Verdict
Summary
If you ignore the fact that tarantulas generally don’t kill people or even attack them very often, then Kingdom of the Spiders at least looks, sounds, and behaves like a proper creatures run amok movie, and with Shatner and his costars acting appropriately and jumping around the skittering little monsters, the film is pretty good for what it is.
Plot:
Killer spiders are terrorizing a small farming community.
Review:
A rancher’s cow keels over dead, and the rancher (played by Woody Strode) thinks it might be the plague and that his entire herd might need to be exterminated, which would ruin his livelihood and destroy his life. The local vet – Rack Hansen (William Shatner) – takes a blood sample and sends it off to be tested. Meanwhile, more bad things are happening: The rancher’s beloved dog is found dead, and a local pilot crashes his plane … when his cockpit is overrun with spiders! An attractive doctor from out of town comes to warn Rack, whose blood samples reveal that the cow died of spider venom, and she comes just in time to witness the entire town undergoing a full-scale attack from the creepy crawly arachnids (tarantulas) who fall from holes in the ceiling, infest playgrounds, and completely swarm the streets while the town is having their annual harvest festival! Rack does his best to step up and take charge of an out-of-control situation, but there’s just too many of them!
If you ignore the fact that tarantulas generally don’t kill people or even attack them very often, then Kingdom of the Spiders at least looks, sounds, and behaves like a proper creatures run amok movie, and with Shatner and his costars acting appropriately and jumping around the skittering little monsters, the film is pretty good for what it is. John Bud Cardos did a solid job with a basic plot and concept, wrangling hundreds upon hundreds of big hairy spiders all over the place, and the film was scored with library music from various sources, including some Twilight Zone episodes composed by Jerry Goldsmith. This film treats itself very seriously and without any camp, so it’s effective for the most part, and fans of these types of creature features will definitely get what they came for.
Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray edition of Kingdom of the Spiders is presented in a nice high definition transfer, and the title comes as part of their “Kino Cult” label (#14 on the spine). Special features include a new audio commentary by the late Lee Gambin, plus another two commentaries by the director and various cast and crew members, an interview with lead actress Tiffany Bolling, an interview with the writer, the trailer, a reversible sleeve, and a slipcover.
