Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)

Directed by John “Bud” Cardos. Starring William Shatner, Tiffany Boling, Lieux Dressler, David McLean, Woody Strode, Altovise Davis, Natasha Ryan, Joe Ross, Adele Malis-Morey, Roy Engel. [PG]

Rural Arizona veterinarian Shatner, entomologist Boling, and various locals are terrorized by lethally venomous tarantulas. Mindless drive-in fodder in the “Man vs. Nature” tradition, sluggish in the first half and too indifferently directed to build suspense or devise a satisfying set piece for these eight-legged freaks to really put the scare in the audience (unless the audience is already terrified of spiders, in which case, why watch in the first place?). More folksy “color” and repetitive scenic shots of the Arizona desert than plot or character definition, and Shatner is in a restrained mood most of the way, so it’s pretty mild in terms of camp/cheese. This paper-thin warm-up for the superior spider-attack thriller Arachnophobia is no better than middle-of-the-road in the spectrum of swarming killer bug pictures. I thought the tarantulas were kinda cute, though, so if you’re more inclined to find them creepy than lovable, you may feel different. Warning to those who like arachnids: it’s very clear that numerous tarantulas were killed for real during the shoot.

42/100