Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

No, really, I absolutely hate spiders, all species, and think they should all be killed immediately with flamethrowers.

Based on that, you'd wonder why I sat up late one night and watched this film. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess. The film stars William Shatner and Tiffany Bolling as well as approximately 5,000 assorted spiders including tarantulas, wolf spiders, bola spiders, and a few others I won't bother to look up on Wikipedia.

The plot is essentially a ripoff of "Jaws" with some science fiction thrown in for good measure: a town is threatened with mutant spiders who've somehow developed higher than usual levels of toxicity due to illegal waste dumping near their desert homes. The spiders, somehow realizing that humans are to blame, attack the town, its residents, and all of the town's livestock and pets.

The acting is passable and the special effects aren't totally bad. It's the sight of hundreds of spiders everywhere that will make you sleep with the lights on.

Can you think of any movies of this type that don't have at least a few flaws? This one does, but it still manages to keep you entertained.

By far, the best actors in this nature-run-amok film are the tarantulas themselves. They were obviously trained for the picture; I remember reading somewhere (maybe it was in an encyclopedia) that tarantulas are the most intelligent members of the arachnid world and this movie really proves it!

A tarantula's bite is rarely fatal but I have to wonder if any of the human actors and actresses in this flick were bitten during the course of filming. Hmm...