Mr. Rebane himself was going to be there, I quickly called Eric to tell him that no matter what he had planned on May 7th, he was going to have to cancel it. Because we were going to make a road trip up to Madison for this.

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Horror History: Bill Rebane

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rebaneBill Rebane
Born Feb. 8th, 1937

If you’ve heard of Bill Rebane, it is probably due to his movie 1975 epic The Giant Spider Invasion. But that is a good start if you haven’t heard of him. Rebane made quite a few lower budgeted films, all made in Wisconsin, usually at his Shooting Ranch Studio, a full fledge film production studio that not only made several feature films, but tons of commercials, industrial films, and much more.

Rebane arrived in the US in 1952 at the age of 15, coming from Estonia. While he speaks 5 languages, he learned to master the English language by watching American movies, which helped fuel his love for the cinema. He started his media career at WGN-TV in Chicago, working his way up from the mailroom to eventually executive producer.

In the late ’60s, he started his film ranch in Wisconsin which would be the first full-time feature film studio in the Midwest, which ran for over 30 years. During those years, he made such films as Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake (1975), The Alpha Incident (1978), The Capture of Bigfoot (1979), and The Demons of Ludlow (1983), and even a few more.

While his films might not be the best made films, they are usually entertaining, even if in a MST3K sort of way. And he made the most entertaining giant spider movie ever made! So for that fact alone, everyone should know and remember who Bill Rebane is.

Giant Spider Invades Blu-Ray!

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giantspiderblurayRegulars to the Krypt not only know of my love for Turkey movies, but especially when they come from Wisconsin and involve a giant spider that has been made out of a Volkswagen beetle. It just boggles the mind when a movie like Bill Rebane’s The Giant Spider Invasion not only gets a blu-ray edition, but a 2-disc edition with a ton of extras, including a new documentary by the talented Daniel Griffith. But it is all true.

VCI Entertainment will be unleashing this Rebane’s monstrous arachnid, The Giant Spider Invasion next month on June 6th. It will feature the new documentary Size Does Matter! Making of The Giant Spider Invasion which is probably the thing that I’m looking forward to the most. Below is all the other extras included on this special edition. Some of it looks like it might have been filmed back at the Bill Rebane Film Fest that took place in Madison, WI, back in 2005, which I was honored to be in attendance. So it will great to see that being archived.

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