TARANTULA is one of those classic '50s monster movies that are beloved of anybody with any affection for the genre whatsoever. These films all had the same template: a huge beastie, brought about by scientific experiments gone wrong, a natural disaster or simply from outer space, wreaks havoc across the world to the desperation of the army who are powerless to stop it. This film ticks all the boxes and remains a camp gem despite having a distinctive lack of 'monster action'; indeed the first hour is all build up, with the giant spider hijinks restrained to the last fifteen minutes. But what a great fifteen minutes they are!Even though the effects are poor (the giant tarantula is clearly see-through) they make one heck of an impact as we watch humans and vehicles chased by the absolutely massive marauding insect. There's death aplenty, along with plenty of explosions and a cameo from a pre-stardom Clint Eastwood as a fighter pilot called in to bomb the beast. Who knew that Eastwood began his career by bombing the heck out of a tarantula? The first hour retains interest thanks to the storyline surrounding misguided scientist (are there any other?) Leo G. Carroll, who's attempting to devise a means of feeding an increasingly growing global population (just think, he tells us: by the year 2000 there will be six billion people on the plant! Yeah, tell me about it!). In effect this means he's injecting the hell out of all manner of critters, turning guinea pigs into the side of pigs. Then there's one of those laboratory brawls that I love; this one reminded me of the one in THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN, as Carroll is attacked by a deformed colleague. He ends up being injected with his own serum, which causes his face to swell and distort rapidly in some pioneering, horrifying special effects work glimpsed towards the climax.Investigating the mayhem is B-movie staple John Agar, who delivers his lines with aplomb and proves to be a solid leading man. Pretty Mara Corday is the female lead, who naturally strikes up a relationship with our handsome hero and proves to have a bit more about her than most leading women of the period. Carroll is excellent as the doomed scientist. The proceedings are helmed by Jack Arnold, no stranger to the genre for his Universal classic CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, and he does a fine job at crafting suspense and choreographing the mutant mayhem. This is a B-movie gem and what the '50s were all about.

Jack Arnold was undoubtedly one of the very best of the 50s sci-fi directors; and, like his eventual successor, John Carpenter, he toiled tirelessly in the Fantasy Field. Consequently, he covered (as has Carpenter) a lot of ground. In TARANTULA!, decades prior to David Cronenberg's "reimagining" of THE FLY, Arnold gives us scientist Leo G. Carroll as an AcroMan- part bug, part human. As a kid reading FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, I would pause and stare at the black and white photos of Carroll in mid-transformation. When I finally saw the movie on television, many years later, I wasn't disappointed: I'd seen lots of transformations in horror and sci-fi movies prior to that one, but there was- and still IS- something that strikes a nerve about it. Long live the AcroMan!

The renowned director Jack Arnold was truly on fire during this period, also turning out such favourites as "It Came from Outer Space", "Creature from the Black Lagoon", and "The Incredible Shrinking Man". This is another solid effort from him and Universal-International; it's intelligent, it's spooky, and it builds to a very big finish.The likable John Agar stars as Matt Hastings, a doctor in the small town of Desert Rock who discovers that the scientific experiments conducted by Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll) have had devastating consequences. Out of the best of intentions, Deemer and his associates have been fooling with a growth formula intended for use in helping a world with too many people and not enough food. The result is a tarantula that grows to MANY times its normal size, and terrorizes the California desert and chows down on any unlucky human (or animal) that it finds.Films such as "Tarantula" may not be for all tastes. Admittedly, it doesn't have that much great tarantula action, but the screenplay, by Robert M. Fresco and Martin Berkeley (based on a story by Arnold and Fresco) is sharp enough, interesting enough, and sometimes amusing enough, to just draw the viewer right in. Arnold parcels the thrills out carefully, tantalizing us a bit at a time until the climax when the enormous tarantula is about to reach Desert Rock and the frantic humans are trying to figure out how to destroy it. One of the most intriguing aspects to the screenplay is the effect that the formula has on human beings.The visual effects are quite good for this sort of thing, but the makeup by Bud Westmore is no less noteworthy. The cinematography by George Robinson is first rate as is the rousing music score by Herman Stein. The acting is extremely engaging from all concerned, with Mara Corday both lovely and appealing as the leading lady who's got brains to match her beauty. The under-rated Carroll is one of those actors to whom you want to listen when he speaks; he carries that kind of authority. Nestor Paiva has an irresistible presence as the jovial sheriff. And be sure to wait for the brief appearance by a certain gravelly voiced, squinty eyed movie legend, in one of his earliest feature film roles.This is just plain fun, and worth watching if you, like this viewer, are a big fan of the many genre productions of the 1950s.Eight out of 10.

This tacky film attempts to exploit mankind's fear of large, hairy spiders but only succeeds in boring us with a hackneyed plot line, wooden dialogue, and way too much filler between appearances of the arachnoid.John Agar and Mara Corday make a fashionable couple but you never sense anyone's home in either one of them. Corday's got the curves and the clothes but never rises above being cardboard. And Agar? All suave superficiality. The giantism angle showed promise. But the movie is opaque as to why two people's faces get so distorted. How's that related?Run, if you see this one crawling toward your cable channel. Eeeewww!