Line #19 Film/KingdomOfTheSpiders


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingdom_of_the_spiders_9270.jpg]]
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3	->''You could be the next victim!''
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5	A 1977 horror film starring Creator/WilliamShatner, Tiffany Bolling and Creator/WoodyStrode, in which hordes of tarantulas begin swarming and attacking the residents of a small Arizona town after their natural food supplies give out. Perhaps most remembered today for the gruesome spider-victim FX, and the bizarre but not-exactly-a-twist ending. Shatner is also notable for one of those rare times when he actually makes an effort in the acting department, playing a flawed and even somewhat multifaceted character.
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7	Now available as a Podcast/RiffTrax video on demand download. Watch the DVD trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZa5GWiLje4 here]].
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9	----
10	!!This film contains examples of:
11	* AccidentalMisnaming: Terry calls Rack John accidentally, which Rack doesn't take kindly as it's the name of his deceased brother.
12	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Where to begin?
13	** Tarantulas do not spin webs, for one.
14	** Even in large numbers, the venom of a tarantula is extremely mild to humans and large mammals. At worst, a severe allergic reaction is possible, if not common.
15	** The movie [[LampshadeHanging does acknowledge]] that the "spider hill" would be extremely unusual in real life. Tarantulas are solitary animals more likely to cannibalize each other than share a den, much less live or attack in swarms.
16	%% * ApocalypseHow: Implied at the end.
17	* AssholeVictim: Implied to be the fate of the mayor, since by the end it is pretty clear no one made it out of the town alive, and it seems unlikely he’d miss the chance to attend the county fair.
18	%% * BlackDudeDiesFirst: Poor Colby.
19	* CobwebJungle: [[spoiler:The entire town is turned into one by the end]].
20	* CoversAlwaysLie: [[spoiler:No ginormous spiders from the poster make it into the actual movie.]]
21	%% * DeathOfTheHypotenuse: Terry. [[spoiler: Though the end suggests the surviving couple doesn't last much longer.]]
22	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The tarantulas have managed to wipe out most of the town, and it’s implied that other species of spiders have joined in, encasing the entire town in webs. The survivors are probably going to die, and the outside world is completely unaware, with the implication that the spiders’ attacks are going to spread to the outside world.]]
23	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Or a water tower, on Sheriff Smith's case. His death is so abrupt one would be forgiven for missing it.
24	%% * EmpathyDollShot: Used when Terry dies.
25	* EverybodyDiesEnding: [[spoiler:The last scene shows the entire town engulfed in spider webs, implying the surviving characters won't last the day.]]
26	* {{Fingore}}: Birch ends up shooting two of her fingers off when she uses a gun on a tarantula that made it on her hand.
27	* GainaxEnding: The final shot shows the entire town covered in webs, but not a spider in sight. Make of it what you will.
28	* GreenAesop: '''DON'T USE DDT!''' (The US DDT ban did happen in 1972, so it shows the Mayor is either stupid, corrupt, or both.)
29	* ImpendingDoomPOV: Tarantula-vision is depicted a couple of times as they creep up on the victim of the moment.
30	* IWasQuiteALooker: Sheriff Gene Smith's wife describes him as being quite handsome in his younger days.
31	* KillItWithFire:
32	** Attempted with the spider hill on Colby's land. Not only were there more hills elsewhere, the spiders in that hill simply escaped out a back door.
33	** Played straight with the cropduster pilot, who dies when the spiders begin swarming the cockpit, causing the plane to crash and explode.
34	%% * LargeHam: Shatner, of course.
35	%% * LoveTriangle: Rack, Terry and Diane.
36	* MadeOfExplodium: The cropduster. Justified, since it crashed into a gas station.
37	* MistakenForServant: When Diane and Rack first meet, she mistakes him for a gas station attendant. He encourages the deception though, since he enjoys being a {{Troll}}.
38	* MayorPain: The mayor is an idiot who refuses to listen to professionals on how to stop the spiders on the grounds that trying to get rid of the spiders might disrupt the county fair. He also caused the problem to begin with by using DDT, in spite of the fact that it is illegal.
39	* MomentKiller: An early moment between Rack and Terry is snuffed when Terry calls him "John" (the name of Rack's dead brother).
40	* PsychoStrings: Used on the Peek-A-Boo Corpse scenes.
41	* QuarantineWithExtremePrejudice: Colby seems convinced his herd will be quarantined and purged whenever anything happens to any of his animals. He keeps accusing everyone in authority of planning this even after it's made clear it isn't a disease, and even before then nobody can figure why he thinks they want to. Justified in that he's in financial straits and is paranoid about losing ''any'' of his stock.
42	* RecycledSoundtrack: Most of the music was borrowed from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episodes, mainly the work of a young Music/JerryGoldsmith.
43	%% * ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: The cropduster pilot does this.
44	* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Both the spiders' aggressiveness and sudden boost in venom potency is blamed on the reaction to their food supply being cut off by human encroachment on their habitat. Somehow the lack of food made the spiders (only the tarantulas, mind you) more venomous, more aggressive and more numerous. Oh, and tarantulas don't use webs to catch food. They hunt. And, in the case of lack of food, would sooner turn on each other than try and tackle something even the size of a dog, let alone humans or livestock (though this is addressed in-universe and explained away as them somehow growing smart enough to decide to attack larger food sources).
45	* SpiderSwarm: The entire premise of the film is the fact that [[GaiasVengeance the use of DDT]] has caused spiders to do this and swarm a town.
46	%% * StalkingIsLove: Apparently Rack's philosophy.
47	* TokenMinority: The Colbys, with Walter played by Western legend Creator/WoodyStrode.
48	* TooDumbToLive: Birch is armed and there's a spider on her hand. She then shoots the spider ''and'' her hand. (In her defense, we don't know what happened immediately before that scene that terrified her into doing that.)
49	** The fact that she's using a pistol against perhaps a dozen tarantulas in the first place, instead of, you know, stepping on them.
50	** When the main characters barricade themselves inside a house, it is clearly established that spiders are everywhere. So naturally, everyone [[GenreBlindness checks out what's wrong]] with the air conditioning when it starts malfunctioning. Twice, with different vent covers. Mocked mercilessly by the Podcast/RiffTrax crew.
51	** Colby does not think the large colony of spiders living in a "spider hill" on his property is notable enough to mention to anyone without being directly asked, even after his cattle start dying from what the vet tells him look like insect bites.
52	* UnreliableExpositor: The closest we come to an explanation is from Diane, but she openly admits she's speculating wildly.
53	* WholePlotReference: Aside from the ending, the film mimicks the plot to ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', complete with a Mayor who cares more about a local festival than the health of his constituents.

Context Film / KingdomOfTheSpiders