Amazingly, Spider has received an amazing DVD transfer. There's no way a movie this obscure deserves a nearly perfect video transfer, but someone out there appreciates it enough. Clarity and contrast are only the beginnings of what's right about the video. Compression is never seen, grain is almost non-existent, and print damage is well within the acceptable range. The only complaint is some excessive aliasing, noticeable in the early moments especially.

Unfortunately, the audio is almost unintelligible by comparison. It's muffled and scratchy, making some dialogue nearly impossible to make out. When the stock soundtrack kicks in, it strains the speaker (this is 1.0 mono all the way) to the breaking point.

Earth vs. The Spider is included on a disc with another Bert I. Gordon "masterpiece," War of the Colossal Beast. That's as good as extras for movies like these get, though on a technicality, it's not exactly an extra. (No Stars)

If awful spider movies are your thing, there are plenty of opportunities to ruin your Saturday night. The Giant Spider Invasion is probably the most infamous of the lot as the special effects crew stuck a spider costume on to a car and drove it around to make it move. Kingdom of the Spiders is one of William Shatner's finest (deadly tarantulas can't be beat), and the Sci-Fi Channel usually airs Spiders and its equally dumb sequel.