Remember seeing this as a kid and being creeped out, so when it was shown again on Taking Pictures TV I thought I'd have another look.
I expected it to be ridiculous and generally it was - however, it wasn't as terrible as I thought it might be. Shatner isn't actually that bad and pretty much plays his usual role (of himself).
The use of real life tarantulas added an element of authenticity that if you're genuinely afraid of spiders would be quite unsettling (although you could question its ethics, especially in relation to the number that were allegedly killed during the production)
In terms of positives though, that's probably about it. Plotwise, it runs out of ideas fairly quickly and abruptly ends - whether this was because they genuinely couldn't find a way to finish it or they ran out of money I'm not sure. The matte painting at the end showing the town covered in webs looked like it had been done by a 6 year old. Similarly, the "environmental" message at the beginning kind of got lost halfway through, and the scientist who I thought may help save the day just kind of fizzled out with her character just ending up being another person trapped in the cabin.
The scenes in the town were hilarious and borderline "Airplane" in their execution, with people screaming and running around in all directions. For some people, just a couple of spiders on them rendered them dead in seconds, whilst others appeared to brush them off easily.
It's fair to say that quite a few scenes probably wouldn't get made today. Shatner's borderline harassment of the scientist would definitely raise eyebrows with his constant demands for dinner. In addition, not sure you would allow a small child in real life to be covered in spiders - I'm sure it would have traumatised me as an adult let alone if I was young. I actually felt sorry for the young girl - towards the end she was passed around between Shatner and Bolling like a rugby ball.
I guess you could class this as one of those "so bad, it's good" kind of films. Not a classic, but worth the watch for Shatner fans at least.
I expected it to be ridiculous and generally it was - however, it wasn't as terrible as I thought it might be. Shatner isn't actually that bad and pretty much plays his usual role (of himself).
The use of real life tarantulas added an element of authenticity that if you're genuinely afraid of spiders would be quite unsettling (although you could question its ethics, especially in relation to the number that were allegedly killed during the production)
In terms of positives though, that's probably about it. Plotwise, it runs out of ideas fairly quickly and abruptly ends - whether this was because they genuinely couldn't find a way to finish it or they ran out of money I'm not sure. The matte painting at the end showing the town covered in webs looked like it had been done by a 6 year old. Similarly, the "environmental" message at the beginning kind of got lost halfway through, and the scientist who I thought may help save the day just kind of fizzled out with her character just ending up being another person trapped in the cabin.
The scenes in the town were hilarious and borderline "Airplane" in their execution, with people screaming and running around in all directions. For some people, just a couple of spiders on them rendered them dead in seconds, whilst others appeared to brush them off easily.
It's fair to say that quite a few scenes probably wouldn't get made today. Shatner's borderline harassment of the scientist would definitely raise eyebrows with his constant demands for dinner. In addition, not sure you would allow a small child in real life to be covered in spiders - I'm sure it would have traumatised me as an adult let alone if I was young. I actually felt sorry for the young girl - towards the end she was passed around between Shatner and Bolling like a rugby ball.
I guess you could class this as one of those "so bad, it's good" kind of films. Not a classic, but worth the watch for Shatner fans at least.