Absolutely brilliant

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Poor William Shatner, how he must have longed for the deck of the Enterprise instead of the hot desert on earth surrounded by a few thousand tarantulas. Shatner is a veterinarian who has discovered that one of Woody Strode's calves was killed and the lab results which entomologist Tiffany Bolling brings in shows it was an incredible amount of spider venom.In van she's one of the scientist who has warned against the overuse of DDT which has killed the spider's natural food supply. Now the spiders have developed new feeding habits and they've gotten organized against humankind.The human players look like they would rather be anywhere than in this Thanksgiving special of a movie. Especially Shatner whom he fired his agent after this would have been justified.I will say this though, the ending was quite bizarre, almost but not quite made up for the rest of this film.Unless you love arachnids, pass it up.

William Shatner("Star Trek") stars as a veterinarian in a desert community who, while investigating a series of mysterious animal deaths, and after he is helped by another expert(Tiffany Bolling) discovers to their horror that hordes of tarantulas are massing in the desert, and are about to strike back at humans, just in time for the annual town festival...Story is old hat by now, but is expertly directed by John "Bud" Cardos, well-written and acted, with an effective music score(with cues taken from "The Twilight Zone") and a memorable ending that wraps things up, though leaves room for a possible sequel which hasn't happened yet...

One of the "man vs. nature" movies of the '70s and quite well-done. Real spiders were used in the making of the film and this adds to the creepiness of the film. Reportedly 10% of the $500,000 budget went on the cost of the spiders. I'm not convinced animals WEREN'T hurt in the making of the film since we see people spraying them, walking through town on them, and in other places. The film is about a sudden infestation of spiders in a sleepy Arizona town where a calf has been bitten. The owner of the calf, Walter Colby (Woody Strode) doesn't know how the calf died but upon an examination by the local vet Rack Hansen (William Shatner) and a sample of the animal's fluids being sent out to big-city entomologist Diane Ashley (Tiffany Bolling), we learn that a potentially very dangerous spider is responsible for the bite. Soon more mysterious deaths occur and the experts identify a potentially more serious problem.There are many genuine scares here - as I said, in part because the spiders were real but also because director John 'Bud' Carlos paces the movie nicely and allows the tension to ratchet up. We see many close calls and increasingly serious situations. Carlos allows the tension to build up slowly and that ensures that the tension release is greater. Many of the scares come from the inevitability of the spider horrors-that is to say poor decisions lead to the multiplication of spiders. A lot of the dialogue isn't particularly natural-sounding and Rack's roguishness veers into chauvinism when he drives Ashley's car in spite of her protestations. That said, the movie is genuinely scary at times. The failure of the townspeople to identify the spiders at times before they become even more predatory ensures that we will learn that the spiders will become more predatory. It's not brain surgery but it is very enjoyable and would I'm sure be really scary for people with a natural fear of spiders. This one has a slower-creeping ennui than Arachnophobia does but the spiders are more persistent and prevalent and the price they extract is higher.

This film DID satisfy my current nostalgic craving for all things 70's, a decade when I, as a 2 to 12 year old, devoured TV-movies like this and "Ants" with abandon. Two things I feel compelled to mention...1) I love Shatner as Captain Kirk. Huge fan of Trek. But here, he comes off kind of oily and lecherous when he pours on the charm......odd. 2) I'm not a PETA activist, but I was really struck by how many spiders were stomped, run over, burned, boiled and mangled in this film. I'm sure, in the 70's, this would not have stood out to anyone, but in this age of special effects, where they'll show you in the extra features how they make a fake tarantula, and what brand tarter sauce they put in it for an effective "squishing" scene, it really jumped out at me. I felt kind of bad, to be honest....MANY spiders were hurt in the making of this film!Otherwise, a very good 70's "creature" film, best watched alongside "Day of the Animals" or "Frogs", for a fine double-feature.