TARANTULA (1955)

TARANTULA (1955)

Tagline: Bullets Can't Stop It! Dynamite Can't Kill It!

(Sci-Fi, Horror, Kill It With Fire) [G]

Note: This movie was never given an MPAA rating, but I think it would have gotten a G. There is nothing here worse than what we see in GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, but if you have Arachnophobia this is probably not going to be for you. It was usually part of a double feature theatrically with RUNNING WILD. 

No footprints! No blood! No sign of a struggle! The bones just stripped clean like peeling a banana!

In this one, a scientist concerned about foot shortages in the distant future decides it’s time to make stuff bigger. He’s got a rabbit and a tarantula and now it’s time to throw caution to the wind. During an incident with a human experiment, the tarantula escapes. Dr. Matt Hastings is investigating the mysterious death of a Mr. Jacobs when he runs into Stephanie Clayton. The two hit it off right away, but their budding romance will have to wait because there are deadly circumstances awaiting this small unassuming Arizona town that all seem to point to a tarantula too gigantic to be believed. 

First off, any time Mara Corday shows up in a sci-fi flick, it’s probably going to be amazing. It generally means a giant freakin something is going to show up and wreck everyone’s day. With films like THE BLACK SCORPION and THE GIANT CLAW under her belt, I was excited to finally watch this full movie. Prior to recently, I had only ever seen clips, never the whole movie. So was this movie any good? 

Well, the short answer is yes. The score is effective, and the effects are very good for the era. The pacing of the film is very good and even though it’s a solid 80 minutes which was kind of long for the time, it moves along at a good clip and doesn’t waste any time capturing your attention. The whole story behind the tarantula is pretty cool and we even get a brief biology lesson on tarantulas in general.  

Acting-wise this is probably Mara’s second-best movie role. She takes on the role of Stephanie Clayton or “Steve”,  here, but doesn’t get as many lines as she did in THE GIANT CLAW.  We also get John Agar as Dr. Matt Hastings and this is definitely my favorite character he plays. Agar’s other big sci-fi roles were in THE MOLE PEOPLE and ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE, but he was in several more. The other main actor in this is Leo G. Carroll who is basically a mad scientist with good intentions. Carroll is great in the role and he was active in Hollywood from 1934 to 1970. It does however look like this was his only sci-fi claim to fame in the 50s. We also get a very brief Clint Eastwood appearance.  

If there is anything that I would have liked to see done differently it would be having the tarantula show up more times as something more than a silhouette. One thing THE BLACK SCORPION did very effectively gives us really good lighting on the scorpions in multiple shots. Having said that, the way they show the spider does add to the “horror” element. The movie takes place in Arizona but was actually shot in California. 

Overall this is a solid 7 out of 7 for me with apologies to the spider haters. I am not a big fan either, but this movie is just incredibly done and is definitely the best of the giant bug movies.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.