Review of The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) by Camden N — 03 Jul 2010

There is little to set Black Belly of the Tarantula apart from most films of its ilk. We get all the usual touches: a faceless killer (notable for wearing plastic gloves instead of black leather ones, reminiscent of the killer from The Fifth Cord) with lots of POV shots, glamorous women as victims, inept police work, stylish cinematography, and a traumatic past serving as the killer's motivation.

Unfortunately this is neither sleazy, insane, or artful to really stand out from the crowd. It's certainly not boring, though. The cast is full of appealing faces (and...ahem, other things), and Giancarlo Giannini makes for a likable and sympathetic lead.

What really makes this work is Ennio Morricone's soundtrack, which has a particularly great theme. To put into perspective, it's at about the same level as gialli like Seven Bloodstained Orchids and The Fifth Cord.

(Note: I also have to mention the ending of the film. There's a really lame epilogue of sorts where a psychiatrist explains the killer's motive. While this sort of thing works in Psycho, since we were actually given clues to the killer's identity and their hang-ups, here it just seems like a lazy after thought.

It's as if they didn't know how to string it into the plot like a more skillful filmmaker might have, so they just lumped some random explanation at the end.).