"What? Another spider movie the same weekend? How can he stand it?"
I bet all you are asking yourselves this, and let me tell you that it's a trade secret. Sorry. It involves chemicals and meditations.
Once I used to call John 'Bud' Cardos one of my favorite directors. Not that he's that special, but he always made entertaining movies and he had a strong visual style. And he stayed true to genre cinema. He took over when Tobe Hooper was fired from The Dark, he directed the charming family sci-fi The Day Time Ended, the very underrated zombie-esque movie Mutant and the cheesy and colorful Skelton Coast (starring four of the oldest actors alive! Oliver Reed, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Vaughn and Herbert Lom - I wonder what the insurance fee was on that movie?). Cardos was (and still is, because he's alive but doesn't direct anymore) a true talent.
Now, let me tell you something about William Shatner. He can act. Without a doubt. It's a bit sad to hear people claim he overacts and that he's stiff and... well, there's a lot of evil talk about him. I don't mind him being an asshole, but he's not a bad actor. He can - like all actors - look uninspired of he's been forced to take a job he don't want, just because o the money, or if there's other problems in the production. But he's always good. His special way of talking (I always think of it as staccato) is something he learned to remember his line during summer stock during the early years, and it just stuck there - which is something he admits himself .
He's very good in Kingdom of the Spiders, perfectly dreaming up a gentle John Wayne-wannebe, walking like a cow, a bit slow, always looking up under his hat. It's a fine performance and Shatner is relaxed and does one of the most naturalistic performances ever in his career. He has a good supporting cast around him, Tiffany Bolling as the government person there to examine the spider invastion and good old Woody Strode as the hard-working farmer seeing his cattle go down one after another from the spiders venom.
The story (or maybe more the atmosphere) feels a look like Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. It's realistic, there's no mutant animals, just normal sized critters who happens to be very hungry and aggressive. The ending have a similar doomed feeling like The Birds, but it's a bit weaker because of a VERY cheesy matte painting. It always surprise me how effective the spider attacks is in this movie. We're not talking big special effects or animatronics running around, this is just normal spiders walking around, sitting on peoples shoulders etc. And the actors do the rest, making it look dangerous. Hell, it works SO good. I'm impressed. The big set-piece is when the spiders invade a small airplane, attacks the pilot and he crashes - in one take - into a house, and at the same time Cardos and his crew performances a glorious camera tracking, making it look very realistic.
In real life the airplane just flies by very low, past the house as it explodes. Still looks cool. True movie magic there. You can see part of it in this german trailer:
I really dig Kingdom of the Spiders. It's a helluva fun and well-made film. I guess some spiders got killed in the making of it, which is a pity. But too late to cry now.
"What? Another spider movie the same weekend? How can he stand it?"
"I bet all you are asking yourselves this, and let me tell you that it's a trade secret. Sorry. It involves chemicals and meditations."
Well, I don´t do neither but still....I can see all the movies in Lake Placid franchise uncut of course.
You are not alone Fred.
"Once I used to call John 'Bud' Cardos one of my favorite directors. Not that he's that special, but he always made entertaining movies and he had a strong visual style."
I haven´t seen any of his films, including this one.
"and the cheesy and colorful Skelton Coast (starring four of the oldest actors alive! Oliver Reed, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Vaughn and Herbert Lom - I wonder what the insurance fee was on that movie?)."
Yeah, and Reed had some alcohol problems......producers just love that.
"Now, let me tell you something about William Shatner. He can act. Without a doubt. It's a bit sad to hear people claim he overacts and that he's stiff and... well, there's a lot of evil talk about him. I don't mind him being an asshole, but he's not a bad actor."
He has a distinct style.....some dig it, other don´t
I got nothing against him, his diva attitude...well, he is not alone in Hollywood.
"and good old Woody Strode as the hard-working farmer seeing his cattle go down one after another from the spiders venom."
Strode....stable, underrated actor, just look at him in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)etc.
"It always surprise me how effective the spider attacks is in this movie. We're not talking big special effects or animatronics running around, this is just normal spiders walking around, sitting on peoples shoulders etc. And the actors do the rest, making it look dangerous. Hell, it works SO good. I'm impressed."
I remember watching Phase IV (1974).......hell, how did Bass do it?
"I really dig Kingdom of the Spiders. It's a helluva fun and well-made film. I guess some spiders got killed in the making of it, which is a pity. But too late to cry now."
Like the US military says, collateral damage.
Good review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | March 10, 2013 at 16:45