Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 81 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: B&W 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Jack Arnold
Cast: John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll, Nestor Paiva, Ross Elliott
Synopsis: Biochemist Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll, North by Northwest) has a plan to feed the world by using a growth formula on plants and animals. Instead he creates terror beyond imagining when his work spawns a spider of mammoth proportions! Feeding on cattle and humans, this towering tarantula has the people of Desert Rock, Arizona running for their lives. Can this horrifying creature be stopped or will the world succumb to its giant claws?
Here we have Dr. Deemer (Leo G. Carroll, Strangers on a Train) experimenting on insects and animals in the Arizona desert, he's been working on an irradiated serum which promotes unusual growth in the creatures, but sure enough the lab caches fire allowing a dog-sized tarantula to be set loose.
Not long after local physician Dr. Hastings (John Agar, The Mole People) is investigating a strange series of human and cattle deaths in the area, his investigation takes him out to Dr. Deemer's lab, where the smarmy doc meets sexy new lab assistant Stephanie (The Black Scorpion), and the pair begin to sleuth the mystery together, both unaware of Deemer's involvement.
There are scenes of the authorities finding large white pools of an unknown substance n the ground, and I always laugh when Dr. Hastings just sticks his finger into the pool of goo and tastes it, surmising that yup, that's insect venom alright, never mind that the amount he licked off his finger like it was frosting on a beater would have probably killed a hundred men! The spider effects in this one are pretty dang cool-looking for the era, using real spiders composited into the scenes instead of puppetry and/or stop-motion animation. Also keep an eye/ear out for an unaccredited Clint Eastwood as the squadron leader who dumps a load of napalm of the eight-legged freak right at the end!
Audio/Video: Tarantula (1955) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, licensed from Universal, with a new 2K scan from unspecified original film elements. The black and white image looks solid, featuring good crisp detail and sharp looking contrast levels throughout, framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA Mono with optional English subtitles, it's solid without any notable rough patches.
Extras include a fantastic new audio commentary with Film Historian Tom Weaver, as well as contributions from Dr. Robert J. Kiss, David Schecter and director Joe Dante. It's a top-notch commentary offering anecdotes about the making of the film, production notes and readings from various interviews and biographies from key players, speaking about how some of the FX shots were achieved and how this film was heavily influenced by the Science Fiction Theatre episode "No Food for Thought".
The single-disc release arrives in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of artwork sporting the gorgeous original movie poster illustration, the reverse side featuring a landscape framed zoom-on on that same key artwork.
Other extras include a 2-min trailer for the film, a 4-min still gallery also containing publicity shots, and a 5-min gallery of posters, lobby cards and print media ads.
Special Features:
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements
- NEW Audio Commentary With Film Historians Tom Weaver, Dr. Robert J. Kiss, And David Schecter
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
- Still Gallery (4 min)
- Poster and Lobby Card Gallery
Monster Kids of all-ages should rejoice with eight-legged creature feature Tarantula (1955) arriving on Blu-ray from Scream Factory! Director Jack Arnold is a bit of an unsung director in the world of science-fiction cinema, bringing us such notable movies as The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and It Came from Outer Space (1953), he's just not praised often enough in my opinion. Having directed Creature from the Black Lagoon alone should have cemented his place as monster movie royalty, but this big-spider movie is yet another feather in his filmography, and Scream Factory did good bringing it to Blu-ray with a terrific looking 2K transfer and a great new commentary track.
