Review of The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) by Robert B — 04 Jul 2012

La Tarantola del Ventre Nero (Paolo Cavara, 1971).

In 1971, the underlying premise of this film (in English, The Black Belly of the Tarantula) must have seemed shocking in both its formsâ"the first, that a killer uses a paralytic poison to immobilize his victims while he kills them, and the second, that the story is narrated by someone under the influence of that poison, who is believed to be dead, lying on a slab in the morgue, waiting for an autopsy to be performed on him. Between then and now, however, we've learned that Marcello Danon's flight of fancy is far more science than fiction, thanks in no small part to the work of ethnobotanist Wade Davis (whose Masters thesis, The Serpent and the Rainbow was, shall we say, a bit sensationalized when turned into a wonderful Wes Craven flick). Since Davis' work went the eighties version of viral, the tetrodotoxin methodology in movies has become something of a staple, and the fear of being on the operating table while fully conscious has replaced the older trope of being buried alive in the pubilc consciousness. In other words, what may have seemed shocking in 1971 is now rather same-old-same-old. I rush to add, however, that none of this makes this particular movie any less worth watching; it's just that, with our new cultural eyes, none of what happens as regards either of those two plot mechanisms is likely to surprise you.

I've already given you all you need to know of plot above; a serial killer is going around doing his business with a twist: he uses acupuncture needles (again, this is something that must have seemed very exotic in 1971 that's second-nature now) to inject his victims with immobilizing wasp venom before killing them. Hapless police inspector Tellini (Swept Away's Giancarlo Giannini in an early role) is on the case, and somehow entirely unaffected by the fact that he's surrounded by some of the world's great sex symbols (Stefania Sandrelli, Claudine Auger, Barbara Bach, Barbara Bouchet...). The case starts out looking like any other murder case, though with an admittedly kinky twist, but the closer he gets to figuring out what's going on, the weirder. Nothing, of course, is quite as it seems...

Cavara, probably still best known for directing the original Mondo Cane, lined up a wealth of talent for this one, and much of the reason it's worth watching comes from there. Like many gialli, The Black Belly of the Tarantula has a bog-standard plot, but the visuals are arresting, as they often are in gialli, and the acting here is a cut above the usual; not the best giallo you'll ever see, but far from the worst. ***.