Tarantula

[bunches]

Another movie my brother took me to see when I was an impressionable six year old.  My sister-in-law told me that "There aren't any spiders like that around here.  BUT they do live on the other side of the world, and SOMETIMES they come over here".  I rode the whole way home from the drive in with my feet up on the seat, and would never let my legs dangle off the side of my bed.  Scared the cr*p out of me!

[Xenorama]

acromegaly is a real disease, it's what Andre the Giant had.

David

[RCMerchant]

acromegaly is a real disease, it's what Andre the Giant had.

David

Rondo Hatton too.

[RCMerchant]

Is this the same Jack Arnold who produced and directed the giant-spider episode of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND?  If so, was the movie parody intentional?

YES!!!! 

I have to visit the Reader comments and reviews section more often...lotsa interesting stuff going on here...!  

[Flangepart]

My second favorite giant insect movie next to THEM.The scene where the TARANTULA destroys the house trying to eat the leading lady scared the hell out of me as a kid.AT LEAST he ate the scientist he was far more scarier then the spider.A GREAT MOVIE.

Good film.
Ya ever think the spider must have been starving? How much nutrition does one human give a bug that big? No wonder its on an eating spree!

[Titus]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the big one...

... watch the ending of the movie, and listen to the jet pilots voice ("alright. fire two rockets...")


let's just say, the actor could've told the spider "Do you feel lucky? Well, do you , punk?"

[Titus]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the big one...

... watch the ending of the movie, and listen to the jet pilots voice ("alright. fire two rockets...")


let's just say, the actor could've told the spider "Do you feel lucky? Well, do you , punk?"

the did mention

classic

[Flu-Bird]

The part where those two farmers are driving their pick-up you can hear sheep or goats but the back of their truck is empty save for some cages

[Flu-Bird]

They reused this big spider in the THREE STOOGES movie HAVE ROCKET WILL TRAVEL but this time its on VENUS and its breathen fire

[Silverlady]

I must have been about six or so when I saw this movie.  I just remember being terrified and coming home and hiding under a telephone table in my parents living room. Remember telephone tables? Real  fifties!

[HorrorofBob]

 :hot:I'll say because that damned tarantula comes awfully close to the Mayberry of Arizona before Clint and his flyboys of the Air Farce crisp it into spider fries.  If that wind is not blowing in the right direction, the practice of Doc will be toast. 
Some of the scenes, especially at night are creepy to say the least and while the makeup job on Deemer when he is last seen is not good by today's standards, when I first looked upon his severely deformed countenance, I was mighty shocked.
Steve is rather sexy for a man woman.  You would think that Matt Hastings would call her Steffie.  No, he has to call her Steve.  And boy, does she catch it from Prof. Deemer after she brings Matt back to the lab at the end of her little shopping spree.
Well, for Deemer it is all down hill from here.
Did I forget one little thing?  You bet, the Tarantula is scootin' feet around the desert chewing up cows, pickup trucks, horsies, and farmers.  After a big meal, it drops bits of excess digestive fluid in the large economy size.  When Matt takes a sample to the experts and says that there are mass quantities of the stuff, he is called a liar or on an LSD trip.
Well, all ends well but I still wonder how long it took the giant inferno to reach little ole Mayberry, Arizona.

[SwimTiger]

This movie was entertaining. Also Clint Eastwood had a small part as being one of the Air Force pilots.

[tracy]

I hadn't seen this movie in years when it showed up on THIS network. You gotta love these sorts of big creeping bug films!

[Mofo Rising]

This was really a lovely film.

I remember seeing snippets of Tarantula as a kid, and finding it absolutely terrifying. Those shots of a giant tarantula slowly crawling its way across the desert in black and white burned their way into my brain.

I finally watched the whole movie a few days ago, thirty years or so after my first viewing.

I liked it a lot. The story is pretty much the stereotypical '50s science horror type film, nothing to write home about. What sets this film apart is the fantastic visual effects. The "villain" is the giant tarantula, which still works incredibly well. The tarantula is such a primal image, and seeing it blown up several thousand times with really very good FX is fantastic.

I don't know if the rest of the score is different, but the director Jack Arnold uses the exact same horn cues he used in his legitimately great Creature From the Black Lagoon.

This is a great film, if you like this sort of thing.