KISS OF THE TARANTULA

US, 1976, 85 minutes, Colour.
Suzanna Ling, Eric Mason.
Directed by Charles Munger.

An American 'B' horror thriller. It is reminiscent of so many films of its kind. However, it has a certain flair and style. It seems to have the courage of its convictions: the heroine and her fascination with spiders, her vengeance on people she hates taken to the limits. It is an interesting example of its kind. especially for those who enjoy this kind of animal menace and horror thriller.

1. The entertainment value of this kind of horror film? The fascination with spiders, their poison, venom, ability to frighten and kill? The spider as the symbol of the heroine? Audience participation in horror thrillers - atmosphere, shocks and scares? Nightmares and the imagination?

2. The conventions of this kind of horror film: introduction to the sweet seeming heroine and discovering the truth about her, the killings and their motivation? Her love towards the spiders and bonds with them? Her using them against people? The ugliness of the deaths? The build-up of terror? Confrontations?

3. Colour photography, American atmosphere, flashbacks? The special effects with the spiders and the deaths?

4. The possibility of the plot: the story of the girl and her attraction towards the spiders, her using them against her mother? Her using them against the people in the school? Her ability to cultivate the spiders? Her relationship with her father? With her uncle - and the gruesome burying of him alive? Would she be discovered? (Did this matter!) The reality, contrivance, fantasy?

5. The focus on the heroine as attractive especially at the opening of the film? The memories of herself as a little girl, her reaction towards her mother and uncle, devotion towards her father, the killing of her mother? Her ordinary life, her absent father, school companions and their hostility? Her vengeance especially at the drive-in? Her vengeance on her uncle? Her seeming innocence? A delineated character or sufficient for this kind of horror film?

6. The plausibility of the atmosphere, school, friends?
Halloween and the attack on the spiders, brash adolescence? The terrible revenge at the drive-in? The girl in hospital and her terror? The acting out of extreme hate towards death?

7. The contrast of father and uncle? The uncle and his attraction towards his niece, the seduction? Her binding him and burying him alive?

8. The film's fascination with spiders, audience repugnance towards them, fear, shock and scare? A symbol of fear, hate?

9. The special effects and their impact? How satisfying are ugly horror films like this? Why do audiences enjoy them?