Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

bsmith5552 "Tarantula" was one of a series of Sci/Fi/mutated monster films that were popular in the 1950s. This one is better than most.A mutated man turns up dead in the desert. He turns out to be a scientist named Jacobs. He has apparently died from an affliction that takes several years to develop but has developed it in just a few days. Town doctor Matt Hastings (John Agar) becomes suspicious. Professor Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll), Jacobs associate confirms that the man had died from the dreaded disease over a period of four days.Later at Professor Deemer's lab we learn that he has been experimenting with a nutrient that accelerates the growth in animals and spiders (eeeuuu!). The professor is attacked by his other assistant Lund, who causes a fire during which a giant tarantula escapes. Before he dies, Lund injects the professor with the deadly nutrient.The comely young Stephanie "Steve" Clayton arrives to take up a post with Jacobs, however since he is dead Professor Deemer takes her on. "Steve" and Matt become attracted to each other (who knew?). Meanwhile the escaped tarantula begins to wreak havoc killing animals and whatever people cross its path. The professor was unaware that the spider had not perished in the fire you see.As the tarantula heads toward town, it stops to destroy the Professor's home...and the professor. To combat the giant spider the air force is called in and just as the jets are about to fire, I'm sure I heard the squadron leader say...Go ahead...make my day.The special effects are quite good for a low budget "B" + movie. The tarantula effects are quite convincing. John Agar, who had been married to Shirley Temple, is nothing more than a card board hero whose main purpose in the film is to ride around in his brand new '55 Ford convertible. Mara Corday is lovely as the heroine and Leo G. Carroll adds an air of sophistication as the "mad scientist".Others in the cast include Nestor Paiva as the Sheriff, Ross Elliott as the newspaper editor, Raymond Bailey as a scientist and good old Hank Patterson as the desk clerk Josh.

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.

skybrick736 I went into Tarantula without some of the expectations that I've had from other classics giant monster movies and it took me by surprise. I dug the characters being the doctor, professor, sheriff, and the main lead actress named "Steve". Yes you heard that right her name was Steve. Anyway, the movie has a great premise and really takes its time to develop with good filler scenes before it gets to the meat and potatoes about the giant tarantula. The tarantula scenes gave me the heebie jeebies knowing that it was a real spider with zoomed in shots. Tarantula coming out a year later after Them! might have outdone it which I'm surprised to admit, it's a must see.