You Can Watch The Spider-Verse Short Film The Spider Within Right Here

Forget those new live-action "Spider-Man" movies (I said "new," you are free to remember the Sam Raimi films) — for my money, the best new Spidey-related material resides in the animated "Spider-Verse" films. They're bright, colorful, inventive, funny, and emotional movies (even if "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is only half a movie). Those films introduced us to Miles Morales, a teen who becomes Spider-Man in an alternate universe. While we're still waiting for the next full-length "Spider-Verse" film, "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse," we can get more of Miles via a new short film titled "The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story."

But this short film isn't your typical action-packed web-slinger story. It's instead a horror-tinged look at Miles' subconscious as he succumbs to the pressures of being Spider-Man. As our own Rafael Motamayor wrote in his review of the short film, "'The Spider Within' stands out by combining that theme with a love of horror and psychological thrillers, delivering a truly spooky short. Bright red hues illuminate Miles' room as a shadowy monster stalks him. Later, his anxiety takes the form of hundreds upon hundreds of spiders crawling all over him like he's Spiders-Man (an actual character from the comics), including one familiar spider crawling out of Miles' mouth." 

The full "The Spider Within" short film is now available to watch online (check it out above), thanks to a partnership with the Kevin Love Fund. Per the release, "Sony Pictures Animation has teamed up with the Kevin Love Fund to digitally release the animated short film, The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, that will be incorporated into the Kevin Love Fund's new mental health focused lesson plan, "The Hero Within." The lesson plan invites students to tell their own story through the lens of mental health awareness via an interactive curriculum including a creative storyboard activity. Visit kevinlovefund.org for additional information."

"The Spider Within" was "developed and produced in the inaugural year of Sony Pictures Animation (SPA) and Sony Pictures Imageworks' (SPI) Leading and Empowering New Storytellers (LENS) program," which is described as a "9-month leadership training program that provides candidates from underrepresented groups with an opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience in animation. The final deliverable of the program is an all-original short film, set in the existing world of a feature produced by SPA and SPI."

The LENS program is a "global, multi-pronged racial equity and inclusion strategy" with a goal to "provide creatives who have traditionally lacked access to leadership roles with a first-hand opportunity to deepen their understanding of every element of the animated filmmaking process including production design, animation, visual effects, lighting, sound, and various post-production processes. Through the program, participants strengthen their ability to effectively articulate their film's creative vision and collaborate across a variety of disciplines." 

The short film was directed by Jarelle Dampier, written by Khaila Amazan, and produced by LENS program creators Michelle Raimo-Kouyate and David Schulenburg. Clara Chan served as VFX supervisor, while Joe Darko served as animation supervisor.

In the genre-bending thriller The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, Miles Morales struggles to balance his responsibilities as a teenager, friend, and student while acting as Brooklyn's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. After a particularly challenging day living with these pressures, Miles experiences a panic attack that forces him to confront the manifestations of his anxiety and learn that reaching out for help can be just as brave an act as protecting his city from evil.