Spider-Verse Short Film The Spider Within First Look Released

While Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is webbing up the box office, fans are getting another treat in the form of The Spider Within, a short film that has made first waves at France’s Annecy International Film Festival. The Spider Within will take Spider-Verse fans into the mind of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), as the pressures of being Spider-Man get the best of him, causing a panic attack. It’s reminiscent of a scene in the first film, Into the Spider-Verse, where Miles experiences an anxiety attack in school, after first gaining his spider powers. Like that first scene, this new animated short will give Spider-Verse fans a horror-themed and visually-captivating look at what teen angst is about. 

The Spider Within is directed by Jarelle Dampier, a talent selected through Sony Pictures Imageworks’ LENS (Leading and Empowering New Storytellers) program. Dampier sat down with The Wrap to talk about the Spider-Verse short, the challenge of making it, and the challenge of even getting it made. 

“My favorite genre is horror,” Jarelle Dampier told The Wrap. “I think it’s the perfect envelope to give great messages out, especially to younger audiences, and I think it’s something that we’ve kind of shied away from for a long time. But I think if you take a character that kids really love and you put that character in a thrilling situation, I think they get a lot out of it. I say kids, but really I’m talking about all of us. I’m talking about the kid inside of us, you know what I mean? The ability to use something scary with something we love, I think that’s the combination to landing the points, sticking the landing in the film.”

Dampier also described how adding horror overtones to The Spider Within didn’t get any resistance from Sony – even impressing franchise producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord (The LEGO movie): 

“There was a screening for Phil [Lord] and Chris [Miller, writers and producers of the franchise] and they loved it. Prior to that, I had not worked with Phil and Chris, but I just heard that they might not love a lot of things that they see right off the bat. So the fact that they loved the short, it was flattering. It was an honor for me,” Dampier said. “Even when they gave me notes, they were very like, ‘You don’t have to do these notes, but if you’d like to, here’s our thoughts.’ They were amazing notes. Yeah, I don’t know. I was just so fortunate. But there was never a moment where anyone strongly disagreed with the short or thought that it should change at a fundamental level, and that’s what I loved. I feel like that vision remained the same.

How Does The Spider Within Connect to the Spider-Verse Movies?

As for how The Spider Within connects to the Spider-Verse movies? Dampier was a bit vague on confirming whether or not the short film is a prequel to the events of Across the Spider-Verse: 

“That’s an interesting theory. I will say that I would love to be able to answer that question, but I think I want to wait a little bit. I will say that there are several Easter eggs inside of the short.”

When & Where Can You Watch The Spider Within? 

The Spider Within doesn’t yet have a release date – nor do we know what kind of platform it will be released on (theatrical, streaming, etc.). Not even Dampier could say for sure what the plan is: “I don’t know yet, officially. I don’t know, really. I’m excited about the possibilities, and I know that there are some things being talked about, but I know about as much as you know.”

If you want to know more about The Spider Within and the real-life experiences of Jarelle Dampier that inspired it, head to The Wrap. 

For Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse check out our coverage page.