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Directed By
Jack Arnold
Written By:
Robert M. Fresco, Martin Berkeley
Cast:
Leo G. Carroll, John Agar, Mara Corday, Nestor Paiva, Ross Elliott, Clint Eastwood, Raymond Bailey, Hank Patterson, Steve Darrell, Edwin Rand, Bert Holland
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Tarantula (1955)
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I ONLY GOT 8 ARMS TO LOVE YOU
I really....And I do mean "REALLY' (!!) d-i-g Hollywood Sci-fi/Horror flicks from the Fabulous 50's. I really do. I mean, these flicks are so...uh...so...uh...Well, so FIFTIES-ISH!! And, so absolutely FAB, too!!....Yeah....What more can I say?
For this particular Movie-Fanatic sitting here in front of this keyboard, I find that there's something undeniably alluring and unique about this particular era in movie history. 50's flicks intrigue me to no end. There's a hypnotic effect about them. Regardless of what genre of film that I'm refering to...from Westerns, to Film Noir, to Musicals, to Comedies, to Dramas, to Sci-Fi/Horror, to Whatever - the 50's were a distinctive period of magic when it came to the art of movie-making. This ain't no guff. Even low-budget Thrillers and Chillers were produced with a special sort of quality that's clearly got its own recognizable stamp of the 50's labeled right on it.
TARANTULA is a prime example of the ever-popular 'Giant-Bug' subgenre of classic 50's Sci-Fi/Horror. It's definitley one of the best in that category, that's for sure. TARANTULA may not have been a big-budget, billion dollar production, or anything, but, hey, who cares!? Its high production values were evident in every scene. It was extremely entertaining. I certainly have no complaints about the finished product of TARANTULA.
Universal Studios were the guys (and gals) who were responsible for TARANTULA, and many other top-notch Sci-Fi flicks of this thriving decade. When it came to impressive and innovative special-effects, Universal Studios dared to go where no man, or monster, or bug, had gone before. And they did it with such a high-minded flair and style, characteristic of so many 50's flicks. TARANTULA even has a humorous side to it. This is sometimes intentional, sometimes not. I definitely prefered the latter.
TARANTULA's fast-paced story of small-town terror revolves around (what else?) an experiment in the lab that went wrong....YEE-OW!!....And, boy, did this one ever 'go wrong'! A well-meaning scientist working in his isolated lab out in th Arizona Desert has created a super-duper growth formula that could very likely end starvation in the world.
Our nightmare begins when a contaminated tarantula breaks free from its laboratory prison and grows to gargantuan size - with an appetite to match! First it's the farmers' cows that get devoured, but, then, of course, TARANTULA craves a snack of humans, too.....Like, is anyone here at all concerned about submarine-sized TARANTULA TURDS coming down onto their flimsy homes!!??
Filmed in black and white, TARANTULA is colossal Sci-Fi fun from start to finish.
SPECIAL NOTE - Don't blink during TARANTULA's final showdown......A very youthful CLINT EASTWOOD makes a super-brief appearence as a fighter pilot who brings down the 8-legged beast.
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