L'Horrible Invasion

Even the most avid fans of 70's kitsch-cinema will have difficulties defending this "Kingdom of the Spiders", as it basically is rubbish from start to finish! Immensely entertaining rubbish, though, with lousy but unscrupulous plotting and over-the-top action sequences that'll keep you amused unconditionally! Charismatic actor and professional cool dude William Shatner stars as the veterinarian of a little Arizona town that developed a BIG spider problem on short notice! Tarantulas have suddenly altered all their natural instincts and they're turning against the yummy cattle and – of course – the unknowing inhabitants of the little town. The female scientist Diane Ashley explains that this is due to the destroying of their normal food sources with pesticides etc, but it's too late... The extremely venomous spiders eat their way the town and really nothing can extinguish them! "Kingdom of the Spiders" actually is so damn entertaining because of its ineptness! The screenplay doesn't even bother to drag in theories about genetic mutation or military experiments gone wrong, like it usually is the case in this type of creature-features. The spiders are just furious at humans and eat them...period! Although very low-budgeted, some sequences are well-mounted and quite suspenseful. Especially the obligatory mass-hysteria scene in which the poor villagers get overrun by millions and millions of tarantulas is a fine example of trash-cinema. Director John "Bud" Cardos, previously an actor is dreadful drive-in horror movies himself, clearly had great fun making this good old-fashioned "Don't-mess-with-Mother-Nature" flick, so why shouldn't you! His enthusiasm even was so big he threw in a hilariously inappropriate country & western soundtrack! That's fabulous!!

"Kingdom of the Spiders" has earned a bit of notoriety in the 20+ years since its release, mainly because it features Captain Kitsch himself, William Shatner. However, this is actually a decent, watchable (though somewhat intense) horror film.

"KOTS" was one of the numerous "nature on the rampage" films that (pardon the pun) swarmed into theaters in the mid to late 1970s, riding the successful crest of Steven Spielberg's "Jaws". It seems to draw inspiration not only from that film (in that it is set in a small town that relies on a summer festival to survive), but also "The Birds" (an antagonistic romance between the two leads, a small town turned into utter chaos) and even "Night of the Living Dead" (the main characters ultimately wind up barricading themselves in a house to survive the onslaught).

The plot is typical: Shatner plays a veterinarian in a small Arizona town who is baffled by the sudden death of a seemingly healthy calf. When he asks for help from a university, they send an entomologist, played by Bolling, who informs Shatner that the animal died from a massive dose of spider venom. Sure enough, an investigation uncovers a massive "spider hill", a kind of giant ant hill inhabited by hundreds of tarantulas, in a local farmers' field, and many others are discovered later. Bolling theorizes that the normally solitary tarantulas have banded together to find food since farmers have killed their natural prey through overuse of insecticides. The hairy little devils show they have also become quite intelligent, as they carefully disrupt attempts to eradicate them, and ultimately invade the town.

Although the script is paper-thin at times, the special effects are well-done, giving the viewer a genuine "this could really happen!" feeling. Not recommended for those who suffer from real-life arachnophobia, but highly recommended for anyone looking for a good thriller.

Greetings from the other side. This is an awesome 70's B movie.

I first seen this movie when I was around 10 years old, and I thought it was freaky back then. You also get to watch William Shatner battle millions of spiders! Price of admission right there.

There was basically no budget, but they did very well with what they had. It is still very intertaining. Considering the lack of money your never bored for very long. It's becomes scene after scene of the spiders invading.

Chick making supper, and in come the spiders. Dude in a crop duster spraying poison on them, and in come the spiders!

I just finished watching it again, after around 40 years and it's not as freaky as when I was 10, but I still found it very watchable. Remember, it's a B movie, done with no money, and it's still better than almost everything coming out of Hollywood these days.

I first saw this movie at least 10 years ago. I remember telling my 6th grade class, when we studied spiders, all about it. The universal reply of teachers and friends: "that movie is called Arachnophobia... there is nothing about a Kingdom of Spiders in the title." 10 Years later i can finally look past the emotional trauma caused by that denouncing of my claim that there was indeed another movie, and laugh at them-- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! In any case... this movie unlike Arachnophobia is solely responsible for my fear of spiders. I remember finding a roll of duct tape after watching this film and sealing myself in my bedroom. Every crack filled, every window blocked then taped over-- i was absolutely sure the spiders were coming for me. The ending of the film resonates with me especially in a way that Arachnophobia never could. Leave it to a B movie to shy away from the neat little packaged Hollywood ending so popular today. BRAVA Kingdom of the Spiders! I give it an 8 out of 10 on the giving Tricia issues scale.

Because I am pretty damn well scared of spiders, this film really sh*t me up. The acting and the dialogue are pretty risible, but theres some good effects (for the budget) and there are some genuinely disturbing moments especially when a man goes up in a plane and there are dozens of huge spiders in the cockpit with him, and they crawl all over him, and he can't do anything, and one of them goes on his FACE and he starts to scream and its the most genuinely frightening scream that I have ever heard, and when spiders take over the town and there is panic everywhere. The shock ending is great as well, and pretty revolutionary for the time. This film is a little like Night Of The Living Dead, in that the characters end up boarded up in a farm house, with the enemies swarming outside. And they look out of the window..... Well, I guess you'll just have to watch the movie.