Shatner & Spiders

 

KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS-1977-Rancher Colby (Woody Strode) has sick cattle. His prize calf dies. Dr. Rack Hansen (William Shatner) takes some blood samples. Entomologist Diane Ashley (Tiffany Bolling) says the calf died of a spider bite. After Colby’s dog is found dead, he and his wife (Altovise Davis) show Rack & Diane a huge mound made by the spiders. They burn the mound but that doesn't seem to make the ants go away. While Rack & Diane are out horseback riding with his niece, Linda (Natasha Ryan), Colby is killed by the spiders. The mayor (Roy Engel) decides to crop dust the area with a deadly poison but the spiders make the plane crash. Linda's mom is also done in by the arachnids. Soon they are all over town and mass hysteria takes over. The survivors hole up in a cabin, where the next day seemingly forgotten by the outside world, the entire valley is one giant spider web. Also with Hoke Howell. 

Former actor John “Bud” Cardos (THE DARK (1979) directed this pretty decent low budget horror movie that's fairly creepy at times (especially the final scene). For years there was talk of a sequel form various sources but nothing ever panned out.

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Kirk vs. Incubus

 

 (wikipedia)

INCUBUS-1966-In a coastal village where demons prowl its shores, Kai (Allyson Ames), a very successful succubus leads many to hell. But she feels her powers are being wasted and wants a big score despite the warnings from her sister Amael (Eloise Hardt). Kai sets her sights on Marc (pre-Kirk William Shatner), a soldier recovering from a wound. While he walks with his sister Arndis (Ann Atmar), Kai follows Marc. Once again Amael warns her. Kai pretends to be a lost traveler and meets Marc and Arndis on their farm. During a brief eclipse, Kai seems to enchant Marc. After lovemaking, Kia falls asleep and Marc carries her home. Meanwhile Arndis has gone blind from looking at the eclipse and wanders in the woods. For some reason Marc takes Kia to a church and she freaks out. Amael urges sis to seek revenge for being violated. They unleash the incubus. It rapes and kills Ardnis but in its showdown with Marc, Marc seems to slay it. But it isn't dead. When the incubus confronts Marc and Kia at the church, she renounces the devil and makes the sign of the cross which turns the incubus into a goat. Not exactly sure what to make of the ending. 

INCUBUS was the second feature to be made in the artificial language of Esperanto (the first was a film called ANGOROJ, filmed in 1964). There's a difference of opinion as to why Esperanto was used but director Leslie Stevens (creator of TV's THE OUTER LIMITS, which had been canceled by ABC in 1965) says it was just to give the film “an eerie, other worldly feeling”. One the film's cinematographers, Conrad Hall went on to win 3 Academy Awards for his work. The film is a weird concoction and sometimes feels like a horror movie made Ingmar Bergman (not sure if this is a complement...). 

The film was heavily criticized by speakers of Esperanto because of the actors' pronunciations and accents although this should have been a trivial matter since the film wasn't made to promote the language. Added to that the actor who played the incubus, Milos Milos killed himself and his girlfriend (the estranged wife of Mickey Rooney) shortly after the film was released, the film could not find a distributor in the US. 

Once thought a lost film, a damaged print surfaced in France in 1996 and The Sci-Fi Channel (now called SyFy) sponsored the restoration, an admirable effort but let's face it, if Capt. Bill hadn't been the lead this would have been left to decay....

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Where No Blog Has Gone Before...Not!

 

 (amazon.com)

WILLIAM SHATNER'S MYSTERIES OF THE GODS-1977-Bill (with a lot of hair) starts to narrate after a model of the Enterprise is shown. He starts in prehistoric times speculating that giants may have shared the Earth with dinosaurs then examining cave drawings made by various ancient peoples across the globe. He asks "who were the ancient astronauts?" Then proceeds to talk about the gods and legends of different tribes across the Earth. His interview with a NASA scientist goes on too long. Dr. Dennis Hauck who's interviewed later wrote an unauthorized bio of Bill titled "Captain Quirk". A woman who owns a crystal skull tells a story about a woman who laughed at the skull and died soon after. Jean Dixon is also interviewed. Erich Von Daniken makes a brief appearance as this was actually a German production based on one of his books. 

This might have been trying to cash in on the fact that Shatner's buddy Leonard Nimoy began hosting the long running TV show “In Search Of” the same year. The ex-TJ Hooker is now the host and executive producer of History Channel's “The UnXplained”.

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Corman Tackles Racism

 

 (the movie database)

THE INTRUDER-1962-Smooth talking snake oil salesman Adam Cramer (William Shatner) comes to town to stir up racial tension on the eve of school desegregation. He represents "The Patrick Henry Society" and wants to fight against integration even though it's the law. Lots of dumb racist hicks (including Robert Emhardt) rally to him. He leads the KKK through town and is indirectly responsible for the death of a black minister. He uses a newspaper owner's daughter (Beverly Lundsford) to bring phony rape charges against a black student (Charles Barnes). Salesman Sam Griffin (Leo Gordon) knows Cramer is only smoke and mirrors and a pathetic coward. This all comes out in the finale which takes place in a schoolyard. 

The script is by Charles Beaumont (based on his novel) who also plays a persecuted teacher. Two other writers, William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, have small roles. Pretty daring stuff for director Roger Corman to tackle in 1962 but he does a fine job. Brother Gene co-produced it.

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It's Raining Devils

 

 (imdb)

THE DEVIL'S RAIN-1975-After credits are shown over paintings by Bosch, Mark Preston (William Shatner) goes up against "Satan's minister on Earth" Korvus (Ernest Borgnine) and his eyeless worshipers for possession of a book. Meanwhile Sam Richards (Eddie Albert) and Tom Preston (Tom Skerrit) demonstrate a type of telepathy using Preston's wife Julie (Joan Prather). Preston returns home to find his mom (Ida Lupino) and brother Mark missing. The sheriff (Keenan Wynn) blames a flood. While Mark is tortured, Preston & Julie go to a ghost town where caretaker Charlie told them Mark was headed. While snooping they are attacked by an eyeless guy. Julie seems to have a psychic connection to the coven and sees a flashback to colonial times. 

It turns out the wife of Preston's ancestor Martin Fife (also Shatner) betrayed the satanists who are burned at the stake. Preston infiltrates the gathering where Mark is to be sacrificed and Korvus transforms into a goat man. Unfortunately Preston is found out but escapes. Somehow Richards gets the book and tells Preston what's going on. When Korvus captures Julie and plans to convert her, Richards and Preston go back and find some kind of orb that holds all the souls Korvus has taken. After they are attacked by the possessed sheriff, the duo break up the party. It's a TV show star battle with McHale vs. Capt. Kirk vs. Mr. Douglas in the finale where the rain makes the group melt. Korvus seems to melt too but evil wins out!

Director Robert Fuest (THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES) made this high profile horror movie that later exploited then unknown cast member John Travolta (the less said about him the better). It's a good little horror movie with a nice cast and surprise ending. Charlatan Anton LeFay (also credited as a technical adviser) has a cameo as a satanic priest.

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All For A Dollar!

INCIDENT ON A DARK STREET-1973-Here's a DVD I got at a Dollar Tree Store in NJ for, what else but a dollar! 

It's a typical routine story (maybe a pilot) about lawyers battling organized crime and corruption. The best part about it is the cast. Once popular TV actor (and star of Robert Wise's THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) James (don't call me Jimmy) Olsen is Joe Dubbs, the hard ass district attorney. David Canary is his assistant. Robert Pine is the newest member of the staff. They investigate mobster Dominic Leopold (Gilbert Roland) who has some dirty dealings with a greedy contractor Deaver Wallace (William Shatner). Rotund Richard Castellano (THE GODFATHER) is a mob connected government witness who the mean producers make run around and climb a fence. There's another story involving a dying woman and her husband who's being prosecuted for selling drugs. It's boring and ends rather abruptly without the main story coming to a conclusion. 

Others in the cast include David Doyle, Murray Hamilton, John Kerr, Gordon Pinsett (he was in BLACULA the year before) and Marlene Clark (some year as GANJA AND HESS) as Dubbs' secretary. Don “Red” Barry and Eddie Quillan also have small roles. Shatner was in two more memorable TV movies the same year as this: GO ASK ALICE and THE HORROR AT 37,000 FEET. 

Director Buzz Kulik began his career in TV in the very early '50's staying there almost his entire life doing TV series and movies (his most famous was BRIAN'S SONG) and only occasionally directing a big screen film (VILLA RIDES AGAIN, SHAMUS and Steve McQueens's last film THE HUNTER).

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Quick Hound

HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES-1972-Many people seem to have forgotten this TV movie version of the famous A. Conan Doyle story was ever made. 

It features Stewart Granger as Sherlock Holmes and Bernard Fox as Dr. Watson. They are not the best actors to play the team but for a TV movie they aren’t bad. Capt. Kirk himself William “Canadian Ham” Shatner is the suspicious and smirk George Stapleton and also plays the doomed Richard Baskerville in a pre-credit flashback. Also with Anthony Zerbe, Sally Ann Howes and Allan Caillou as Inspector Lestrade. Director Barry Crane was a busy TV director at the the time.

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