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Tarantula
RRP: £9.99
Our Price: £3.68 (subject to change)
It's got legs and it knows how to use them
Review date: 2008-08-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
Leo G. Carroll, "The Parent Trap" (1961), is the Professor. He was working with a formula that made things grow, really grow. He is the good guy and trying to find an answer to world hunger. There is a difference of opinion and the scuffle starts a fire. The professor gets injected and the tarantula escapes.
John Agar, "The Brain from Planet Arouse" (1957), gets to be Doctor Matt Hastings the good guy.
Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" (1971), is a fighter pilot and gets to bomb the tarantula.
I saw this at the movies when I was a kid. The creature had habit of leaving white stuff everywhere it did it's thing. The film broke for a commercial at that time and was advertising tooth powder. "Powder your teeth. Don't past them." Needles to say I cringe at the site of white tooth powder to this day.
So an alternate title for this movie could be "daddy-longlegs"
Similar Products
- Incredible Shrinking Man [1957]
- Them [1954]
- It Came From Outer Space [1953]
- The Thing From Another World [1951]
- It Came From Beneath The Sea [1955]
Reviews
You're gonna need a bigger terrarium!!!
Review date: 2007-11-21 Rating: 8 out of 10
This film contains many of the elements of a classic 1950s sci-fi/horror movie - a mad scientist, a scientific experiment that inevitably goes wrong resulting in the creation of a monster which goes on the rampage and the US armed forces being called upon to save the day.
However, this movie is better than most films of this type from this era because it is well-acted with characters you actually care about and the special effects are quite good by 1950s sci-fi horror movie standards. The action moves along at a fair old pace and the film itself looks in pretty good shape bearing in mind it is over 50 years old.
Look out for a young Clint Eastwood towards the end of the film as a US Air Force pilot. You may be interested to know that Mara Corday who played Stephanie Clayton, the female lead in `Tarantula', later went on to appear in four other Clint Eastwood films - `The Gauntlet', `Sudden Impact', `Pink Cadillac' and `The Rookie'.
Classic 50's B-Movie Sci-Fi...
Review date: 2007-10-16 Rating: 10 out of 10
Another slice of classic B-Movie 'Giant Bug' action here from master of the genre, Jack Arnold...
The legendary director of 'Creature From The Black Lagoon' and 'Revenge Of The Creature' (amongst many other classics) causes havoc with a genetically altered mutant spider in this hugely enjoyable and highly atmospheric piece of hokum.
The spooky American desert is the setting for said spider, which escapes from a scientists lab, only for Arnold regular John Agar to uncover the truth and try and track it down.
If you're a fan of the genre (Them!, Creature, etc), you'll absolutely love this. The effects benefit massively from using a transposed real spider over the top of many shots rather than a plastic dummy (although that's used for some close-up's) and the whole thing rattles along with the usual suspense, atmosphere and taut dialogue.
Perfect for a dark wintery Saturday afternoon or a late night during the week, at just an hour and a bit, whack this on and let that spooky atmosphere do the rest...
Great stuff...
Round up up your livestock and stand guard
Review date: 2007-08-22 Rating: 6 out of 10
I haven't seen any of the 1950's films the previous reviewer mentions , so I can only judge "Tarantula" on it's own merits. I found it to be a reasonably entertaining , though somewhat dated monochrome movie. Featured in an engaging plot are an attractive young scientific couple, mad scientists, a clueless sheriff, several gruesome latex masks and of course a tarantula the size of a house. What more could you ask for, apart from an updated CGI remake ?
The 1950's brought us several sci-fi classics.......this is NOT one of them!!
Review date: 2007-04-17 Rating: 4 out of 10
American post war movie audiences had become a little tired of war and western films, so one or two of the major studios turned to science fiction, producing such classics as 'The War Of The Worlds' and 'Forbidden Planet'. The fears created by the nuclear age were also exploited, spawning a spate of creature features like the brilliant 'Them' (about giant mutated ants near the site of the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico) and this very poor imitation...'Tarantula'.
Set in the deserts of Arizona, scientists researching a growth hormone decide to mix it with a radioactive isotope (why?) and inject it into anything with a pulse....including themselves! This leads to madness, mutation, murder, a fire in the lab and the escape of a very fast growing.....yes you've guessed it! The rest, I'm afraid, is just predictable tosh!
The plot is flimsy and the script full of dreadful cliches, the special effects are rubbish even for their day, and the acting (apart from the ever charismatic Leo G. Carroll) is more wooden than my garden shed!!
I remember seeing this film on TV when I was a child, and having not seen it since I decided to purchase this low price DVD out of curiosity. From that point of view I enjoyed watching it again after all these years, but I cant recommend it on any other level.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Leo G. Carroll
Mara Corday
John Agar
Creators:
John Agar (Primary Contributor)
Mara Corday (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
EAN: 5050582409741
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-02-06
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 77 minutes
Language: English (Original Language)