Der Kuss der Tarantel

If seeing a man play a creepy, unattractive, hair-hat-wearing corrupt cop who's an incestuous uncle a little too convincingly is your thing, your ship came in and has been at the docks for decades! Otherwise, the movie is just tedium and people hilariously spazzing out and killing themselves over spiders that pose them no real harm.

When a cheating wife is discovered plotting her husband's death, her oddball daughter commits matricide with the aid of some hairy, eight legged companions. Creepy little thriller is a poor man's "Willard" in which the beguiling Susan (Suzanne Ling - never seen before or again) is remarkably naive to the cruel intentions of various sleazy characters with whom she comes into contact. High on the pervert-alert, is her nefarious uncle (Mason), the local police chief who's been chasing her tail since puberty, discovers her involvement in a series of unexplained deaths and seeks to protect his political ambitions abetting a cover-up to divert suspicion away from his family. Mason is the epitome of ugliness, and his predatory pursuit of the adolescent Ling, is as appealing from a cinematic perspective as it is morally repulsive.

Intense over acting and varying breeds of comically amateurish supporting performances coupled with laughable set-ups contrived for lukewarm climaxes, successfully mar what could have potentially been a minor sleeper, such is the satisfying symmetry in the storyline. Director Munger's casual treatment and unimaginative scene construction, display a lack of detail that is evident throughout the film, though he does manage to conjure some modicum of suspense at every critical peak – it's just a shame there's not a more palpable indication of the tarantula's impact on the victims (most seem to succumb to shock and hyper-anxiety, or is that just the quality of the acting?).

"Kiss of the Tarantula" takes a convenient pathway to imagined justice, while the central character's psycho-sexual motivation, which is intimated throughout the film, is never properly explored or connected to her deviant behaviour. As such, Ling's character is little more than a facade, and much of the film's promise is diluted by the superficial treatment. Perhaps lethally hampered by the budget, while there's lots of potential, overall, it's significantly lacking in the execution.

"Kiss of the Tarantula" is a mildly interesting horror film about a teenage girl named Susan(Suzanne Ling)and her fondness for spiders.When anyone crosses her or her mortician father,the spiders come out to set things right.Her leering uncle and town sheriff(Eric Mason)has eyes for her,and she has the perfect plan to dispose of him.She also takes vengeance on the high school kids who broke into her house and killed her prized spider.She unleashes a slew of her friendly eight-legged buddies in their VW Bug at a drive-in.It's a pretty gruesome,but also very silly scene.Although its' low budget shows,the film still has some nice touches and a great ending which shouldn't be missed.Director Chris Munger also made exploitation flick "Black Starlet" (1974)and producers Daniel Cady and John Hayes were also responsible for "Grave of the Vampire"(1972) and "Garden of the Dead"(1972).Give it a look,if you like tarantuals.6 out of 10.

1975's "Kiss of the Tarantula" may have been easily overlooked in its day as a low budget drive-in quickie, but in recent years is gaining momentum as a cult item. As a two time solo feature on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater (Nov 22 1980 and Aug 6 1983), I was familiar with it at the time but had long forgotten the details, not surprisingly. The only horror film shot in Columbus, Georgia, it didn't do the kind of business it was expected to, a cast of local unknowns with one Hollywood import, Eric Mason, a TV veteran cast as town sheriff Walter Bradley and uncle of teenage Susan (Suzanne Ling), whose father John (Victor French lookalike Herman Wallner) is a mortician, one reason why she's been shunned by classmates and branded as weird. A more understandable reason is her total devotion to her pet tarantulas, enabling her to kill her abusive and unloving mother, who was plotting with Walter to murder her husband, his own brother. This knowledge is also known to Susan, who grows into pretty womanhood with her uncle's unwanted advances becoming more creepy over time. After classmates accidentally kill one spider in her home, she sets the others loose on them in a parked car at the drive-in (double billing "Dirty Harry" and "Magnum Force"), unable to get out of their vehicle before fatally succumbing. The two people who suspect the truth soon meet their dooms, the first in claustrophobic fashion, the other strangled by the brutal sheriff who knows his niece is responsible but still desires her for himself. The climax is certainly fitting, but leaves the viewer feeling rather empty, no characters to identify with or root for. The central figure of Susan is never developed to any likable degree, glimpses of remorse not enough to register beyond the surface. This is the critical lack preventing audience sympathy for her, unlike better known protagonists such as Willard or Carrie. The film pretty much ends with Susan unsuspected and free to continue, with all her enemies dead, yet this provides no satisfaction for the audience, left only with the pervasiveness of unease. In that way the picture does succeed in its modest approach and rural atmosphere, pretty much the definition of a cult film.

Susan is a young girl who had always had an fascination with spiders, but her mom didn't like it. After finding out she had planned to kill her father, just to be with his brother. She scares her mother to death by releasing a Tarantula on her. Years have past, Susan now has a big collection of pet Tarantulas, but one night some hoons come into the mortuary where she lives with her father, to steal a coffin and but they kill one of her spiders. Now she what's to take revenge on those who were involved by releasing her pets onto them. But that's one of her worries, as her sly uncle is now trying to put the moves on her.

While searching around in a second hand shop for some unknown films, I came across this little oddity which was called "Kiss of the Tarantula". Well, I liked the look of the front cover of the video case and the synopsis sounded like great b-grade, drive-in 70's feature. Paid my $2 for it, later I watch it that night and I gotta say that this little tale was a fair treat. Not great, but fair is best the way to put it.

This simple-minded low budget horror flick had an innocently sweet tone to it, and you'll definitely be thinking of "Willard" (1971), as they shared definite similarities. Just this time it's the spiders turn. Also it adds a twinkle of "Carrie" (1976) into the equation too. But in that case, it doesn't match the thrills of those particular films. It skewed more towards a glum melodrama actually, with the creepy crawlies playing second fiddle to Susan's troubles with her devious uncle. I guess that's just the way the plot plays out, as it seems to lose interest in the tarantulas, because they don't even pop up in the third act. Though saying that, just the look of a hairy spider makes my skin crawl. But here that wasn't always the case, yeah there are some eerie scenes like a grisly panic caused by the tarantulas in a car and a pulsating air vent scene (..now that was eerie). But these were more provoked by panic and you somewhat laugh because its basically silly watching the spiders crawl all over their initial victims. Nothing is totally horrific about the hysteria laced attacks, but more so... freaky. Mainly for a person who has arachnophobia. Most of the time Susan's either pondering around, caressing with her fingertips and talking to them! Suzanna Ling is rather gorgeous as Susan Bradley and Eric Mason is notable as Walter Bradley. The rest of the amateurish cast, I was surprised, they gave above average performances. Though, there were one or two characters that seem to vanish, after thinking they might have more of a role. The dialogue is stilted and the direction is mostly dour with the exception of a couple lines of added irony, but the minor production to a certain agree still generates a surprise or two that sticks with you. That really goes to the cleverly illustrated climax that effectively packs a killer punch. Backing all that up is an electronic score, which did at times settled the mood, but other times came across as unbalanced with rather odd choices and placement. If your looking for something cheesy, you won't find it here, because it takes itself rather seriously. It does comes across like a TV feature, but still it doesn't hamper proceedings.

A reasonable time waster, but don't expect a whole lot of spider terror.