tomgillespie2002 One of countless 'big bug' features to come out of the U.S. during the 1950s, Jack Arnold's Tarantula is one of the most enjoyable of its kind. After Gordon Douglas' Them! really kicked off the fad in the previous year, Tarantula has everything audiences came to love about the genre; a dusty, middle-of-nowhere Arizona setting, the handsome yet charisma-free hero, the screeching love interest, the shady doctor who certainly knows far more than he is letting on, and, of course, the giant, 'terrifying' monster. What makes this film slightly more interesting than others of its ilk is the fact that it doesn't blame radiation on the deformed beast, but actually attempts to tell a story.After renowned biological research scientist Eric Jacobs (Eddie Parker) is found dead in the desert, apparently suffering from a rapid form of acromegaly, Dr. Matt Hastings (John Agar) is called in from a nearby town to investigate. When Hastings suggests an autopsy to figure out what brought on such a rare disease and how it killed Jacobs so quickly, Dr. Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll), one of Jacobs' colleagues, refuses his request and signs the death certificate himself. Back at Deemer's isolated desert research lab, it is revealed that the doctor has been experimenting on animals in a bid to save the future planet's food shortage, and has increased the size of a number of his subjects, including a tarantula. After a fire destroys Deemer's lab, the Arizona landscape is soon overshadowed by the giant, hungry arachnid. While a radioactive isotope does crop up at one point, the 50 foot spider is purely the handiwork of a scientist with good intentions rather than government nuclear tests, and therefore Tarantula creates an interesting and conflicted character in Caroll's Deemer. Caroll certainly chews every scene, but proves a far more appealing male lead than the bland Agar. Yet the real star of Tarantula is the creature itself. The combination of matte effects and the use of a real spider, which would later be used on The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) have aged spectacularly well, only failing to convince during the brief close-up shots of the last thing a few poor (and seemingly blind) souls see before they're gobbled up. While the climax is over before you know it, there's fun to be had in trying to spot a young and uncredited Clint Eastwood as a fighter pilot. It's no longer scary (was it ever?), but it has charm by the bucket load.

ben-grunert1 One of my favorite classic sci-fi horror flicks of all time. My dad and I have watched it probably about 200 times. The somewhat cheesy acting of John agar combined with the more serious tone of Leo g Carroll makes for an awesome satisfying blend. The characters and the plot in itself make for a great watch as a scientist (Carroll) named professor Deemer is using some kind of serum to grow animals in his lab that have grown well above their usual size and grow at a faster pace. Of course the tarantula is injected with this and escapes as one of Deemer's students who injected himself with it for some reason and is totally mutated fights with Deemer and knocks him out and injects him with the serum then dies. Deemerwakes up and slowly becomes mutated throughout the flick. Of course there is also a love interest between a woman who is staying at Deemer's lab as a student (Corday) and the main hero (Agar) who ends up saving her from the tarantula who kills Deemer towards the end by knocking down his house. Many random deaths ensue as the spider wreaks havoc until finally the Air Force comes in and destroys the monster after several attempts including sticks of dynamite are used to try and kill the monster. One aspect of the movie that makes all the more better is that the seemingly evil professor actually is a tragic character who didn't mean for his colleagues to suffer from the serum and didn't want all of this to happen and just wanted to increase growth of animals and food. Overall the plot and acting is great for a movie of this type/genre and of this decade of horror movies and goes down as one of my favorites and one that I would recommend for any people who love classic horror/sci-fi flicks and are looking for an entertaining watch.

chaos-rampant The story is typical of its time and not interesting at all: atomic science goes wrong, humanity is revealed to be small and helpless in the face of forces it does not comprehend. It's funny how everything on the human end of horror is what we jeer at in bad slasher movies; the slow and lumbering threat fails to convince, and that is painfully underscored by having victims trip and fall over, cars that don't start, etc.The monster end is of some (limited) appeal. A real spider was used, it helps a great deal.The way it is incorporated into the human landscape is mostly good: imposing shots of beast and desert, both of equal stature and balanced; perspective play for tension - 'big' humans in the foreground, 'small' spider in the background, and reversed; pov camera from the spider's mouth for the kills.The product of haywire technology is destroyed by even more haywire, destructive technology; napalm. The town solemnly watches as the creature is engulfed in flames. In about ten years time, the town would be a Vietnamese village.

cokezero99 This is one of those films which you see the poster, hear the gist of it and think, "yeeeeahhh!" because you already have an idea of what enjoyment you'll find in the film. The plot of the film is pretty predictable: science + nature = disaster. That's a somewhat common theme in other films too. A real tarantula is used to portray the monster (with occasional use of animatronics). Using trick photography and miniature sets at times this is achieved. This works well as tarantulas are creepy and unnerving even as nature intended so seeing one portrayed so massively really works. Even by today's CGI standards it looks unnerving.The characters aren't really important here but they fill their roles satisfactorily. The story could do with a little more and the writing too. Just a touch more to flesh out the story and such.I recommend this mainly to those who like spider-based films (e.g. Eight Legged Freaks, Arachnophobia, etc) and fans of "big creatures vs. man" films.