Kingdom of the Spiders - Kino Cult

If you dig through the vast array of reviews I’ve written for HDD, it shouldn’t be a surprise that I have a love for creature feature schlock. Growing up these films were my weekend TV bread and butter. If I couldn’t see one of the random slasher films of the era, flicks like Grizzly or The Swarm were bound to be on. Kingdom of the Spiders was just one such show to grace my parent's old 12-inch Sony screen. Like many of its man vs nature brethren, this film certainly can be viewed as a post-Jaws knockoff with another deadly critter causing untold havoc for an isolated community. But that would be too dismissive losing sight of the trademark Shatner charm and some damned creepy critter kills. 

For this particular shiny hunk of cult classic junk, we find ourselves in the working-class hamlet of Verde Valley, Arizona. A small farming community, everyone is getting ready for the big county fair and the influx of tourist dollars the event will bring in. But when old man Colby (Woody Strode) finds his guaranteed prize-winning calf near death, veterinarian Robert “Rack” Hanson (Shatner) is called in. Unable to save the beast and clueless as to what brought her down, University expert Diane Ashley (Tiffany Boling) discovers a massive quantity of spider venom was the culprit. But it would take dozens of spiders to take down a cow, hundreds even! If those spiders are that hungry, when the livestock is gone, the eight-legged beasts will look for other sources of food! 

I fully acknowledge Kingdom of the Spiders isn’t a great movie, but I'm very entertained by it. While obviously taking place on land, Director John Cardos follows the Jaws playbook pretty closely. We have a local authority figure in over his head. We have a mayor only worried about the big summer events and tourists. We have our young expert brought in during the second act and we have a steady increase of creature-caused mayhem right through to a thrilling finale. Sure, there are flourishes of originality in there. Obviously, Jaws didn’t have Roy Scheider romancing Richard Dryfus (although in the book that was left to Mrs. Brody in a very long awkward passage), but otherwise, it’s a pretty simple rinse, wash, repeat setup.

What I enjoy the hell out of this film is that it doesn’t take itself seriously but it's not played up for yuks either. It has a great sense of humor but the cast never tips into camp. Shatner and the rest of the main team are straight arrows doing everything they can to sell the horror of a deadly spider invasion. When our arachnids start establishing their titular kingdom in the last act, the film goes straight horror and it’s pretty damn creepy. I'm not an arachnaphobe, I had tarantulas as pets, but I know people who would be deathly terrified by this film (if they let me show it to them). By the end, the film has almost turned into Night of the Living Dead trading zombies for killer spiders. 

The 1970s weren’t an easy time for William Shatner, he was in some notable stinkers between tours on Star Trek, but alongside flicks like Devil’s Rain, Kingdom of the Spiders is one of his better outings. While his interplay with Tiffany Boling may reak of that ‘70s-style overt sexism, they’re at least on equal footing when it counts. Woody Strode might not get to do much, he’d slowed down a lot from his peak years but he does what he can to ground the story. But if I have to clap for a particular cast member I’m going to give it up for the five thousand tarantulas caught for this production! Eating up ten percent of the film’s budget, they’re the true stars of the film giving us one hell of a terrifying final shot. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

Kino Cult recruits Kingdom of the Spiders as its 14th title. A single-disc Blu-ray, the film is pressed on a Region A BD-50 Disc. The disc is housed in a standard case with alternate insert art with a slipcover - each piece of artwork recreates a different poster. The disc loads to a standard main menu with traditional navigation options. Before getting to the main menu, the disc offers up a nice dedication to Author/Critic Lee Gambin.

This isn’t the first time Kingdom of the Spiders attacked Blu-ray. Back in 2017 Code Red first issued the film through Ronin Flix with a very pleasing 1.78:1 transfer. This 1.85:1 transfer is a bit different. Sometimes the difference is simply the slight loss of image information at the top and bottom of the screen, others look reframed and tighter shifting the image to the left or right. This transfer also has slightly tweaked color timing. A little less saturated, colors look a little lighter, a little more accurate for the location, and a little less yellow in the mix. Then there are times when the Code Red disc is a bit darker and more appealing, like when Rack and the Sherrif find Colby’s body. That scene looks too bright on the Kino Cult disc. But then there are some scenes that look better with this KLSC disc. Others look spot-on identical. 

Finding a consensus of which is actually a better transfer isn’t easy. Fine details, lines, and textures are on par between discs. This disc has a higher bitrate average, but I didn’t spot any real advantage there. Film grain has a nice cinematic texture without appearing too noisy or intrusive. Overall this is a good transfer, certainly different than what we had before. If you put a spider to my neck and told me to pick which was better, I’d say the Code Red, but it’s a very narrow advantage. In either case, I wouldn’t have said no to a 4K release sourced from new scans.

Audio sounds to be the same DTS-HD MA 2.0 track enjoyed by the Code Red disc. During all of the disc flippies, I was also paying attention to pitch and dialog clarity and I didn’t hear any differences. Dialog is clean throughout. The only issue is the occasional folksy mumble-mouthing some of the actors chose to stick to, but that’s always been that way. Sound effects are well-appointed, especially when the big spider carnage hits. The airplane sequence is a great highluight. The creepy stock music works well for this show. 

On the bonus features side, we have what amounts to most of the Code Red extras with a new commentary from Kino. And that new commentary is a special one, featuring Author and Critic Lee Gambin who suddenly passed away earlier this year. It’s nice that Kino was able to secure his talents for this release as he certainly brings his unique insights for a lively track. The two carryover commentaries are excellent worthwhile listens if you haven’t gone through them already. Of the Code Red extras, the only one missing is the brief segment with the Spider Wrangler Jim Brockett, but in all honesty, I thought he was better served in the commentary track (which is here). 

• NEW Audio Commentary featuring Lee Gambin
• Audio Commentary featuring John “Bud” Cardos, Igo Kantor, Jim Brockett and John Morrill - moderated by Lee Christian and Scott Spiegel
• Audio Commentary featuring Igo Kantor and Tiffany Bolling - moderated by Marc Edward Heuck
• Interview with Tiffany Bolling (HD 9:09) 
• Interview with Steve Lodge (SD 4:41)
• Radio Spot
• Trailer
• Trailer Gallery:
• Empire of the Ants Trailer
• Food of the Gods Trailer
• Frogs Trailer
• Squirm Trailer
• Sugar Hill Trailer

Kingdom of the Spiders is schlocky creature feature mayhem at its finest. It may be easily dismissed as just another rote “man vs nature” monster movie but this one is genuinely pretty good. It’s got Shatner, it’s got spiders, it’s got an infectious fun energy deftly playing with humor and horror. It also sticks the landing for one hell of an ending! On Blu-ray from Kino Cult, this disc is a solid release. Perhaps not enough of an improvement to those who already owned the past disc from Code Red, but if you’re a first-timer this is a good pickup. I love the attention given to all of the artwork options, but that Lee Gambin commentary is certainly a highlight. Recommended