Tarantula

This one has a special place in my memories ! I grew up in New Mexico near the desert, and whenever they showed this one on the late night science fiction Saturday night TV thriller show, I was afraid to walk to school and back on Monday! As I have grown up over the last forty years, I have come to appreciate it as a well crafted science fiction near classic! Jack Arnold directed many good sci-fi movies in the 1950's, but there is no doubt this was the creepiest! Next to the superior "THEM", released the year before (at a different studio), this UNIVERSAL STUDIOS chiller was , for my money, the second best of the giant bug movies of that decade! You will never look at the desert the same way again. Actress MARA CORDAY impressed me so much in this one, that I named one of my daughters after her! JOHN AGAR gave a great performance, and this one led to him doing a string of more horror and sci-fi movies for the next decade or two! It helped that they used a real Tarantula (named TOMORROW), instead of a fake one, and Clifford Stine's special effects will convince you that spider is really 100 feet tall! Another plus is Henry Mancini wrote some of the music score! So, I recommend this one to all those that hate creepy crawlers of any kind! Get out the can of RAID! But, you had better make it a really big can !!!

Signed, Baron Beast

I watched this movie a hundred times while growing up and I've seen it at least a hundred more times as an adult! Great story. To me it's the greatest big bug movie ever made. Interesting side story of the effects of the nutrient on humans, also. I fell in love with Mara Corday after the first time I saw this as a young child and I still think she was one of the great beauties of the screen. I think the main reason the film holds up today is the special effects are still quite impressive and there is nothing that todays audience would find hokey or cheesy. The only thing that "Bugs" me is the sound effect of the tarantula growling as it attacks. But thats just nit-picking. Its also fun spotting a young Clint Eastwood. Great sci-fi and great entertainment! A film viewing must!

As someone who'll kill a common house spider on sight, and as a resident of one of the the cooler regions of the United States, I try to watch the fifties sci-fi movie Tarantula whenever it's on. Maybe I do it as therapy. I dunno. Or maybe I'm trying to convince myself that it really is better living in a city that has been known to have blizzards in April. Whatever. But enough about me. This Jack Arnold-directed movie was made for Universal-International at a time that studio wasn't nearly the behemoth it is today. But U-I, or rather its management, wanted to be big, and were aiming to grow. Kind of like the eight-legged creature in this film.

The movie is set in an Arizona desert town whose handsome young Dr. John Agar is trying to solve the mysterious death of a man from a condition known as acromegaly (or acromegalia, as it's called in the film). His quest takes him to the laboratory of research scientist Leo G. Carroll, who, though outwardly polite, clearly doesn't want to be bothered. He doesn't want his beautiful young assistant, Mara Corday, to be bothered, either, least of all by the romantic Dr. Agar.

As luck would have it, Carroll and his former associate and friend,--let's call him the acromegaly man, and leave it at that--were working on a nutrient, a growth formula, that they hoped would cure world hunger. To make a long story short, one of the creatures they were experimenting on, a tarantula already the size of a Volkswagon, escaped from the lab when a former assistant, also suffering from acromegaly, set it on fire, as he had gone mad. He also injected Dr. Carroll with the growth formula that would in time give him acromegaly, too.

In a brief period of time the spider has grown to the size of a house, then an office building. He's either very shrewd or very lucky to avoid being spotted, feasting mostly on ranchers and men in remote areas where he won't be seen by others. Guns are useless against the big guy. Dynamite can't kill him, either. He just ambles on right through it. The Air Force has to be called in. I won't tell you any more because I don't want to spoil the ending for you.

As big bug movies go, this one's near the top of my list. It's very well photographed, and the life of the small town is presented with just enough credibility so that even when the story gets a tad weird, the people seem real. I especially liked Nestor Paiva's extremely (to put it mildly) aggressive performance as the sheriff. Forceful as he is, he's never obnoxious, just assertive. Mara Corday doesn't have much to do but look pretty, which she does superbly. The late John Agar is quite good as the town doctor. No, this isn't George C. Scott we're talking about, but Agar is competent. Also, there's something about his looks, the eyes and cheekbones especially, that give him an alien, almost unreal aspect. It's a perfect face for a fifties sci-fi hero. Slightly android.

Leo G. Carroll is his usual diffident self, and he does make a convincing scientist. There's something about Carroll's manner and delivery of dialog that makes you want to hear more. I wish he'd have more to say and more to do, and not just in this movie, in all the movies he appeared in. This isn't exactly a star vehicle for him, but his role is substantial, and in a way it's his low-key underacting that keeps the movie anchored in something that resembles reality. Put a more flamboyant type in the part, a Rathbone or a Lugosi, and the film would be over the top.

Tarantula is a classic example of a 1950s science runs amuck movie. It's a fairly simple movie and plot with all the characteristics of a sci fi, horror movie from the 50s. Nothing very special or unique about it but the film is still a lot of fun to watch. It's has the excitement and dramatic scenes that would have made this a great drive in movie or late night show. As long as you don't take things too seriously, just sit back and relax, it can be a nice reminder of the past that is still interesting to todays viewer. If you liked watching other sci fi, horror movies made in the early to mid 50s, you will also enjoy this one. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Only slightly less classic than "Them!" "Tarantula" still manages to stand on its own as a strong entry in the Giant Bug movies of the 50s. Technically, its not a bug movie as tarantulas are arachnids and not insects, but movie-going audiences of the 50s didn't care. They just wanted to see big ugly bugs crushing everything in their path, and this film certainly delivers in that respect.

Taciturn scientist Leo G. Carroll is a man bent on finding a cure for world hunger. He invents a serum which enlarges whatever animal or insect (or arachnid) it is injected into. Unfortunately, when injected into a human, it causes acromegalia, a disorder marked by progressive enlargement of the head, face, hands, feet, and thorax, due to the excessive secretion of growth hormone. When one of Leo's human guinea pigs comes looking for revenge, he not only destroys the lab and injects the doctor with his own serum, but he shatters the glass cage of a puppy-sized tarantula, which quickly scurries out into the night.

Enter Mara Corday and John Agar. Mara Corday is the new lab assistant for Leo, and John Agar is the country doctor who takes an interest in the dark haired beauty. But there's not much time for romance as the tarantula, now roughly the size of the Goodyear blimp, begins terrorizing the desert. Farm animals are munched upon, and so too are human victims who are found in pools of venom, their bodies literally filled with enough poison to kill ten more men besides. Leo G. Carroll slowly turns into the Elephant Man, the giant spider peeks through the window at Mara in her nightie and Clint Eastwood shows up at films end to fire napalm at the eight legged menace.

Forget about "Earth vs. The Spider" and whatever you do, avoid "The Giant Spider Invasion" at all costs. This is the definitive Giant Spider film. It's smart and fast and well acted, and the spider itself is pretty cool looking, considering the fact that no furry robotic arachnids were constructed for this film, but instead film footage of a real tarantula was blown up and rear projected. It looks pretty good, considering the time. If you liked "Them!" you'll definitely want to check this one out as well.