After Jaws made a huge splash in 1977, Hollywood rushed to release a slew of movies that copied Jaws‘ formula for success — deadly animals running amok and terrorizing entire towns. Today’s Trillion Dollar Movie was one of the first, and best, of these Jaws wannabes. Set in the parched deserts of Arizona, Kingdom of the Spiders stars William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling and Woody Strode, but the real attraction: More than 5,000 live, creepy, crawling tarantulas unleashed to attack cows, dogs and humans by spider wrangler Jim Brockett.

Shatner portrays cowboy veterinarian Rack Hansen, working in concert with entomologist Diane Ashley (Bolling), to exterminate the threat posed by the super-venomous, eco-freak spiders. Shatner fits the role to a tee. He gets to ride a horse, lasso a lady and, in a hair-raising display of bravado, endure an eight-legged arachnid scampering on his cheeks. Bolling, the sexy blonde from the drive-in hit Candy Snatchers, demonstrates even more resolve.

The suspense builds to a fever-pitch as the story progresses, ending on a truly chilling note. This is a B-movie, but a well-made one, directed by John “Bud” Carlos, whose father ran Grauman’s Egyptian and Chinese theaters. Come back next Friday for another Trillion ($) Movie.