Tarantula Reviews

The film THEM! enjoyed stunning success in 1954 and brought on many other insect-gone-rampant films in the following years. TARANTULA is such a film. This well-done film, which uses silence to heighten tension, is about a spider that scientist Agar has been working with, testing nutrients on the insect. When the little eight-legged guy gets loose and heads into the desert, the nutrients take full effect and he starts eating cattle instead of flies. The tarantula grows and grows, becoming as big as a city block and developing a taste for humans; the spider also loves to chew on cars and spit them out. Eventually the Air Force is called in and drops napalm on the spider, burning him to death. (We get a brief look at Clint Eastwood at this point.) Director Jack Arnold uses the features of the desert to add to the scariness of the film.