News

William Shatner says one of his toughest ever shoots was on the 1977 film 'Kingdom of the Spiders’ because he had to be covered in real tarantulas.The 93-year-old Hollywood legend starred as veterinarian Dr. Robert ‘Rack’ Hansen in the science-fiction horror flick set in rural Verde Valley, Arizona, overrun by killer tarantulas.Shatner's co-stars Woody Strode and Tiffany Bolling played local farmer Walter Colby and archaeologist Diane Ashley, respectively. Walter becomes frightened when his farm animals are killed by an unknown creature and after he and Hansen send off a sample to a university laboratory arachnologist Dr. Hansen arrives to inform Walter that his animals were killed by spider venom, much to the astonishment of everyone. The discovery of the killer spiders has fatal consequences for the town.To film the scenes with the tarantulas, director John 'Bud' Cardos did not use prop spiders and instead arranged for 5,000 live tarantulas...

The same year that he laid the groundwork for a horror revolution with Black Christmas, Bob Clark released Deathdream (also known as Dead of Night). The 1974 horror film is understandably overshadowed by his influential proto-slasher, but it was on Deathdream that the filmmaker honed his skills that would fuel his masterpiece of the genre: a brooding atmosphere, a calculated pace, a subtle score by Carl Zittrer that’s inseparable from the organic sound design, and even the use of a rocking chair to achieve unease.

Deathdream found Clark re-teaming with writer Alan Ormsby and several other cast and crew members from his 1972 film, Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things. While it suffers from minor pacing issues, Deathdream is significantly more well rounded. Jack McGowan’s cinematography is often flat (albeit an improvement over his work on Dead Things), but the budget – still limited but some five times larger than the...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Crimson Peak 4K Uhd from Arrow Video

Crimson Peak will haunt 4K Ultra HD on May 21 via Arrow Video. The 2015 Gothic horror/romance is presented in 4K with Dolby Vision, approved by director Guillermo del Toro, and original DTS:X Master Audio sound.

Del Toro co-wrote the script with frequent collaborator Matthew Robbins. Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver star with Doug Jones and Javier Botet appearing as ghosts.

The limited edition set comes with a double-sided poster, four double-sided postcards, and an 80-page book featuring writings by David Jenkins and Simon Abrams, an interview with del Toro, and conceptual illustrations by Guy Davis and Oscar Chichoni, all housed in...

Beyond Fest, the highest attended genre festival in the United States, is returning to Los Angeles for its tenth anniversary edition, which will be held from September 27th through October 11th. Beyond Fest screenings will be taking place at Hollywood Legion Theatre, Aero Theatre, Los Feliz 3, the legendary IMAX at the Tcl Chinese, and IMAX headquarters. All ticket sales will be going to the 501c3 non-profit film institution.

The full line-up for Beyond Fest 2022 has now been announced, including ten world premieres, three US premieres, and twenty-five west coast premieres. There will be two free screenings of Smile (which is getting a theatrical release on September 30th), a free screening of the Amazon release My Best Friend’s Exorcism, two screenings of Hulu’s Hellraiser reboot, 35mm screenings of The Devil’s Rain and Kingdom of the Spiders, the west coast premiere of V/H/S/99, and – on the closing night – the world premiere of Halloween Ends!

Features: Al Adamson, Ken Adamson, Stevee Ashlock, Ewing ‘Lucky’ Brown, John ‘Bud’ Cardos, Greydon Clark, Robert Dix, Guadalupe Garcia, Gary Graver, Marilyn Joi, Gary Kent, Samuel M. Sherman, Russ Tamblyn, Zandor Vorkov, Vilmos Zsigmond | Written and Directed by David Gregory

Documentaries chronicling cinemas past are nothing new, but it seems that since the debut of Best Worst Movie there has been something of a renaissance for documentaries focusing on the fringes of cinema, focusing on genre fare that had a cult following – films like Not Quiet Hollywood, You’re So Cool Brewster, Machete Maidens Unleashed, and Wolfman’s Got Nards. And thanks to the success of those films and the huge growth in crowd-funding, the documentary genre itself has boomed, with both filmmakers and fans making movies on their favourite subject and documentaries on “cult” subjects now regularly playing the festival circuit, and finding a home in film fans collections,...

Exploitation films have their mavericks, their patron saints and their bad boys: this well-researched and lovingly assembled shock-bio introduces us to a particularly talented persistent filmmaker whose sexed-up horror & action grindhouse non-epics proved commercially viable even into the video age. Then comes the Ghastly Death part, a cruelly undeserved finish for a movie guy liked and admired by his collaborators.

Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson

Blu-ray

Severin Films

2019 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date April 21, 2020 / available through the Severin Films / 24.00

Starring: Al Adamson, Samuel M. Sherman, John ‘Bud’ Cardos, Russ Tamblyn, Stevee Ashlock, Gary Graver, Fred Olen Ray, Vilmos Zsigmond, Zandor Vorkov, Chris Poggiali, Robert Dix, John Bloom.

Cinematography: Jim Kunz

Film Editors: Michael Capone, Mark Hartley

Original Music: Mark Raskin

Motion Graphics: Michael Etoll

Produced by Jack Bennett, David Gregory, Nicole Mikuzis, Heather Buckley

Directed by David Gregory

What makes lower-echelon exploitation producer-directors so interesting?...

After appearing in the satanic horror movie The Devil's Rain, William Shatner squared off against terrifying tarantulas in Kingdom of the Spiders. While Code Red previously released a limited edition Blu-ray of the 1977 horror movie, Kino Lorber is teaming up with Code Red to distribute another release of their Kingdom of the Spiders Blu-ray (with different cover art) this March.

You can view the cover art and official announcement from Kino Lorber below, and in case you missed it, read Scott Drebit's Drive-In Dust Offs column on Kingdom of the Spiders.

From Kino Lorber: "Coming March 26th From Code Red DVD!

Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)

• Audio commentary with director John 'Bud' Cardos, producer Igo Kantor and star Tiffany Bolling

• Interview with Tiffany Bolling

• Theatrical Trailer

(1977) Color 97 Minutes 1.85:1 Rated PG

Television legend William Shatner stars as vet "Rack" Hansen in this cult classic about an Arizona town infested with a...

Average fans of A Christmas Story likely don’t know that director Bob Clark had once made creepy horror pictures with Alan Ormsby, but this independent shock effort of the early ’70s still casts a spell of dread. Although Vietnam is never mentioned, the war’s shadow strikes deep into the heart of a small-town family. John Marley and Lynn Carlin lead a fine cast.

Deathdream

Blu-ray + DVD

Blue Underground

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 88 min. / Dead of Night, The

Night Andy Came Home, Night Walk, The Veteran, Whispers / Street Date November 28, 2017 /

Starring: John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus, Henderson Forsythe,

Anya Ormsby, Jane Daly, Michael Mazes.

Cinematography: Jack McGowan

Film Editor: Ronald Sinclair

Original Music: Carl Zittrer

Written by Alan Ormsby

Produced by Bob Clark, Peter James, John Trent

Directed by Bob Clark

This gem comes back every ten years in an improved transfer. Bob Clark and Alan Ormsby’s Canadian-financed...

We may only have several home entertainment releases for this Tuesday, but as the saying goes, “quality over quantity,” because this bunch of Blu-rays and DVDs are a stellar lot of films. One of my favorite horror films of 2017, Mark Duplass’ Creep 2, makes its way home on November 28th courtesy of The Orchard, and Scream Factory has given Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery the Collector’s Edition treatment (and deservedly so).

For you cult film fans, both Death Laid an Egg and Deathdream (aka Dead of Night) get the HD treatment this week, and other notable releases this Tuesday include M.F.A., Rememory, Super Dark Times, Woodshock, and Trailer Trauma 4: Television Trauma.

Creep 2 (The Orchard, DVD)

Sara, a video artist primarily focused on creating intimacy with lonely men, thinks she may have found the subject of her dreams after coming across a stranger’s online post.

Writer Lee Gambin calls them Natural Horror films, other writers call them Revenge of Nature or Nature Run Amok films and writer Charles Derry considers them a type of Apocalyptic Cinema.

Of course we’re speaking of one of the great horror subgenres for which we’ll employ writer Kim Newman’s tag: The Revolt of Nature.

Since the end of the 1990s, lovers of animal attack films have been subjected to copious amounts of uninspired Nu Image, Syfy Channel and Syfy Channel-like dreck like Silent Predators (1999), Maneater (2007) Croc (2007), Grizzly Rage (2007) and a stunning amount of terrible shark attack films to name a few that barely scratch the surface of a massive list.

These movies fail miserably to capture the intensity of the unforgettable films they are imitating and the recent wave seems to carry with it the intent of giving the Revolt of Nature horror film a bad name.

Because I saw the film when I was an impressionable young lad with an extremely overactive imagination and a propensity for vivid and relentless nightmares, the original “Kingdom of the Spiders” is one of the main reasons I’m terrified of spiders. That and “Arachnophobia”, a film that I feel is still seriously underrated. But, I digress. The boys and girls at Shock Till You Drop have posted the sales art for filmmaker John Cardos’ “Kingdom of the Spiders” remake from this year’s American Film Market. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea that such a thing existed, though my tiny little mind is reeling at the endless possibilities. All curious parties should direct their eyeballs to the embedded image resting below.

The 1977 cult classic Kingdom of the Spiders , directed by John Cardos, is getting a modern overhaul. And, of course, it will happen in 3D. (Honestly, I'm surprised they haven't remade Arachnophobia in 3D yet.) Screen Daily reports the UK-based Stealth Media Group will shepherd the project which tells of a town overrun by thousands of migrating tarantulas. Nuala Barton ( Homecoming ) and Rene Sheridan are set to produce. William Shatner starred in the original film, now available on DVD in a special edition.

William Shatner. Not since his iconic portrayal of Captain James Tiberius Kirk has he ever played as ridiculously masculine a character as he did in Kingdom of the Spiders. His character's name? "Rack" Hansen. That's right, "Rack" Friggin' Hansen, and he can take out your stupid eye and steal your woman with nothing more than a mere glance shot your way via his razor sharp animal magnetism!

Directed by John Bud Cardos and written by Richard Robinson and Alan Caillou, Kingdom of the Spiders was released in 1977, grossing a respectable $17 million against a $500,000 budget.

In celebration of the DVD's January 19th, 2010, release, Shout! Factory has assembled a video montage for the ages! Dig on it below!

Synopsis

William Shatner stars as veterinarian "Rack" Hansen in this cult film about an Arizona town infested with a horde of arachnids that turn on the humans whose insecticides have depleted their natural food supply.

And now, a "delicious" story from William Shatner... The actor appears in a new interview on Shout! Factory's Kingdom of the Spiders special edition (arriving on DVD January 19) and we've got an exclusive first look at an excerpt. Below, Shatner details a spider-filled take that was ultimately ruined. How? Scroll below and click on the player. . All New Interview with William Shatner . Audio commentary by Director John Bud Cardos, Producer Igor Kantor, spider wrangler . Jim Brockett and Cinematographer John Morrill, moderated by Hostel producer Scott Spiegel and Lee Christian . Jim Brockett: Spider Wrangler Featurette . Rare Behind the Scenes Footage . Poster Gallery William Shatner stars as veterinarian "Rack" Hansen in this cult film about an...

To some, nothing is scarier than spiders, unless you consider William Shatner’s career in the late 70’s (zing!). But there were a few exceptions and even Chris Pine can admit it’s pretty difficult to follow Shatner as James Tiberius Kirk. One film that Shatner did before throwing the maroon jumpsuit back on was a little film called Kingdom of the Spiders in which he takes down a legion of evil spiders.

Shatner played Dr Robert Hansen, who is sent to a small town after a serious of mysterious animal deaths, only to discover that it was only the beginning, and that an evil spider army was behind the whole thing. Finally, the film is making it’s way to DVD for all of us to relive, and we even have the original trailer for you to get excited for all over again.

Kingdom of Spiders was one of...

If you've never seen William Shatner's seminal portrayal of Rack Hansen in the 1977 film Kingdom of the Spiders, shame on you! However, come January, 2010, you'll be able to redeem yourself as Shout! Factory will be releasing a Special Edition Uncut version of the film on DVD.

The kind folks at Shout! Factory provided us with a list of what special features will be included, and I for one cannot wait to hear Item #1:

All new interview with William Shatner Audio commentary by director John Bud Cardos, producer Igor Kantor, spider wrangler Jim Brockett, and cinematographer John Morrill, moderated by Scott Spiegel and Lee Christian Jim Brockett: Spider Wrangler featurette Rare behind-the-scenes footage Poster gallery Original theatrical trailer

The film's synopsis is as follows: William Shatner stars as veterinarian "Rack" Hansen in this cult film about an Arizona town infested with a horde of arachnids that turn on...

On January 19, 2010, Shout! Factory will unleash the Kingdom of the Spiders Special Edition on DVD. That's right, the William Shatner-starring, nature-run-amok 1977 film by John Cardos. Featuring all-new anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film, this special edition DVD release contains the following: . All New Interview with William Shatner . Audio commentary by Director John Bud Cardos, Producer Igor Kantor, spider wrangler . Jim Brockett and Cinematographer John Morrill, moderated by Hostel producer Scott Spiegel and Lee Christian . Jim Brockett: Spider Wrangler Featurette . Rare Behind the Scenes Footage . Poster Gallery . Original Theatrical Trailer William Shatner stars as veterinarian "Rack" Hansen in this cult film about an Arizona town...