Spider-Man 3is many things. It’s a movie that suffers from excess: an overlong runtime, too many villains, and a bunch of subplots fighting for attention. It pales in comparison toSam Raimi’s first two installments featuringTobey Maguire’s Peter Parker. But the one thing you may’t say aboutSpider-Man 3is that it’s scary…which is surprising, given that the Venom symbiote is a major part of the plot, andVenom is one of the most terrifying foes in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery.With his soulless white eyes, fanged grin, and massive tongue, he’s a figure that seems primed for the horror treatment…yet neitherTopher GracenorTom Hardyhas tapped into the horror aspect of Venom. It turns out thatSpider-Man 3almost had a terrifying twist concerning Venom.
Eddie Brock’s Bond With the Symbiote Took a Disturbing Turn in ‘Spider-Man 3’s Original Vision
In the final act ofSpider-Man 3, Spidey battles Venom and the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) with an assist from his friend Harry Osborn (James Franco). Spidey is finally able to beat Venom by utilizing a series of metal rods to generate intense sounds, weakening the symbiote and pulling Eddie free from its grasp…but Eddie leaps back into the symbiote’s embrace while Peter throws a bomb at it, killing them both. Eddie’s death would take a far more disturbing turn inthe official novelization ofSpider-Man 3byPeter David, who wrote a scene where thesymbiote peels off Eddie’s body to reveal a skeleton, implying that it consumed his fleshin addition to having a psychic bond with him.
This fully leans into Venom’s horror elements. He often refers to himself as “we” in the comics; while that’s meant to be a reference to the bond Eddie Brock and the symbiote share, it sounds like Raimi intended to take that to its ultimate extent by having the symbiote swallow Eddie’s body.There’s even a prop skeletonfromSpider-Man 3, which bears Venom’s signature grin and facial shape. While Raimi would eventually shoot a different version of Venom’s death, that version does feature a brief nod to the novelization, asa brief glimpse of Eddie’s skeleton can be seen right before the pumpkin bomb vaporizes him and the symbiote.
Sam Raimi Should Have Brought His Horror Roots to ‘Spider-Man 3’
The shying away from Venom’s horror elements inSpider-Man 3is only jarring by the fact that Sam Raimiinserted horror elements for the villains in previous Spider-Man films. InSpider-Man,there’s a brief moment when Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) flatlines after testing the performance enhancer that transforms him into the Green Goblin; it makes it all the more jarring whenhe jolts awake and kills his lab assistant. Raimi kept it up by placing a few well-crafted jump scares throughout the film, and combined with the permanent grin etched onto Osborn’s Green Goblin helmet, it’s a face that haunted many a nightmare for years. But no one expected Raimi to one-up it with a singular scene inSpider-Man 2.
That scene has Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) in an operating theater when his mechanical arms come to life andattack the surgeons who are trying to help him. The sheer horror of the surgeons screaming as they’re dragged off into the shadows is chilling; Raimi tops it off by throwing in a shoutout toArmy of Darkness,where one lone surgeon attempts to use a chainsaw against Octavius’ arms. Needless to say, he’s not Bruce Campbell, so he’s dragged off.
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It begs the question:Why couldn’t Venom be afforded the same treatment?The attempts to make Venom scary inSpider-Man 3fall a little flat; his jumping at the screen once Eddie Brock and the Symbiote are bonded falls flat since it was in every trailer forSpider-Man 3.The biggest letdown is Venom’s appearance in the finale.The utterly horrifying visage from the comics only appears in a few scenes; the rest of the time, it’s peeled away to reveal Eddie Brock’s face. While Topher Grace is a good actor, he’s rarely been terrifying—and his head being on Venom’s muscular body was the source of ridicule. Raimi should have gone with his original idea; not only was it in his wheelhouse, but it’s a reminderthat Venom is one of the most horrifying foes Spider-Man’s ever fought.
Spider-Man 3
A strange black entity from another world bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge.
