New fan film The Spider has taken YouTube by storm amassing over 4.6 million views and counting in just a month.
We caught up with director Andy Chen to talk body horror, his version of Peter Parker and beyond.
Can you tell us where the idea for The Spider came from?
The idea for The Spider came from the idea of mixing Spider-man and The Fly. There’s also comics already like Marvel Ruins, Edge of Spider-Verse and Man-Spider influences I drew from for this story as well. But after the success of my Shrek horror film, Fiona, my next idea was to do a horror version of my favorite superhero!
Were you surprised no one had taken this route before in terms of reinterpreting the story?
Actually after we started pre-production, we found out that there was a movie in the early 2000s which took a similar approach called Earth Vs The Spider. In that version, it was a kid who was obsessed with comic books and decided to get bitten on purpose for superpowers. The ends up being similar in that he mutates into a monster. I never watched it because I didn’t want it to taint my vision of mine. But it’s definitely on my list to check out now that so many people have brought it up.
Have you been surprised by the incredible response to date?
Yes and no. I had a feeling it was going to go viral especially having Chandler Riggs a part of it. But I definitely wasn’t expecting how fast we would get so many views!
When did Chandler Riggs sign on to the project, and what were your first conversations like with him?
Probably a week or two into pre-production, my producer Artin mentioned that one of his rep also reps Chandler and said there could be a chance we could get him. They sent the email and we got on a call! The first conversation was about my vision for this version of Peter Parker and compared to Tobey, Andrew, and Tom if I wanted it to skew more one direction than another. But knowing the skills of Chandler and how much experience he has, I just wanted him to make his own version of Peter.
This goes full-body horror, was it always your intention to make this style of film?
Yes! I love body horror movies from the 80s like The Thing and The Fly. I definitely wanted to do practical effects and take a lot of influence from that.
You’ve got composer Alexander Taylor on board for the score, what were your conversations with him like on what you wanted to achieve music-wise?
He was brought on way before we even started pre-production on this film. We did another film together before called Gateway Drug and he was such a pleasure to work with. When I brought up this idea, he was so excited that I knew he was the perfect person for this. We even worked on one of the themes from the film before we even started filming. That song was based off of the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon but slowed down and recorded in a minor key. I think it came out amazing. Most of the conversations were about making sure we do subtle nods to older Spider-Man themes and balancing the horror sounds with the superhero vibes.
We’ve had The Spider, and previously The Fly, are there any other horror series you’d like to put your spin on?
Since I’m Chinese American and I grew up watching a ton of Monkey King / Sun Wukong films and TV shows, I really want to do something based off of the chinese character and make it darker. I think my next project might be based off of that but made for a modern, american audience.
You’ve now directed a number of shorts and music videos, is the plan to get into feature directing?
Yes! I’m hoping these shorts get me enough attention that I can get one of my feature projects off of the ground. Currently working on developing a few at the moment.
What’s next for you, would you like to stay in horror?
Horror is definitely where I think I shine the best at the moment but I also have a lot of love for Sci-Fi and Dark Comedy as well as Crime Thrillers. I think end goal is where I can work on different projects that balance a bit of all the things I like.
Read our review of The Spider.
Watch The Spider below –
Bloody Flicks 