Kiss of the Tarantula (also known as Death Kisses and released in the UK as Shudder) is a 1976 US horror film directed by Chris Munger from a screenplay by Daniel Cady (Dream No Evil, Garden of the Dead), Dolly Dearest) and Warren Hamilton Jr. (better known as a sound editor). The film stars Eric Mason (Scream Blacula, Scream), Suzanna Ling, Herman Wallner, Linda Spatz, Beverly Eddins and Patricia Landon.
“This eight-legged take on Willard has some enjoyable moments (mostly in its over the top performances and creepy use of real tarantulas), but it wreaks of the cheap drive-in circuit from which it was spawned. The simple revenge plot rarely breaks the surface, relying more on the bloody deaths than the strengths of its characters to carry the film. What is worse is that the run time is padded with unnecessarily long stalk and chase sequences and an awkward subplot involving Susan’s incestuous uncle that only serve as empty filler.” I Like Horror Movies
“It’s your very standard tale of “don’t mess with that freaky girl or she’ll (quietly) jam a bunch of tarantulas into your car while you’re making out with your girlfriend, thereby causing you to freak out and accidentally kill three people in the process.” Like most mega-cheapies from the mid-70′s, Tarantula is not all that interested in things like cohesive storytelling, strong performances or even professional-looking filmmaking techniques. It’s a dry little shocker, but one that offers at least two or three good sequences for the arachno-fans.” Scott Weinberg, DVD Talk
Buy Ruby + Kiss of the Tarantula on DVD from Amazon.com
” … it’s called Kiss of the Tarantula, but the only real kissing that goes on is with Uncle Walt, who is sort of a metaphorical creepy spider… The other thing is that it’s a kind of unspoken thing that who Susan really wants to be with is her Dad, and she does kill her mom right off in the classic Elektra complex. There is nothing but tenderness and love between her and her big dad, and at the end she does end up with him. It’s all pretty tepid, which I don’t mind, but the problem was that, as I mentioned, there is 45 minutes of story here stretched to feature-length…” Cinema de Merde
“Basically Willard with spiders, Kiss of the Tarantula features a female social misfit with pet tarantulas that do her evil bidding. I’m struggling to think of anything else it features. Mostly that’s it: there’s a shy loner with pet spiders that kill people. This could not have been riveting stuff in the drive-ins of 1976.” Rufus’s House of Horrors
“Despite the fact that that Eric Mason’s sleazy Uncle Walter detective character goes for some kind of world record for the number of times he can say ‘Susan’, this is a little more endearing than some of the other reviews here give it credit for, provided you are in the mood for its languid 70s rural ambiance. The central premise owes a major debt to Willard and Carrie yet the understated sleazy incest elements and the funeral parlour setting add welcome touches of creepiness. Ultimately, the lack of outright horror lies with the slowness of spiders to attack their victims which reduces kill scenes to arachnid-pace.” Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia
We are grateful to Wrong Side of the Art! and Bruce Holecheck at Cinema Arcana for some of the images above
