In a crumbling mansion on the edge of nowhere, the Merrye children live a secret life, watched over by their devoted caretaker Bruno and cursed by a rare genetic condition that causes them to regress into violent, childlike states while retaining the strength and appetites of adults.

Virginia catches flies in her imaginary web—then slashes them to pieces with butcher knives. Elizabeth sulks and plots. And Ralph… well, Ralph scuttles in the shadows, twitching, grinning, watching.

When distant relatives arrive to claim the family estate, Bruno can only hope the “children” remember their manners.

This official novelization of Jack Hill’s cult horror classic Spider Baby plunges deeper into the grotesque humor, cracked psychology, and rotting grandeur of the Merrye legacy. Author Dayna Noffke brings new life to the tale, adding expanded scenes, rich inner monologue, and backstory only hinted at in the film. Told with gleeful menace and unexpected tenderness, this is an invitation to descend into full Merrye madness.

This edition also includes a foreword by cult film scholar Mike Watt, as well as reconstructed “deleted scenes” and annotations that expand the twisted lore of one of exploitation cinema’s strangest treasures.

Some families have skeletons in the closet. The Merryes feed theirs in the basement.