Tarantula

Great classic monster movie up there with Them and Godzilla!!

I first caught this movie one night back in the 1980s on a local channel at about 3:00am, and I loved it immediately, as I do many 1950s sci-fi/horror flicks. This one creeped me out too. I came upon this DVD and bought it on the spot. I wanted to see it again and see if it still holds up for me. It does, and I still love it. The mood and vibe of the film is still creepy, and the 1950s special effects, primitive as they are, work very well and also still hold up. Directed by Jack Arnold, this is no surprise. The scenes with the giant tarantula suddenly walking into the frame, or suddenly popping up and crawling over the top of a mountain while eyeing new human prey as it starts down the other side, are still creepy and menacing. This is a great little flick, right up there with Arnold's other great films of the genre, as well as the works of others in the genre such as "THEM!", "The Fly" and "The Thing From Another World" etc. The cast is excellent, with both fine established character actors, as well as at least one up and coming actor in a small role here who would go on to become an American icon. This would be Clint Eastwood, who makes his appearance near the end of the film as he prepares for his later "Dirty Harry" character by getting dirty with a 100 foot spider who is anything but a "punk." Sorry, I couldn't resist.The leading man here is John Agar who is quite good in the role as the comforting small town doctor who helps figure the mystery out, and as a little piece of trivia, the leading lady here is the gorgeous Mara Corday, who would many years later meet up with Mr. Eastwood face to face as "Loretta" in the coffee shop robbery scene of the Dirty Harry film "Sudden Impact." The film print and transfer here are excellent. It is sharp, clear, and any sort of imperfections, especially for a film of this vintage, are not even worth mentioning. It appears to have been taken straight from the original 1955 negative, and it looks pretty fantastic. You likely won't see the film looking any better than it does here. Not enough to matter. The audio is 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono, and it's clean. clear and fine. This all said, this DVD is about as bare bones as it gets. It consists of the film, and nothing else - and I mean "nothing" else. There isn't even a menu. As soon as you pop it into your player, the movie begins. I guess that's the point of these Universal "Vault Series" releases. Vintage and hard to find '50s sci-fi classics that would otherwise likely never see the light of day on DVD. A few little extra tidbits would've been cool, but I feel lucky just to have a nice DVD copy of this vintage sci-fi classic. If you like the movie and simply want to see it and own a copy, you can't go wrong here.

If you are a ‘50s monster movie fan you will be good with this movie. The special effects are good for the period and the acting is also good. The monster is believable.

Love this movie. A real classic. I've seen it several times.

This is a classic creature feature that is for all those who hate spiders. Even though it's aged, it's still a great one to watch, especially if you have acrophobia.

Definitely one of the better sci-fi bee movies and it was the first ever movie that Clint Eastwood appeared in. I think he was in it for just over a minute at the very end. His face is covered so you probably won't notice but he's the lead fighter pilot.Overall a good script with a great storyline that is believable.Being that spiders are one of those creatures that usually scares the bejesus out of people having one that's the size of a building would definitely scare the average person and this one delivers in spades.Overall very well acted and very good photography. A black and white film that you would swear was filmed yesterday.They must have if your true sci-fi guy or gal.

This review is actually just about the Universal Vault presentation (since if you're reading this, you already know the popularity and cultural status of this movie).Purchased my DVD-R Mar 2013Format: Originally filmed on 35mm (Spherical process) and softmatted to 1.85:1 for presentation, this presentation shows you more than the director intended by "opening up the matte" to a 1.33:1 presentation. So, while you are getting all the movie, you're also getting what the director didn't intend to be on screen (to a degree). -.25 in qualityPQ: Astounding for print of its agent and not re-mastered. If the very finest DVDs reach a scale of 4/5 (Bluray being 5/5), this disc would rate 3.60/4 - only marred by specs and flecks and grain a little "too" apparent at times for my taste. Definitely high quality that no one would complain about.AQ: Originally a Mono (Western Electric Recording) , this presentation is DD 2.0 (Dolby Stereo)w avg 192kbps. No annoying hiss, or tin can sound either. Very fine.This Region 1 (only) DVD-R is recorded with avg Bit Rate of 7.80 Mbps at 480i 29.97 fps so best presentation will be with a DVD player that upscales (or at least de-interlaces). 8 Chapters stops on the disc (though NO splash / title menu / chapter titles, or special features).You can't go wrong with this purchase of this classic monster flick. The only thing better would be a blu-ray with special features.

I grew up watching these giant bug movies whil in..e I was a boy, and I have a soft spot in my heart (and maybe my head) for them. TARANTULA is one of the better ones. Not as good as THEM but pretty well done as directed by Jack Arnold. The hero is played by handsome John Agar, a fixture in these early sci-fi flicks, and the heroine is played by the lovely Mara Corday. Added credibility is given by the presence of veteran Hitchcock actor, Leo G. Carrol as the mad scientist. at the time, Carroll was starring on TV as TOPPER, and when he first appeared on screen, all the kids screamed "Cosmo TOPPER!". An experiment to provide a new animal feed creates giant animals and, one day, a Tarantula escapes into the desert and continues to grow. The SFX are all back projection and process shots, but they worked well, back in the day. I don't really think you need to spend extra money for the Blu Ray version, though. Look around for the regular DVD release. Old movies like this can only be improved just so much.After that, it becomes pointless.

As a big science fiction fan, I have always loved the theme of giant mutant monsters. These films and the ones about flying saucers are all a bit dated but they were all the rage in the '50s. They may have dated a bit in concept and execution, but it has made an array of charming films that you couldn't do in our time. Films like Godzilla, THEM and this film, Tarantula! pretty much defines that era of monster movies.Tarantula! is a charming film from 1955. It's a science fiction monster film (as mentioned above) directed by Jack Arnold and produced by William Alland. The film stars John Agar and the lovely Mara Corday and was released through Universal International. The premise is pretty good. The jist of it is a slightly deranged scientist is performing experiments on all kinds of life, he is attacked by a mysteriously deformed man and one of his experiments gets loose. It grows to an impressive size and reigns terror over the area. It's a good simple story that checks all the right boxes.Visually, I really liked the way film looked. The special effects for the Tarantula itself were pretty well done. A lot of its flaws I think were hidden behind the fact the film is in black and white. But it blends rather well into the background shots for the most part and only looks wonky in a few specific scenes. I liked the close up shots where some poor fellows become lunch. Some nice large scale models used there. The transfer of the film is really good. These '50s era films always seem to translate well to hi-definition and Tarantula! is no exception. It's a pretty clean transfer for the most part and doesn't show it's age too often.As a film, I rather enjoyed it. It's not going to win awards for originality but the actors all did a good job and the pacing at eighty minutes long, it's about as spot on as it can get. The film starts with a nice bit of mystery and devolves into pure madness. It's a fun exciting time and has held up rather well. I particularly like the fact that Clint Eastwood miraculously shows up at the end to save the day. Sadly, he didn't have one of his usual quips to accompany the moment, being pre-fame and all.Honestly, I really enjoyed this movie and I would certainly recommend it. It's definitely one of the better mutant monster movies and has held up rather well. Those looking to scrutinize the dated effects etc will have a ball here but I think they did a great job with the technology of the time. With the video quality being consistently good and the decent price, it's easy to justify adding this to your sci-fi movie collection.

Giant creepy terror. The film is reminiscent of those classic B movies of the 1950s. There are fantastic views of a giant spider crawling over a settlement in the American Desert. The plot follows the story of a professor who creates a serum that causes creatures to become giants. One is an injected tarantula that escapes to a terrifying effect.

Excellent 50s sci fi creature feature, in this case a large angry tarantula.The special effects, usually not good in these films, are much more effective than the norm due to the twilight the creature inhabits which hides imperfections. The spider looming over a hill towards it's supper is quite creepy. Early prosthetic makeup not too bad either. A quick cameo by Dirty Harry as the pilot with no name who kills the spider as well. Recommended.

Love 50s scifi movies including Them

One of the better 50's creature feature films featuring an uncredited Clint Eastwood as the lead pilot in the final scenes.