Big Baby Review: Spider One’s Meta Horror Is Little More Than an Annoying Rant

You might know Spider One as the frontman of the band Powerman 5000, or you might know him as the brother of fellow rock-musician-turned-horror-filmmaker Rob Zombie. Unfortunately, all of that talent and potential doesn’t shine through in Big Baby, which feels more like being subjected to the ramblings of someone who feels butthurt than it does a satisfying horror flick in its own right. 

What is Big Baby about?

Big Baby begins with the protagonist, a horror filmmaker, listening to a podcast ripping his latest film to shreds, which sets him out on a quest to write the ultimate movie to prove all of his haters wrong. However, when his nightmare about a masked killer inspires a new script, he finds that the line between fiction and reality is becoming blurred.

Big Baby Review

It’s clear from the outset that Spider One has made Big Baby as a sort of response to the tepid reception of his previous movie, Little Bites (which this writer, admittedly, did not see). And while filmmakers engaging with their critics has resulted in some intelligent meta commentary in the past — see Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City — Spider One does not bring the depth or nuance required to the conversation. It feels like he is merely whining and taking potshots, some of which are valid, but others of which catch innocent bystanders (including Jordan Peele, for some reason?) in the crossfire.

But what is perhaps most frustrating about Big Baby is that, despite its disdain for critics, Spider One does not seem to have any veneration for the audience. The film’s protagonist (and perhaps by extension Spider One) doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks of his work, and that’s such an incredibly egotistical and pretentious way of making movies.

That being said, there are some areas in which Big Baby shows some legitimate thematic potential. At a couple of points in the movie, the horror filmmaker protagonist is questioned about his complicity in creating violence. Although the idea of copycat killings isn’t directly mentioned, it is clear that Spider One is at least trying to allude to the responsibility and burden that horror filmmakers face when creating violent images. Unfortunately, this isn’t explored in much depth, and Big Baby quickly returns to lashing out at critics. 

After about forty minutes of this rant, Big Baby turns into a nonsensical, hack-em-up slasher. The villain design delivers what it promises and is genuinely eerie, and the practical effects for the kills are fun. However, everything moves so fast and doesn’t really make much sense to a point that is frustrating and disorienting.

Beyond that, the character development is so scant that many of these kills are rendered meaningless. A recognizable face, such as Chaz Bono (who produced the film alongside his mother Cher) or Catherine Corcoran (Terrifier), will show up only to bite the dust. And viewers will immediately ask, “Wait, who were they supposed to be in this story?” The answer is that they are merely ‌disposable cameos.

The only actor in the cast who gets a substantial role is the lead, Brandon Scott (Dead to Me). And for what it’s worth, he is actually pretty good. This is easily one of the most annoying characters in recent memory, but Scott makes everything feel at least somewhat emotionally grounded. Even Spider One’s spouse, Krsy Fox (seemingly his muse, much in the same way his brother uses Sheri Moon Zombie in every movie), doesn’t get much to do because of thin writing.

Is Big Baby worth watching?

To his credit, Spider One does try to make something out of Big Baby, but his latest outing is too annoying to join the ranks of New Nightmare, Scream, The Cabin in the Woods, and other meta-horror classics that have gained a cult following. You can see where this might have been something if only Spider One weren’t so much of a “big baby” himself, reined in some of his anger, and invested that energy into making something intelligent.

Big Baby is available on VOD beginning August 7.

Big Baby Review: Spider One’s Meta Horror Is Little More Than an Annoying Rant