Welcome to one of the main features of 'Castle Dracula,' the movie reviews section.
The reviews placed here are from all around the world, from the USA to the UK Japan
and everything inbetween. The formats reviewed are video and DVD. I have included the
origin of the film reviewed so you can check your player for compatibility. You may
also notice that there are some DVD-R reviews. These are not 'bootlegs' or 'copies'
but official screeners that I have been sent containing an as yet unreleased film to 
review. All the reviews here have been reviewed either by myself or my current movie 
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New reviews are normally placed here once a week, check my front page for under 'Castle
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- Kingdom Of The Spiders - US DVD - 

"Kingdom of the Spiders" was such a staple on television in the late 70s and early 80s, 
I truly believed it was a TV movie. Minus a bit of skin and a few bad words, "Kingdom..."
follows the standard of 'TV Animals Amok' (or insects for that matter) almost to the 
letter. In other words, it’s a must see!
William Shatner is 'Dr. Robert Hansen' (nicknamed 'Rack!'), the local veterinarian in a 
small Arizona town. He is taking care of his deceased brother's wife, 'Terry' (Marcy 
Lafferty who was Shatner's real life wife at the time) and daughter, 'Linda' (Natasha 
Ryan). He seems to be enjoying a developing relationship with 'Terry' until she calls 
'Rack' by his dead bro's name (whoops!). 
So off he goes investigating the strange death of 'Walter Colby's' (Woody Strode in 
another strong performance) cow. 'Rack' fears there may be a virus afoot, which may 
effect the livestock of this poverty-ridden town. He sends samples to the University 
of Arizona and in return, they give him beautiful entomologist 'Diane Ashley' (Tiffany 
Bolling, who was a 1972 Playboy Playmate). 'Diane' is so sophisticated she actually 
wears driving gloves!  
'Rack' finds himself instantly taken with the sexy and intelligent bug specialist. She 
soon discovers that the cow died from spider venom and lots of it (see - I told you she
was smart!).  
After some more of his livestock is killed, 'Walter' informs the newly formed medical 
duo that he found a tarantula hill on his property. After some arduous thinking (and 
making out), they burn the hill. Unfortunately, it’s too late and the tarantulas (which 
are becoming stronger due to the mishandling of pesticides), have found the piping 
system. After taking down a few locals (including one flying a plane!), a small group 
of people find themselves holed up in a hotel as the spiders set out to spin a deadly 
web on the town.
Director John 'Bud' Cardos has worked in the film industry in every conceivable fashion 
(including being a driver on the set of the 2002 movie "The Secretary!") but his work 
as a director was more often than not met with condemnation.
"Kingdom..." will probably always remain his crowing achievement (no pun intended) and 
rightly so. It’s dark, foreboding and has enough creepy crawlers to keep the audience 
in rapture.  
William Shatner is great as 'Rack.' He gives an unbelievably restrained performance and 
looks pretty hot in a cowboy hat. Tiffany Bolling is good, if not great, but she’s a 
brave, beautiful actress who manages to take what could have been a very cold character
and gave her some warmth.
The real stars of the film are of the eight-legged variety. There are literally thousands 
of spiders beset upon our fearless actors and they’re incredible. Creepy and sometimes 
sweet (like the one 'Diane' finds in her desk drawer), Bud paints the screen with them,
creating several suspenseful sequences. The audience is also treated to a spider-view of 
the potential victims, a groundbreaking way to shoot a movie back then and it achieves 
it’s scares successfully.
After becoming a much sought after out-of-print video, 'Good Times Home Video' released 
a fullscreen version of "Kingdom of the Spiders." Knowing the reputation of Good Times, 
I’m happy to report that the transfer is pretty nice which makes up for the lack of 
extras. The price ain’t too shabby either; it usually goes for 10 US American dollars. 
If this doesn’t give you your fill of creepy crawlers, double feature it with the Lynda 
Day George insect-fest "Ants!"   

Reviewed By Amanda By Night

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