KISS OF THE TARANTULA

Kiss of the Tarantula Movie Review

After learning her mother and uncle plan on killing her father so they can be together, creepy, spider-loving little girl Susan uses a tarantula to kill her mom. We flash forward a few years and see Susan is now in high school, still loves spiders, and is picked on by several people from school and around town--I'll let you guess what happens to them.

"Want to hold my friend?"

This movie came out during the mid-seventies, and was one of several movies of that decade that revolved around loner weirdos with some connection to animals, which they use to exact revenge--Jennifer and Stanley are two other good examples, and I am realizing now I have yet to review Jennifer--stay tuned. While certainly tame for a horror film (it is rated PG, though would likely get a PG-13 these days), it does have some pretty horrific moments and a small bit of gore. The music is pretty good in this one, helping to set an unsettling mood throughout. Suzanna Ling does a good job as the teenage Susan, and I was surprised to learn this was the only movie she ever appeared in. The rest of the acting is pretty rough, and the pace does slow down incredibly, making it seem longer than its 91 minutes run time. The dialogue is really bad here too, and the directing is awful, but the story itself is interesting enough to keep you hooked. Stick with it--you'll love what happens to the creeper uncle in the end. I wasn't expecting much out of this movie, but Kiss Of the Tarantula turned out a little better than I thought it would be. I give this one a mild recommendation in general, and a must-see if you are into the films I mentioned earlier.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

Kiss of the Tarantula Movie Trailer