Western Version of Chinese Web of Death

Rating: 7/10 (26 July 2015)

So much hype about how Spielberg learned his craft of suspense from RKO's matinée movies and series. Not a word about him being influenced by Chinese kungfu movies.
I was surprised to discover that so much of this 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark movie is almost a copy of a 1976 Chinese kungfu movie from Hong Kong. The English title of the Chinese movie is "Web of Death". It's about a spider with deadly supernatural power which was hidden by the spider clan to keep its power contained, just like the ark. Bad guys of course tried to find it and did, just like the Nazis in the Spielberg movie. The traps in this and later Spielberg movies are so similar to the traps in this Chinese movie. And the special effects in the final fight between good and evil are almost identical.
Except the hero in the Chinese movie is an awesome girl. Unlike the Spielberg movie which had to keep Indiana Jones alive for sequels, the Chinese girl sacrificed herself and died to save the good guys even though everyone tried to kill her just a few moments ago.
Indiana Jones movies are hits because it's easy to like the sassy professor and the Nazis are the perfect foil. But we should at least acknowledge the influence of this movie from Hong Kong on this film from Hollywood.