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The Spike
Astral Engineer
Joined: 23 Sep 2014
Posts: 266
Location: Birmingham. Great Britain.
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 Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 9:34 pm Post subject: Tarantula (1955) |
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Can all mankind escape the terror of its dread embrace...
Professor Gerald Deemer has been working on a special nutrient that will help offset a predicted food shortage, the serum he has created escalates growth in his lab animals at an alarmingly quick rate. Deemer quickly loses control of the experiment and during a fight at his lab a fire breaks out and a Tarantula that is already 50 sizes bigger than it should be, escapes, and soon all species are on the menu!
Tarantula is a big personal fave of mine from this particular genre, so I make no apologies for my uncontrolled bias! The film opens with a facially malformed man running through the desert until he collapses, and from then on in we are treated to a story involving acromegaly (a disease that causes gigantism), and a gigantic tarantula eating everything that gets in its path, its pure sci-fi/horror hokum for sure. However, Tarantula has that knack of spinning the story with only minor glimpses of the spider until we are positively sensing the dread that is about to be unleashed. Using a real spider inserted onto the screened landscape, and then having it crawling over smartly moulded miniature sets, really adds to the creepy fun unfolding. Directed by genre hero Jack Arnold, and starring stoic actors like John Agar & Leo G Carroll, Tarantula is 80 minutes of pure genre entertainment. 8/10
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17637
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:46 pm Post subject: Re: Tarantula (1955) |
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| The Spike wrote: | | Using a real spider inserted onto the screened landscape, and then having it crawling over smartly molded miniature sets, really adds to the creepy fun unfolding. |
Ah-HA! So that's how they got the spider to look as if it was really walking around actual terrain! I didn't know that. 
Nice write-up, Colonel Spike. I like the way you presented all the fascinating facts and left the juicy stuff for me, All Sci-Fi's resident lecher. 
The juicy stuff is, of course, Miss Mara Corda — who is either the most intelligent hottie in history or the hottest smart person, with the possible exception of astronaut/actress Mae Jemison. (She was in an episode of TNG.)
Clearly Miss Corday is a woman I could love for her mind . . . and then work my way down. When she flirts, she makes a man feel like a star-struck Romeo and a drooling idiot, both at the same time.
I'm required by law to state that she was Playboy's Miss October 1958. Her interests are molecular biology, sunbathing in the nude, and fleeing in terror from giant arachnids. I could say she's a well-rounded woman, but that's too predictable.
Anyway, here's her Playboy picture and a few other snapshots from her family album.
 
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Jan 03, 2024 1:30 pm; edited 11 times in total |
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17637
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 10:49 am Post subject: |
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Hey, I'm in the Coincidence Zone!
Last night I discovered that the CHCB chat room was full of people watching Tarantula on MeTV, which I don't have in my DISH package.
Life ain't fair, and DISH sucks. In that order. 
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Sep 14, 2022 2:51 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Pow
Galactic Ambassador
Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3739
Location: New York
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| Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 9:40 am Post subject: |
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The mask created for the monster in Abbott & Costello Meet Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde was re-purposed for other movies.
It was reused in Monster On Campus & in Tarantula for the deformed Leo G.Carroll character. |
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:01 am Post subject: |
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Well, you're right about the same mask being used in all three films. But the one on Leo G. Carroll was not the one several times. It was the deformed lab assistant who wore the mask we also see in A&C Meet J&H, and Monster on Campus.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
Galactic Ambassador
Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3739
Location: New York
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| Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 8:14 am Post subject: |
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That was a great Mr.Hyde mask that they created for A&CMDJ&MH.
The film had some good moments but was not one of their finest efforts. |
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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An interesting fact about the star of this movie — the tarantula itself. IMDB trivia has this:
"The spider that portrayed the giant tarantula later appeared in The Incredible Shrinking Man as the spider that threatened the shrinking man."
A star is born! 
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:11 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Skullislander
Solar Explorer
Joined: 13 Jul 2016
Posts: 74
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 8:26 am Post subject: |
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I read somewhere that bursts of air jets from a tire inflator were used to 'direct' the live tarantulas' 'performance'.
Something very similar was used for a similar giant spider effect in the Three Stooges outing Have Rocket Will Travel: I did get to see this on the big screen and can attest it was very effective writ large. |
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Posts: 17637
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:01 am Post subject: |
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IMDB does in fact say this:
"The tarantula was an actual live spider. Air jets were used to make it move in the desired way over a miniature landscape."
However, I suspect that nothing stronger than someone blowing through a straw would be needed to "annoy" the spider into walking in the direction he was supposed to go.
Anything stronger would blow the poor thing right off the table. 
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
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scotpens
Space Sector Commander
Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 919
Location: The Left Coast
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Bud Brewster wrote: | An interesting fact about the star of this movie — the tarantula itself. IMDB trivia has this:
"The spider that portrayed the giant tarantula later appeared in The Incredible Shrinking Man as the spider that threatened the shrinking man."
A star is born! |
That spider got a lot of work back in the '50s. He must have had a good agent.
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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We should find out what the spider's name was and start a fan club!
You be the president. I'll be the treasurer and collect the dues.
_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Nov 23, 2017 10:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Skullislander
Solar Explorer
Joined: 13 Jul 2016
Posts: 74
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 3:25 am Post subject: |
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Why was there no TARANTULA vs THE FLY in 1959, then?!
OK, different studios, probably.......
There could only be one winner in such a battle, of course-----unless Andre DeLambre utilizes his scientific know-how against the giant spider.
A 2016 version of TARANTULA vs THE FLY sounds like it was made for someone like Tim Burton to seize upon.......now THIS is the sort of re-imagining Hollywood should be backing. |
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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You asked for it? You got it!
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________________ Tarantula eating a fat fly
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
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scotpens
Space Sector Commander
Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 919
Location: The Left Coast
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| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Skullislander wrote: | Why was there no TARANTULA vs THE FLY in 1959, then?!
OK, different studios, probably.......
There could only be one winner in such a battle, of course-----unless Andre DeLambre utilizes his scientific know-how against the giant spider. |
Or unless the story is set during World War II and the spider realizes it's Meatless Tuesday . . . |
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alltare
Quantum Engineer
Joined: 17 Jul 2015
Posts: 349
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| Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| As a young kid, this movie kept me continuously cringing in my theater seat. It was so excellently scary that I had to stay for the second showing. |
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