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.