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Holistic Guidance - Tarantula (1955)
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List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $29.99
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Starring: John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll, Nestor Paiva, Ross Elliott
Directed By: Jack Arnold
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302763836
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6302763835
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: 1994-05-26
Running Time: 81
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1955-12-14
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Editorial Reviews:
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When the radiation-spawned giant ants of Them! swarmed over American screens to become one the most successful films of 1954, it didn't take long for the rest of the insect kingdom to follow suit. The best of these mutant bug movies is Jack Arnold's giddy Tarantula, with Leo G. Carroll as a scientist whose experimental, radiation-treated nutritional supplements transform the title creature into a rampaging monster. The hungry arachnid graduates from rabbits to cattle to people as it grows and creeps across the barren countryside in search of food, dwarfing the desert hills in simple but unsettling special effects shots. John Agar plays the square-jawed doctor who tries to warn the local populace of the impending menace and Clint Eastwood has a bit as an Air Force pilot called in to bomb the now mountain-sized spider. It's an essentially silly story with plenty of heroic dashing about and monster-movie tropes ("See its mandibles crush cars like a tin cans!"), but Arnold, one of the most talented and thoughtful genre directors of the 1950s (It Came From Outer Space, The Incredible Shrinking Man), creates a surprisingly eerie mood with his austere visual style and winds the film up with his tension-building rapid pacing. Composer-playwright Richard O'Brien liked the film so much he immortalized it in the Rocky Horror Picture Show: "Leo G. Carroll was over a barrel when the Tarantula took the hills." The film still straddles the line between nostalgic goofiness and smart sci-fi thrills. --Sean Axmaker
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: CLINT EASTWOOD VS TARANTULA THIS IS ON DVD!
Comment: This is a classic 50's sci-fi movie about a giant tarantula terrorizing a small town. Very good special effects and a very well written story make this one a top notch sci-fi adventure! Look close in the final moments of the film as it is a young Clint Eastwood who saves the day as the jet squadron leader who saves the day! Even when he was just starting out he was a hero! This is a must have movie and is part of a 5 movie collection called Classic Sci Fi Ultimate Collection! Don't confused this with "Earth VS the Spider" which is good too! The DVD transfer is sweet! "CB" Harry saves the day again!
Customer Rating:
Summary: FINALLY -- OUT ON DVD
Comment: [..]
Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection: There's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide as five incredible science fiction films crash down on DVD for the first time ever in The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection! This fascinating, collectible set will shock, terrify, and captivate you with film favorites from the golden age of Hollywood including Tarantula, The Mole People, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Monolith Monsters, and Monster on Campus. Featuring amazing, ground-breaking special effects, these classics set the standard for all sci-fi terror to come! Tarantula An experiment to create a growth formula that could end starvation evolves into a nightmare when a contaminated spider grows gargantuan - with an appetite to match! The Mole People Deep below the surface of the earth, three scientists stumble upon a tyrannical tribe of albinos who have enslaved a mutant- and dangerous- race of mole people. The Incredible Shrinking Man After encountering a mysterious radioactive mist, an ordinary businessman finds his physical size diminishing as his ordinary household becomes a terrifying trap of doom. The Monolith Monsters In a desperate race against time and nature, a geologist and a scientist must find a way to stop the effects of killer outer-space rocks that are literally petrifying people with fear! Monster on the Campus Terror sweeps a college campus when the discovery of a prehistoric fish turns animals and humans that come into contact with it into bloodthirsty monsters.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A 1950'S CLASSIC!
Comment: Sometimes I really wish I had been born 15 years earlier so I would have been able to enjoy great films like "Them" and "Tarantula" at a drive-in movie. That really would have been fun. Tarantula has always been one of my favorites in the Giant insect genre of films and I rank it right up there (almost) with "Them".
Professor Deemer is working on an experimental nutrient to solve the worlds hunger problem. During a fight with an assistant, a Tarantula that had been injected with the experimental formula escapes and begins to mutate, growing large and larger. Soon the giant arachnid is out feeding on livestock, ranchers, and just about anything else that gets in its way. A local doctor played by the great John Agar eventually is able to determine that white stuff found at the site of the attacks is spider venom. Soon the local police and residents take on the giant spider but bullets and even dynamite don't slow it down. Finally its decided to call in the Air Force where we get a brief glimpse of Clint Eastwood in an early, uncredited role as an air force pilot.
Sure the special effects are cheesy by today's CGI standards but this is still a great movie and wonderful fun. The type you want to watch on a summer night at the drive in with a big bowl of popcorn.
Customer Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC SCI-FI THRILLER*****DVD PLEASE ********
Comment: So when is this great old film coming out on DVD?????? Many of us are eagerly waiting for this one to add to our library. I put this one right up there with "The Day the Earth Stood Still" & "Creature From the Black Lagoon". These are always great for repeat viewings on Sunday afternoons..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ultimate 50s sci fi!
Comment: Tarantula is a highlight of the continuous stream of monster B movies produced in the 50s and 60s. This is the story of a lifelong scientist (Leo Carroll), who is attempting to produce technology for the world to benefit from. When he is attacked one night by one of his former partners, a mutated tarantula is set loose in an Arizona town. The town medical doctor (John Agar), realizes that life is at stake, and must find a way to destroy this creature before it is too late. The formula used to mutate the arachnid has produced fatal effects on humans, deforming and killing them in a matter of 4 days.
Jack Arnold's edge of your seat lore did not need to be remade several years ago. If they are planning to outdo the 1950's "Tarantula", they should forget the idea right now. Movies just are not made like that anymore, and it just cannot be equaled by modern technology. Pick this horror film up, and you will discover why so many of these type of films were made in that time.
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