"The Appointment in Samarra" from "Targets" with Boris Karloff - (1968)

In his last film, “Targets”, Boris Karloff gives a chilling rendition of the classic story about Death by Somerset Maugham. It was later used by John O’Hara to pen his 1934 novel “The Appointment in Sammara.”

“DEATH SPEAKS" by Somerset Maugham

There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, “Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and find my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me.”

The Merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop, he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, “Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?”

“That was not a threatening gesture”, I said, “it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

The Front Porch Spider and Her Kid

I was coming in from getting the mail when I noticed that Sue had left up a portion of last year’s Halloween decorations; which ticked me off on two counts. First of all; I like Halloween, but don’t go in much for all the decorations. Secondly; I was mad at myself for not having noticed sooner than 10 months, making us look like the hillbillies of the block. Hell, why not leave the Christmas lights up this year? Then it moved.

Looking at the thing more closely revealed a real spider web; perfect in construction; with a long thick and curly strand running through it from top to bottom. And, to my surprise, in the center there was a baby spider; or spiderette as I suppose you’d call it; and it was hanging out with Mom and doing what baby spiders do best, which is very unclear to me.

At any rate, this discovery poses an ethical question for me; what do I do about this behemoth of an eight legged, land locked octopus and her kid? One quick swipe with a broom and they’d be gone, but what for? They don’t pose any danger to me, and I don’t have a fear of them unless it’s in a plane which suddenly becomes filled with them crawling out of every crevice. They made a movie like that; I didn't see it.

Well, I suppose for now I’ll just keep my eye on the situation. Who knows, she may just decide to hang around until Halloween when she’ll be in style. It's one less window to decorate...

Now, here's the Rolling Stones  performing "The Spider and the Fly" in the studio. Best version ever.