A small desert town in Arizona is overrun by tarantulas. First livestock and pets are attacked and killed before the spiders turn on the human population.
Local vet Rack Hansen (William Shatner) is at a loss as to what’s killing the livestock, and the fun really begins when entomologist Diane Ashley (Tiffany Bolling) arrives and determines that the animals were killed by spider venom.
The film delivers some real suspense – especially toward the end when Rack and Diane are holed up in a deserted hotel defending themselves from a legion of the eight-legged beats – and there’s a good supporting cast, but this is really a one-man Shatner show.
$50,000 of the film budget was spent on spiders. The producers offered to pay $10 each for live tarantulas, and handlers collected 5,000 of them so there’s no CGI, no puppets, no plastic – just wall to wall spiders! Definitely not a film for arachnophobes.
Rack Hansen
William Shatner Diane Ashley
Tiffany Bolling Walter Colby
Woody Strode Birch Colby
Altovise Davis Emma Washburn
Lieux Dressler Gene Smith
David McLean Linda Hansen
Natasha Ryan Vern Johnson
Joe Ross Terry Hansen
Marcy Lafferty Betty Johnson
Adele Malis Mayor Connors
Roy Engel Earl Forbes
Hoke Howell Clyde
Bill Foster The Baron
Whitey Hughes Deputy
Jay Lawrence Mildred
Bettie Bolling
