La tarantola dal ventre nero

From the recent spate of giallo releases via the Blue Underground label, this was the one I was most looking forward to; still, now that I've watched the film, the proclamation on the DVD sleeve of its being "The Best Giallo Ever Made" is an exaggeration - as it's not quite in the same league as the best of Mario Bava, Dario Argento, or even Lucio Fulci!

Despite being made by people not usually associated with the sub-genre (director Cavara had started out in "Mondo" documentaries!), most of the requisite elements are present - and this, I have to say, is its major weakness: though the killer's modus operandi here is undeniably original and particularly vicious, the settings, (mostly irrelevant) plot complications and the unconvincing explanation at the end are all-too-typical, thus making the whole somewhat predictable (down to the identity of the murderer!), if never less than enjoyable and occasionally exciting (the rooftop chase scene above all). Still, as shot by Marcello Gatti, the film is stylish enough (even if the technique isn't really pushed to the limit as in, say, the films of Argento) and, in any case, it has two major assets in the performance of Giancarlo Giannini (as bewildered a giallo protagonist as one can get though, for once, he is a cop and a fairly intelligent, albeit disillusioned, one at that) and a typically unforgettable, indeed irresistible soundtrack courtesy of the tireless and ever-inspired Ennio Morricone.

One can't have a giallo without the presence of a bevy of beauties - most of whom get to shed their clothes and are soon shown on the receiving end of the killer's paralyzing poison-tipped needle: Barbara Bouchet (appearing, all-too-briefly, as the first victim in one of the most effortlessly erotic openings to any film!), Barbara Bach and Stefania Sandrelli (who, alas, is too often left by the wayside - though she does share a love scene with Giannini - and whose voice, as far as I can tell, was dubbed even in the Italian version!). The notable cast also features Claudine Auger, Silvano Tranquilli, Rossella Falk and Eugene Walter (as a patronizing gay waiter, whose vaguely androgynous features were later utilized to startling effect in another solid giallo, Pupi Avati's THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS [1976]). Trivia note: I got to see Giannini, Sandrelli and Bouchet at the 2004 Venice Film Festival (the latter on more than one occasion, since she was a guest of honor during the Italian B-movie retrospective!).

My God! The opening scene alone is worth the price of admission! Barbara Bouchet being given a nude body massage while Ennio Morricone's score (hightened by Edda Del Orso's seductive vocals) explores our aural senses is nearly the best opening I've ever seen... period! Paolo Cavara's brilliant Giallo "The Black Belly Of The Tarantula" is definately special. The film contains a beautiful (Euro Babe) cast, that would please James Bond afficianados everywhere. It contains three Bond Girls in one film! The wonderful Claudine Auger ("Thunderball"), Barbara Bouchet ("Casino Royale"), and Barbara Bach ("The Spy Who Loved Me"), all lending shady perversity to the proceedings. The title refers to the sadistic means in which a killer is performing on his prey. An acupuncture needle is inflamed with a paralysing poison that the killer inserts into the neck of his victim (realistically, this would probably kill someone, but hey... this is an Italian B Movie!!) thus insuring that the victim is paralysed yet concience while the killer tears open their belly with a knife (eehhh...hella creepy!). The story primarily surrounds the investigation by Inspector Tellini (well acted by Giancarlo Giannini) of the murder of Maria Zani (Barbara Bouchet) who was being blackmailed before her death. Other murders follow, as the Inspector's trail leads to a Fashion Boutique, a Science Laboratory, and then a Health Spa, which are all linked to drug traffiking and sexual deviant politics. Like "What Are Those Strange Drops Of Blood Doing On Jennifer's Body" this film as well could be a kind of prototype Giallo film. If you are familiar with the genre, you can only laugh at the way the victim always says to the Inspector "I can't talk right now... but I think I know who the killer is. Come back later (or tomorrow), and I'll tell you. (another equally laughable sentence is: "I just want to check something out, but I'll meet you later!) This line is usually a recipe to get yourself gutted and tortured in the most painful of ways. Also, like "What Are Those..." this film again has the theme of moral avenger (quite often this theme is linked with something resembling impotence... c'mon you got to laugh at that!) that strikes out on the poor girls with viciousness. I'm still trying to sort out if this is somehow linked to the cynicism surrounding Catholicism in Italy? But the killer's use of fetishistic surgical gloves only insures that this is pure Euro-Trash at it's best.

Giancarlo Giannini's Inspector Tellini is a slightly different breed of cop. The film interestingly delves further (then most Gialli) into the relationship of him and his wife Anna (played by the beautiful Stefania Sandrelli), and the moodiness surrounding his job. He neurotically says "I just don't think I can do this anymore. I want to quit." (echoing my own displays of verbal discontent in the work world, as my girlfriend pointed out) And in the end when Inspector Tellini loses his cool, as the killer gets closer to getting to his wife!

This is a great little Giallo, which unfortunately is a tad hard to find in America. But I nevertheless highly recommend it to those who love weird and twisted little masterpieces that come from a country of machisimo mentality. And the music score is to die for!!!!

When the nymphomaniac Maria Zani (Barbara Bouchet) is murdered, her ex- husband and insurance broker Paolo Zani (Silvano Tranquilli) becomes the prime-suspect of Inspector Tellini (Giancarlo Giannini). Then the saleswoman Mirta Ricci (Annabella Incontrera) is murdered in the same modus operandi – both victims had been paralyzed by acupuncture needles with poison introduced in their necks and their bellies had been ripped open with a knife with the victims still alive, in the same way that tarantulas are killed by tarantula hawks. The police find that she was also a drug dealer,

Paolo meets Inspector Tellini to tell him that he is innocent. Further, he hires the private eyes La Catapulta that finds the last man that had met Maria, the photographer Mario (Giancarlo Prete). Paolo pursues Mario but they both die and Inspector Tellini finds an envelope addressed to Franca Valentino with Mario. Inspector Tellini discovers that he was a blackmailer and meanwhile Franca becomes the third victim of the serial killer. When the masseuse Jenny (Barbara Bach) is found dead wrapped in plastic bag, Inspector Tellini goes to the massage parlor to meet the manager Laura (Claudine Auger) and he believes that an employee may be the serial-killer.

"La Tarantola dal Ventre Nero" is a great "giallo" with the typical structure – a serial-killer that wears gloves and the identity is only discovered in the end; the victims are beautiful semi-naked women; gore deaths; a persistent detective pursues the killer; and wonderful music score.

The story is well developed, with many plot points. The very young Giancarlo Giannini works with very beautiful women, three of them future Bond girls (Claudine Auger and the Barbaras Bouchet and Bach). The great music score of Ennio Morricone completes the work of the director Paolo Cavara. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Ventre Negro da Tarântula" ("The Black Belly of the Tarantula")

In 1999, these films were impossible to get a hold of, and you had to look hard to find someone who would sell you them on the grey market. It is for this reason that my mate Marco and me found ourselves in the back room of some video store on Ingram Street, Glasgow city centre, staring into a filing cabinet jam packed with video nasties, category 3 Hong Kong films, and otherwise unavailable films like this. Marco bought this one. I watched the first five minutes and decided it looked boring, little knowing how obsessed by these films I'd be in a few years time. Also, I had no idea how bald I would become. And I didn't know YouTube would exist either. We were all young and naïve back then.

If there was a generic starters pack for giallo newbies I'd definitely include this one. It's a straightforward giallo plot as in it has one masked/gloved/hatted killer, plenty of suspects, a couple of red herrings, a clue at the start of the film, quirky characters, nudity and a bit of gore. It doesn't deviate from the formula but it's a good film anyway, thanks to Ennio Morricone's music, the lovely cinematography, and some good moustache action from Giacarlo Giannini.

It all starts off with Barbara Bouchet (a Bond girl) getting a nude massage from a blind guy and then getting into a fight with her husband because someone's sent him a nude picture of her with a mystery man. Next thing you know some gloved killer has paralysed her with a needle, then cut her open while she can only watch in horror.

Depressed policeman Giancarlo Giannini (whose eccentric wife has sold all the furniture in the house!) is on the case, and thinks the husband did it, but when another victim appears and he uncovers a drug smuggling ring into the bargain, things heat up a bit. It doesn't help that he's the laughing stock of the force when the killer plants some evidence that turns out to be a covertly made film of the policeman and his wife in bed.

There's a neat rooftop chase in this one too, and although it's a case of one killer all the way through, it makes for a good journey all the way through, thanks to appearances by Claudine Auger (a Bond girl) and Barbara Bach (a Bond girl) and Giancarlo Prete (not a Bond girl). There's also the requisite scene in a fashion store amongst mannequins that these films seem to require by law.

La tarantula dal ventre nero is a nice Giallo dealing with a a series of victims being paralyzed by injecting a poison and then their corpses ripped open while they still alive. Inspector Tellini, Giancarlo Giannini, investigates the murder of a nymphoniac : Barbara Bouchet, then other astonishing series crimes are carried out much in the same as tarantulas are killed by the black wasp. There are various suspect people : a husband and insurance broker as prime suspect : Silvano Tranquilli, a drug dealer, a lover, a massage parlor owner, a blind person, a saleswoman and the clues lead to a sauna. With the needles dipped in deadly venom the victims are paralyzed, so they must lie awake and watch themselves die!

Decent Gialli with well-shot heinous murders , thrills, chills, red herrings, and suspense. This intrigue film contains usual Giallo ingredients : a killer with gloves, barroque style, unsettling and disturbing interiors and sadistic and ritualized murders. Here the main interest resides on finding out the murderer and to see the surprising victims being paralyzed by accupunture needles with deadly venom introduced in their necks and bellies being ripped open with a knife .This is one of several Gialli regarding an animal in the script and its title similar to other Dario Argento films as The bird with crystal plumage, 4 mosche develluto grigio, The cat of 9 tails or La coda dello Scorpione by Sergio Martino. Here stands out some notorious Italian actresses as Stefania Sandrelli, Annabella Incontrera, Rosella Falk and Bond GIrls : 3 young beauties as Barbara Bach who married Ringo Starr and played The Spy who loved me, Barbara Bouchet of Casino Royale and the recently deceased Claudine Auger of Thunderball.

Stirring and haunting musical score by prolific Ennio Morricone in the Seventies style, including voicalists exhaling mysterious sounds. As well as colorful and brilliant cinematography by Marcello Gatti. The picture was professionally directed by Paolo Cavara. He was a good filmmaker who made a few films until his early death at 56 . At his beginning he directed Mondo films as La donna nel mondo, 1962. Then he directed all kinds of genres as comedy, terror, thriller, Spaghetti Western and mystery, such as La Locandiera, Virilita, The Ravina, Plot of fear and Johnny Ears and Deaf. Rating 6/10. Acceptable and passable Giallu.