The Spider Within: First Info on the Creepy Spider-Verse Short Film

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" gets some support: At the Annecy animation festival in France, the short film "The Spider Within" has now been presented - and it's apparently way creepier than the main movie series.

The Sony film is about Miles Morales, who suffers from anxiety because of his life as Spider-Man - and goes on a trippy ride through his subconscious. A first image already shows that the short film remains faithful to the look of the original.

Director Jarelle Dampier is part of Sony's talent development program LENS. Based on his own experience with sleep paralysis, he wanted to tell a Spider-Man story that, unlike other stories, focuses more on horror. With this genre, he said, it would be possible to appeal very well to a young audience, because they would sympathize strongly with their beloved character.

In addition, it is very relatable that Miles has to struggle with such problems due to his experiences - even if something like that normally has no place in big blockbuster movies. The director himself was surprised that the unusual idea met with a lot of approval - especially the Spider-Verse producers and writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller were immediately thrilled to further explore Miles' abysses.

How "The Spider Within" is to be classified chronologically in relation to the feature films is something Dampier is still keeping under wraps. There might be some Eastereggs to discover, though. It is not yet clear where exactly the movie will be released. However, we can well imagine a double feature with "Beyond the Spider-Verse" - which opens in cinemas on March 29, 2024. It could also be possible that "The Spider Within" will be included as a bonus in the home cinema release of "Across the Spider-Verse". We will keep you up to date either way!