Kingdom of the Spiders

"Kingdom of the Spiders" (1977) is a film that apparently has critics split fairly down the middle. The Maltin book gives it 3 stars, the "Time Out Film Guide" deems it a "must to avoid," and my beloved "Psychotronic Encyclopedia" says it's "better than you'd expect." And me? I enjoyed it, and found it a nice surprise. In this one, everyone's favorite space-truckin' blowhard, a post-Kirk/pre-Hooker William Shatner, plays a veterinarian in the peaceful little town of Verde Valley, AZ. This town is soon overrun by about a kajillion hairy tarantulas seeking greener pastures after indiscriminate pesticide use cuts off their food supply. Yummy Tiffany Bolling, playing a university entomologist, joins Shat, and is amazed to learn that these critters are not only teaming up, but have quintuple the venom power of your average garden-variety tarantula... Anyway, this film delivers some real suspense, especially toward the end, when Tiff and Shat are holed up in a deserted hotel defending themselves from a legion of the eight-legged nasties. The "Psychotronic" reports that 5,000 live tarantulas were used in the making of this film, and most of them seem to be right up there on screen. This picture is nothing great, truth to tell, but is very likable, well put together, and features some good cinematography and fine support from the great Woody Strode and the (then) real-life Mrs. Shatner, playing Bill's sister-in-law. Shat himself is not nearly as hammy as you might expect (he CAN be very effective at times), and Bolling's character is pretty darn cool, only becoming unhinged toward the end. My only problem: The downbeat ending comes a bit too abruptly for me. My suggestion: Pair this one with "Tremors" (1990) one evening for a fun "nasty critters in the desert" double feature!