Sunday, November 5, 2023

Sven- Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)

In the remote Valley Verde of Arizona, tarantulas begin cooperating with each other to eat bigger food.  Somehow, they increase the power of their venom as well.  Rack, the local scientist calls in a specialist.  She explains all this to the locals, but they can't believe spiders would be able to do organize like that.  Soon the spiders begin attacking the pesky humans in their way.  Eventually the arachnids corner the heroes in a house, but fail to kill them.  The next morning, Rack looks out the window and sees that the entire valley is covered in silk.  The end.

There was a raft of nature goes crazy movies in the mid-70s.  Bees, frogs, mammals, ants and more all attacked humans for no reason.  I am talking about normal sized animals, not the giant ones.  Anyone who knows anything about tarantulas knows how ridiculous this movie is overall.  Sure, they are creepy looking, but their poison is only deadly if you are allergic.  They also don't spin silk into webs like their smaller cousins.  And what is up with the movie?  What happens after that?

Also, the 89 minute running time was not helped by all the Sven shenanigans.  Shatner is quite good in it, though acting like a ladies man doesn't help the character look good.  That was toned down later in the movie.

Next- Munster, Go Home!

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