Kingdom of the Spiders *** (1977, William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling, Woody Strode) – Classic Movie Review 9568

‘A living, crawling, hell on Earth!’

Director John ‘Bud’ Cardos’s 1977 nature on the rampage movie Kingdom of the Spiders stars William Shatner as vet Dr Rack Hansen, who, along with helpful entomologist Diane Ashley (Tiffany Bolling), is somewhat surprised to find out that his Arizona town is being invaded by giant killer tarantulas.

There is a lot of fun to be had from this tacky but surprisingly entertaining Seventies horror thriller, defying its standard plot and familiar script with enthusiastic performances, energetic handling and okay effects.

Costing only $500,000, it slots nicely into the nature strikes back, low-budget quasi-exploitation quickie category, and, thanks in part to Shatner starring, it may be even a fondly remembered small cult film.

Also in the cast are Lieux Dressler, David McLean, Natasha Ryan, Altovise Davis, Joe Ross, Marcy Lafferty, Adele Malis, Roy Engel, Hoke Howell, Bill Coontz, Whitey Hughes, Jay Lawrence and Bettie Bolling.

It was filmed in various locations in Arizona in March 1977.

Bill Coontz and Whitey Hughes also did the stunts.

The venom of most tarantulas is not dangerous to humans, unless allergic to the venom, and the worst the actors suffered while handling the tarantulas was bad itching.

We’ve had birds (The Birds), alligators (Alligator), spiders (Tarantula). sharks (Jaws), rats (Willard), snakes (Venom), rabbits (Night of the Lepus), bears (Prophecy) bees (The Swarm) and frogs (Frogs) (1972) in the nature strikes back category. One again, Hitchcock was a pioneer with The Birds.

Kingdom of the Spiders is directed by John ‘Bud’ Cardos, runs 97 minutes, is made by Arachnid Productions, is released by Dimension Pictures (1977) (US) and Enterprises Pictures (1978) (UK), is written by Alan Caillou and Richard Robinson, from an original story by Jeffrey M Sneller and Stephen Lodge, is shot by John Arthur Morrill, is produced by Igo Kantor and Jeffrey M Sneller, and is scored by Dorsey Burnette and Igo Kantor (music supervisor), with Film Editing by Igo Kantor and Steven Zaillian.

RIP Igo Kantor, Producer and Post-Production Executive, who died on October 15 2019 at age 89. He headed post-production on Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens. He also produced Mutant.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9568

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