10 Most Messed Up Horror Movie Families

9. The Merrye Family - Spider Baby

House of 1000 Corpses Baby Firefly
American General Pictures

Because nothing screams "family activity" quite like sawing off someone's leg...

The oldest movie to be featured on this list, 1967's Spider Baby has gone on to be revered as somewhat of a cult classic in the decades since its initial release. It may not have caused much of a stir back then, but the picture has managed to find an audience due to DVD and Blu-ray releases in more recent years.

Helmed by future Coffy and Foxy Brown director Jack Hill, headlined by horror royalty in the shape of Lon Chaney Jr. and with a fun early role for genre favourite Sid Haig, Spider Baby focusses on the twisted Merrye family.

Chaney serves as the caretaker of the Merrye family home and the carer of the family's three orphaned, adult children. The Merrye name is one haunted by tragedy, though, with each family member suffering with a genetic condition that makes them regress mentally once they hit puberty - and from there, they become more violent and murderous.

This 'Merrye Sydnrome' has been kept secret for decades by the family, with the help of Chaney's Bruno - and we eventually find out that older, even more insane members of the clan reside in the family home's basement.

Dotted across Spider Baby, there's death, there's rape, there's cat killing (and eating!), there's bug-munching (largely from Jill Banner's 'Spider Baby') and there's a consistent sense of unrest and dread through the film's brisk 80-minute run time.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.