Kingdom of the Spiders (1977) starring William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling, Woody Strode
In Kingdom of the Spiders, William Shatner stars as a veterinarian. He’s puzzled by the deaths of farm animals when he discovers colonies of deadly tarantulas surrounding a rural community.
Review
I do enjoy a good cheesy monster movie. And Kingdom of the Spiders is an enjoyable monster movie. Admittedly, with a silly premise. but that’s never stopped a good monster movie before! When tarantula’s go wild …
Thoughts
- Oh, the evils of DDT! Causing millions of tarantulas to attack everything in sight. Including people …
- And, they’re intelligent enough to know to stow on board the crop duster’s airplane. To kill him before he can spray the valley with insecticides.
- All airplanes are Pintos, apparently. And, he crashes into a gas station as well.
- A lady shoots off her fingers because a tarantula is on her hand?!?
- The tarantulas are smart enough to clog the air conditioning vents with their bodies?
- They really don’t want Rack to replace the fuses …. Breaking through a window?!?
Cast
- William Shatner (Star Trek; TOS; Star Trek II) as Rack Hansen. A veterinarian in rural Arizona. He starts looking into the illness and death of cattle. Caused by …. Tarantulas! Lots of tarantulas. That are vicious, nasty, and intelligent … Somehow.
- Natasha Ryan as Linda Hansen. Rack’s sister-in-law. She and Rack are both mourning the death of his brother. She has here eyes set on Rack for romantic reasons, but he’s not interested.
- Marcy Lafferty (The Day Time Ended) as Terry Hansen. Rack’s niece. Rescued by Rack from the spiders.
- Tiffany Bolling as Diane Ashley. Spider specialist brought in, to look at the spider venom. She and Rack start off on the wrong foot. After Rack plays a prank on her. 🙂 But, they eventually fall in love, of course.
- Woody Strode (Bride of the Gorilla) as Walter Colby. The farmer, who begins the story with his sickly cattle. He later found a huge spider hill on a section of his farm. Still later killed by the tarantulas.
- Altovise Davis as Birch Colby. Walter’s wife …. She literally shoots off her own fingers, to kill a tarantula. She’s killed by the spiders.
- Lieux Dressler as Emma Washburn. Lady who runs the lodge, where the survivors take refuge.
- David McLean as Sheriff Gene Smith. A nice, competent police officer …. Who’s eventually killed by the spiders.
- Roy Engel as Mayor Connors. Stereotypical small town politician, who can’t let things ruin the county fair. Reminds me of Jaws.
Editorial review of Kingdom of the Spiders courtesy of Amazon
Television legend William Shatner (TV’s Star Trek, T.J. Hooker and Boston Legal) stars as vet “Rack” Hansen in this cult classic about an Arizona town infested with a horde of arachnids that turn on the humans. After livestock belonging to Rack’s friend Walter Colby (Woody Strode, The Italian Connection. The Ravagers, The Professionals) Fall victim to a spider attack, entomologist Diane Ashley (Tiffany Bolling, Wild Party) arrives and tries to help Rack deal with the crisis. But with the big county fast approaching, Mayor Connors (Roy Engel, The Man from Planet X) refuses to let them quarantine the Colby’s ranch. Soon the remaining residents of the town must barricade themselves to stave off the eight-legged invaders in the ultimate man vs. arachnid showdown! Directed by cult filmmaker Roy ‘Bud’ Cardos (The Dark, Mutant, Outlaw of Gor).
