William Shatner Double Feature.....................

[AndyC]

odinn7 wrote:
> Yeah, you say they're slow moving...you don't realize how fast
> they can move if they want to until you've got your hand in
> their tank for some reason and they move at you...whew. Some of
> them even "jump" at you. They're cool to look at but you don't
> want to make a habit of playing with them.

I believe it, but these ones are pretty indifferent toward our hero. I don't think there is a spider in this movie that isn't just quietly going about its business while people overact around it.

Lucky me, the movie is on TV right now. The airplane pilot is screaming like a little girl as I type this. The movie is refreshing my memory about a few things.

Besides causing death through numbers and human error, the spider venom isseveral times more toxic than normal, so they've really covered their asses. I guess this is another mutation from DDT, which has not only wiped out their food supply, but caused them to multiply in huge numbers (while starving?) and made them live like ants.

Hey, now farmer Colby's wife is shooting at them with a revolver. Does anybody in this movie try to step on one? Apparently, you can pick them up, brush them off things and stand right next to them in some scenes, but you dare not squash one with your shoe. When Shat runs through them, he actually tries to avoid stepping on them, like he doesn't want to hurt them (probably doesn't in real life). Looks really funny.

Whoa! a couple minutes later, and they've tackled Rack's sister-in-law. Funny, the spiders seem to be crawling off of her body, not onto it.

I must also mention one beautiful bit of writing from earlier on. Colby learns that his calf was killed by spider venom. He doesn't believe a spider bite could do that. They suggest possibly hundreds of bites, and something clicks. Hey, there are hundreds of spiders out back! Maybe they had something to do with it.

And one of the all-time great Shatner lines, as he picnics with his love interest - "I could do things to a beer right now."  Ew!

I love this movie.



Post Edited (04-15-05 17:17)

[AndyC]

Flangepart wrote:

> New on Ebay. KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS spider wrangling cups!
> With Shatner's autograph for authentisity!
>

He should have been marketing some of those on Invasion Iowa. Would have gone nicely with the Shats and the other memorobilia.

[trekgeezer]

We must also remember Shatner's other great 70's film, Big Bad Mama, which has been reviewed here.  Shat-man gets it on with Angie Dickinson!!

http://www.badmovies.org/movies/bigbadmama/

[Alan Smithee]

I can't imagine anyone collecting spiders (or snakes). It would freak me out.
I never thought spiders would be aggressive enough to jump at you. I'me getting creeped out thinking about sticking my hand in an aquarium with tarantulas in it.

Devils Rain: this is a movie that is one my list of "must see" bad movies.

[odinn7]

Alan Smithee wrote:

> I can't imagine anyone collecting spiders (or snakes). It would
> freak me out.
> I never thought spiders would be aggressive enough to jump at
> you. I'me getting creeped out thinking about sticking my hand
> in an aquarium with tarantulas in it.
>
> Devils Rain: this is a movie that is one my list of "must see"
> bad movies.

Tarantulas make excellent "pets" as long as you don't want a pet to cuddle or play with. The worst part about them is the initial cost, but when you figure it out over their life span, it's not bad. The Rose Hair cost me $20 (that was 10 years ago) and the Cobalt Blue was $45 a few months ago. A Goliath Bird Eater (9 inch leg span on adults) will go for over $100 as a spiderling. But if you get a good female specimen, most of these will live 20 years or more so the cost isn't bad if you think about it. They do make good pets because A) they make no noise B) they hardly take up any space, I keep mine in 10 gallon fish tanks C) they don't smell D) cheap as hell to feed. I buy crickets for them twice a month and it costs 4 dollars and change. E) They're fun to show people and watch reactions.
There are a few species that will try to attack you but for the most part, if you're careful, nothing will happen.  My Rose Hair has almost a 5 inch leg span and I have no qualms about putting my hand in her tank, she's calm and I doubt she'd attack even if provoked. The Cobalt Blue is still young and only about a 2 inch leg span but I'm extra cautious about that one. Even though she's young and hasn't reached her full psychosis yet, it doesn't take a whole lot to get her going and set her off. So you see Alan, it's really all in the way you look at it. I find spiders fascinating in the way they are adapted to survive. Others, my wife included, don't like them because they're hairy, have 8 legs, and 8 eyes and just generally are creepy looking.
Here's a link to a nice looking Cobalt Blue if anyone is interested:
Cobalt Blue

Now, as far as the Devil's Rain is concerned...you need to see it. You won't be disappointed if for nothing else but the "endless" ending. It seems to take forever and must have cost at least 50 bucks to film it.

[AndyC]

Funny, I don't mind tarantulas so much because they're big and furry. Unconsciously, I think they seem more like small animals (eight-legged poisonous gerbils). It's the little spiders with the thin, pointy legs, the shiny shells, big abdomens and a habit of dropping in from the ceiling that give me the creeps. A tarantula is interesting, but a big, fat orb weaver - kill it!  Funny, how the human mind works.

The talk of different species of tarantula reminded me of one other interesting observation about KotS. The spiders not only started living in colonies, but different species started living together. Black ones, brown ones, Mexican red-kneed ones, all living together in harmony. What do you make of that?

[odinn7]

AndyC wrote:

> The talk of different species of tarantula reminded me of one
> other interesting observation about KotS. The spiders not only
> started living in colonies, but different species started
> living together. Black ones, brown ones, Mexican red-kneed
> ones, all living together in harmony. What do you make of that?
>


For the most part, tarantulas are solitary creatures and most species will fight if kept together. There are some that I know of that can be kept in the same aquarium as long as they grow up together but this isn't something that's common. Think about if you've ever seen a nest of spiders... never did, right? Even when spiders first hatch, the mother doesn't look after them, they leave pretty much right away. It's funny in movies like this (Arachnaphobia did it too) how all the spiders live peacefully together but I guess they need to do that. If the spiders were all spread out and fought when they got together, you couldn't "scare" people with a swarm of spiders. As far as when they made the movie, I really think that since the spiders were slow moving and all seemed fairly docile that they obviously used docile species and somehow probably kept them somewhat cold while not filming.

[Alan Smithee]

Wow, I never thought there was such a thing as a blue tarantula. Looks exotic.

Still, even if I had my pet spider locked up in the most secure aquarium, I'd still feel sheepish.

I can tell you this much, if I feel something at the foot of the bed at nite moving around, I'd be up out of that bed faster than you can imagine.

[AndyC]

I'd have thought it would be more credible to use only one kind of tarantula, but I suppose when you need that many for a movie, you can't really be picky. The living in colonies thing was deemed an evolutionary response to DDT, as was just about everything in the movie. I'll say one thing for them, they did try to cover their asses on most questions people were going to ask.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Since we are talking about other films w/ William Shatner, one might try 1961's "Shame," which was directed by Roger Corman. Shatner stars as a bigot who travels around the American south stirring up animosity between blacks and whites. One of Corman's better films, it is also--apparently--one of the few Corman films to lose money at the boxoffice.

[Scott]

SHAME and INTRUDER are the same Roger Corman film under different titles. I have the film on my short list. Might catch it next month.