For my 200th post I have something special. Something featuring none other than the great William Shatner.
I have been trying to figure out what this one was called for a while. Honestly I had thought it was older than 1977, and as it turns out it was a made for TV movie, so looking at his filmography only was not much help.
As MFTV movies go this one was not half bad production wise,aging better than say The Morning After, but in the end though You just end up feeling bad for the spiders.. they don’t want to be there, they certainly do not want to be crushed.. I don’t think this one instilled as much false fear as Jaws did but still.. Thankfully on that hand movies can’t be made like this anymore.
All that said, it is still bad and blatantly ripping off some Jaws camera angles and let’s not mention the plot of the mayors caring more about tourists money than the citizens. I am shocked the Mayor is not wearing a leisure suit with horse shoes on it. They did try to work in an environmental angle, but that worked as well as it did in The Day after Tomorrow…
Remember this was back in the man vs. nature crazed 70’s you had Earthquakes, Rouge Waves, Sharks, fires, Ants, Slugs?, Xeno-Morphs, Spiders more than a few times, rabbits, yes rabbits & not just Tim The Enchanters foe, either – Night of the Lepus evil rabbits..
This one is Post Giant Spider Invasion, but pre Arachnophobia for what its worth.
Plot wise not to give away much but since when can Tarantulas make webs? Just leaving that out there.
Being the 70’s we also get Lalo Schifrin’s Shatner equivalent for the score. Huge jazzy horn and string swells and time the action gets intense, which as it turns out as it turns out they soundtrack was old stock stuff from Twilight Zone episodes.
Think about it – imagine if the soundtrack started right as McQueen peeled out Bullitt, and not the reverse..
No, that is not quite right.. I think Jim Carey screeching out the pon farr fight theme from the OG Startrek episode in The Cable Guy is more like it..
If you are watching this, I say go with a Hoppin Frog BORIS (the Crusher) because really any time I hear Boris the anything I think of either, the Blade, Badenov or the Spider. And I do love that Who song…
If you happen to be from Long Island or NYC I did find quite the fitting local brewery for this one, and I would love to give them a shout out: Spider Bite Brewing Co, makers of the actual Boris the Spider Imperial Stout. I want to check them out if I can ever get the chance to.