Low-budget special effects, a half-baked plot and corny dialog, are what those in attendance for the 2026 Milwaukee International Short Film Festival can expect from director Bill Rebane’s “The Giant Spider Invasion.” The film’s titular giant spider star was created by building a frame around a VW Bug, which was then stuffed with teenagers who operated the mechanical spider’s long legs. The film was released in 1975 and starred Alan Hale (The Skipper on Gilligan’s Island) and Barbara Hale (no relation; she starred in Perry Mason).
To celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary, Rebane edited a new cut of the movie, adding some scenes of a television reporter (played by Dan Davies) to tie in some narrative gaps together. The screening is part of the MKE International Short Film Festival, screening Friday, Sept. 11, at the Avalon Theater. Tickets are available now.
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Rebane, built his own studio on a farm outside of Gleason, Wisconsin he named “The Shooting Ranch.” A Latvian immigrant, he was living in Chicago and working in the film industry when he discovered northern Wisconsin on a fishing trip.
The Shooting Ranch’s facilities included recording studios, movie sets and a variety of outdoor areas to shoot scenes. After “The Giant Spider Invasion,” Rebane went on to create horror films like “The Capture of Bigfoot (1979),” “Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake (1981)” and “Blood Harvest (1987),” the latter a bizarre film that stars Tiny Tim as a killer clown. In addition to his personal studio, Rebane shot crowd scenes featuring locals as extras in the nearby towns of Gleason and Merril.
Rebane’s most well-known work remains his 1975 monster spider flick, which was featured on “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and still finds its way to midnight movie screenings and film fests.
“The campiness made it happen,” Rebane says of ongoing interest in the film, talking on the phone from where he now lives in Saxon, Wisconsin. “It’s an oddity and I myself was surprised.”
Specifically, he was surprised by Johnny Carson, who made a joke about the movie’s success on his late-night show live before Rebane’s eyes, noting how the low-budget feature had already pulled 24 million dollars at the box office.
“My wife turned to me and said, ‘when do we get paid?’” said Rebane, with the movie becoming one of the top grossing films of 1975.
A Q&A will be hosted by Radio Milwaukee’s John Adler following the screening, and the Milwaukee Independent Film Society, who organizes the fest, will present Rebane with a Pace-setter Award for his impact on Wisconsin film.
