Killer spiders
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Killer spiders |
| Original title | Kingdom of the Spiders |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1977 |
| length | 97 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John "Bud" Cardos |
| script | Alan Caillou, Stephen Lodge |
| production |
Henry Fownes , Igo Kantor , Jeffrey M. Sneller |
| music | Dorsey Burnette |
| camera | John Arthur Morrill |
| cut | Steven Zaillian |
| occupation | |
| |
Kingdom of the Spiders is an American horror film from the year 1977 .
action
The farmer Walter Colby asks the veterinarian Robert "Rack" Hansen to examine why his calf, with which he wants to win a prize, suddenly fell ill. Hansen, who examines the calf shortly before it dies, is at a loss and sends a sample of the animal's blood to a university for examination.
A few days later, entomologist Diane Ashley appears to inform Hansen that an excessive dose of spider venom had killed the calf. Unimpressed by both Hansen's skepticism and advances, Ashley wants to examine the animal's carcass and the location where the calf fell ill.
In fact, they find a hill on Colby's farm on which the otherwise cannibalistic tarantulas seem to live together. The theory put forward by Ashley a short time later states that the spiders' natural food sources, the insects , have dried up due to the ruthless use of insecticides, which forces the animals to find other food. Since the spiders have now also killed a dog and a bull, Hansen and Ashley decide to burn down the spider hill on Colby's farm before the situation escalates. In fact, however, the spiders escape through an underground passage.
The following day, Colby was attacked by spiders while driving his car and had a fatal accident. Hansen and the sheriff Gene Smith find the body woven into the wreck. The university now teaches Ashley that spider venom is five times more effective than normal spider venom. Other spider hills are also discovered near Colby's farm.
The mayor of the city is concerned about the agricultural exhibition, which is due to take place in the next few days, and therefore gives the order to spray the entire area with insecticide. However, the pilot of the aircraft is also attacked during the flight by spiders that had lodged in the aircraft and had a fatal accident.
The spiders now kill Colby's wife and Hansen's widowed sister-in-law, Terri. Hansen can only save her little daughter Linda in time. Ashley, Hansen and Linda flee to the group of log cabins where Ashley lives and find themselves surrounded by spiders and cut off from the outside world. Meanwhile, sheer chaos breaks out in the city because thousands of spiders attack people.
Hansen and the other survivors barricade themselves in one of the huts. The next day they tried unsuccessfully to find out something about their fate on the radio. Hansen opens the shed of a window and is shocked to see that the whole city is woven into it.
The film ends with this scene, so the further course of events remains uncertain.
background
The film editor Steven Zaillian , 24 years old at the time of shooting , later became a successful and multiple award-winning screenwriter.
Premieres
- USA August 24, 1977
- Germany June 29, 1978
Reviews
Lexicon of international film:
- Thriller based on Hitchcock's Die Vögel, which skilfully builds up tension in the first part and plays with the audience's expectations, but then ends in a predictable catastrophe .
TV movie:
- The big crawl for spider phobics .
Awards
The film was nominated for the Saturn Award in 1978 in the categories of Best Actor - Horror and Best Horror Film.
Web links
- Kingdom of the Spiders in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Killer Spiders. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 6, 2017 .