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With: William Shatner, Woody Strode, Tiffany Bolling, Lieux Dressler, David McLean, Natasha Ryan, Altovise Davis, Joe Ross, Roy Engel, Hoke Howell
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Written by: Richard Robinson, Alan Caillou, based on a story by Jeffrey M. Sneller, Stephen Lodge
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Directed by: John 'Bud' Cardos
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MPAA Rating: PG
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Running Time: 97
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Date: 08/24/1977
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Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)
Crawlie Maybe
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
William Shatner stars as "Rack" Hansen (a weird nickname I could never get used to), a veterinarian in rural Arizona. He gets a call from rancher Walter Colby (the legendary Woody Strode) about a sick prized calf. Soon the cow dies by ultra-potent spider bites. Spider specialist Diane Ashley (Tiffany Bolling) teams up with Rack to save the town from the rampaging spiders. Apparently 5000 real spiders were used as well as many more fake ones. The movie mostly stays at ground level, never becoming too absurd, and the actors seem game, so it actually comes together. (It's less campy than you might think.) Shatner's real-life wife at the time, Marcy Lafferty, plays Rack's widowed sister-in-law. Kino Lorber's 2024 Blu-ray release comes with not one, not two, but three commentary tracks! There's one by author and film historian Lee Gambin; one with director John "Bud" Cardos, producer Igo Kantor, spider wrangler Jim Brockett, and cinematographer John Morrill (moderated by Lee Christian and Scott Spiegel); and one with Kantor and Bolling (moderated by Marc Edward Heuck). We also get interviews with Bolling and writer Steve Lodge, a radio spot, and trailers.
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