''Spider'' is a 2007 Australian

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Nash Edgerton Nash Edgerton (born 19 January 1973) is an Australian film director, actor and stuntman, and a principal member of the movie-making collective Blue-Tongue Films. Early life Edgerton was born in Blacktown, New South Wales and grew up in Dural ...

and written by

David Michôd David Michôd ( ; born 30 November 1972) is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is best known for directing the critically acclaimed crime drama '' Animal Kingdom'' (2010) and dystopian drama '' The Rover'' (2014). ...

and Nash Edgerton. The film had its world premiere in competition at the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

on 17 June 2007. After that the film competed at number of film festivals and was later released theatrically together with Edgerton's feature-film '' The Square''.

Plot

A couple, Jack and Jill, are driving in a car. Jill is angry at Jack, so he enters a gas station and buys a card, flowers, chocolate, and a toy spider. As Jill re-fills the gas tank, Jack hides the spider in the

sun visor A sun visor is a component of an automobile located on the interior just above the windshield (also known as the windscreen). They are designed with a hinged flap that is adjustable to help shade the eyes of drivers and passengers from the gla ...

above her seat. Jill ignores the flowers and card but is won over by the chocolate. She pulls down the sun visor, causing the spider to fall out and the car to nearly crash. After the car stops, Jack laughs and tosses the spider towards Jill, who jolts backwards into the road and is struck by a passing vehicle. Paramedics arrive, and as one is about to insert a syringe into the unconscious Jill's arm, he is startled by the spider toy and accidentally throws the syringe into Jack's eye.

Cast

as Jack *

Mirrah Foulkes Mirrah Foulkes is an Australian director, screenwriter, and film and television actress. She was raised on the Sunshine Coast, in South East Queensland, Australia. She has appeared in films such as '' Animal Kingdom'' (2010), ''Sleeping Beauty ...

as Jill *Chum Ehelepola as Gas Station Attendant *Bruno Xavier as Gas Station Attendant *

as Hit Driver *Tony Lynch as Paramedic *

Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his appearance in the ''Star Wars'' films ''Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) as a young Owen Lars, a role he reprised i ...

as Paramedic

Reception

Critical response

The film earned mainly positive reviews from critics. Jason Sondhi of ''short of the week'' gave film the positive review said "It’s for sure a superior film, I just think I loved everything about it except the parts that I assume everyone loves." David Brook of ''blue print review'' gave the film four out of five stars and said "A simple one-gag comedy-short that works surprisingly well due to some accomplished naturalistic direction and performances. A nice touch at the end, although unnecessary, went down well with the audience too." Wesley Morris of

Boston.com ''Boston.com'' is a regional website that offers news and information about the Boston, Massachusetts, region. It is owned and operated by Boston Globe Media Partners, the publisher of ''The Boston Globe''. History ''Boston.com'' was one of t ...

said that "as well-delivered as its shocks are, this film is cleverness in the service of cruelty."

Home media

''Spider'' was released on DVD with The Square, on 24 August 2010.

Awards and official selections

* Official Selection -

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

* Official Selection -

Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022. History First held on 30 August 1974, th ...

* Official Selection -

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Notes

Edgerton directed a follow up of ''Spider'', a short film entitled ''

Bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

'' which was released in 2011.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spider 2007 short films 2007 films Australian comedy short films Australian independent films 2007 independent films Australian black comedy films Australian action adventure films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Nash Edgerton

Plot

Cast

Reception

Critical response

Home media

Awards and official selections

Notes

See also

References

External links