1970s Sci-Fi Horror Nightmare Is William Shatners Greatest Role Ever
Television and Film icon William Shatner has faced a number of foes on screen over the last 50 years. But no matter how intense his rivalry with alien races was on Star Trek: The Original Series or how much heat was applied to his yelling matches on Boston Legal, Shatner never had to combat enemies like the hairy, eight-legged ones in Kingdom of the Spiders. The 1977 film is not only the greatest spider movie ever, but it also shows Shatner giving his cinematic best.
William Shatner In Kingdom Of The Spiders
Kingdom of the Spiders was made in a world between the giant spider films of the 1950s (Tarantula, Earth vs. the Spider) and the more modern entries of Arachnophobia and Infestation that give all of us the feeling like something is crawling on us. Rather than terrify audiences with one giant arachnid, the film supposes the horror that would ensue if a seemingly infinite army of regular-sized tarantulas turned away from their normal prey and focused on devouring people. Of course, even though the people in the film are victims of their new-found predators, the film sets up a plot device that makes the human characters victims of their own dismissal of the environment.
Shatner Is A Veterinarian That Stumbles Across A Mystery
Kingdom of the Spiders opens with veterinarian Rack Hanson (played by Shatner) taking blood samples from a sick calf. After the calf dies, Diane, an arachnologist, visits the little desert community and tells Rack that a lethal dose of spider venom killed the calf. After visiting the farm and discovering a giant dirt mound full of tarantulas, Diane theorizes that the spiders in the area are converging due to pesticides eradicating their habitat and natural prey.
Kingdom of the Spiders takes a darker turn when these hairy little creatures begin to attack the townsfolk. A crop duster tasked with spraying pesticides on the growing number of spider mounds becomes covered by the arachnids in his cockpit, the bites causing him to crash his plane. With more attacks on people being recorded, Rack and Diane try to talk the town’s mayor into canceling the upcoming county fair, but to no avail.
Attack Of The Tarantulas
The spiders continue to grow in population, with levels of lethalness and aggression matching their numbers. With their natural predators disappearing, the spiders are able to slowly surround the town until their sheer numbers lead to them making an outright invasion of the community so they can feed. Kingdom of the Spiders sees several of the survivors holding up in a cabin before the reality of the spiders’ behavior sinks in and forces them to deal with their fate.
Ingenious Crew Behind The Scenes
William Shatner’s onscreen prowess was certainly a high point of the film; his ability to deliver non-dramatic lines in a dramatic fashion helped to make the so-so dialogue listenable. In spite of a weak screenplay, Kingdom of the Spiders had a terrific plotline and probably one of the most innovative film crews of the era. More than 5,000 live tarantulas were imported from Mexico, and each was kept separate so they would not cannibalize each other.
Tarantulas are naturally shy around humans, so the film crew used nearly invisible tubes to blow air toward the spiders to get them to move. This made them appear more menacing on screen.
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REVIEW SCORE
The use of real spiders to cover every imaginable body part of the actors is a vision to behold. One scene involved Shatner covered in the little beasts, a memory from my childhood I’d soon forget. Though Kingdom of the Spiders has its faults as a film, the use of real tarantulas, the progressive ecological message behind its plot, and its stomach-dropping ending make it a film that is well deserving of 3.5/5.0 stars.
You can view Kingdom of the Spiders for free by streaming it on Tubi.
