Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977)

An airplane carring coffee beans from South America has some unpleasant stowaways: a hoard of tarantulas which overcome the pilots as the airplane is flying over an orange-producing town in... See full summary »

Director:

Stuart Hagmann

Writers:

John Groves, Guerdon Trueblood

Stars:

Claude Akins, Charles Frank, Deborah Winters

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Claude Akins	...	Bert Springer
Charles Frank	...	Joe Harmon
Deborah Winters	...	Cindy Beck
Bert Remsen	...	Mayor Douglas
Sandy McPeak	...	Chief Beasley
Pat Hingle	...	Doc Hodgins
Tom Atkins	...	Buddy
Howard Hesseman	...	Fred
John Harkins	...	Sylvan
Charles Siebert	...	Rich Finley
Penelope Windust	...	Gloria Beasley
Edwin Owens	...	Frank
Alex Colon	...	Hector
Lanny Horn	...	Harry Weed
Jerome Guardino	...	H.L. Williams

Storyline

An airplane carring coffee beans from South America has some unpleasant stowaways: a hoard of tarantulas which overcome the pilots as the airplane is flying over an orange-producing town in California. The airplane crashes, and the unlucky inhabitants of the town release the poisonous spiders into their midst. Once the town's officials discover that the tarantulas are responsible for several deaths, the tarantulas have already descended upon the town's only orange-processing factory. The town's citizens risk their lives to remove the tarantulas from the factory while the poisonous pests are rendered motionless by the transmitted sound of buzzing bees.

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Plot Keywords:

cooperative | warehouse | psychotronic film | tarantula | airplane | 

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Taglines:

Terror and death sweep through a defenseless town!

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Deborah Winters and Charles Siebert appeared together in Blue Sunshine the previous year.

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Goofs

Tarantulas bites may cause discomfort to humans, but there has never been a reported human fatality despite the show's title.

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Quotes

Bert Springer: If we can convince the spiders that there are wasps around!
Joe Harmon: That's right! Then we can pick them up in a immobilized state!

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Connections

Referenced in Svengoolie: Earth VS the Spider (2021)

User Reviews

Not mind blowing, but solid

I have to admit, I was surprised by this movie. I bought it as part of a 2 DVD set with "Ants" for $5. Needless to say, I was expecting a "so bad it's good" movie along the lines of "Rockula". Instead, I found an interesting, if unspectacular... thriller? Horror movie? I really don't know what this is. It's not terribly scary, and the only really tense moments come at opposite ends of the film. Nevertheless, this is a good movie. It has a solid script, fairly god acting, (usually) and great music from Mundell Lowe. That's not to say it doesn't have it's flaws. The "cute kid" of the movie is less than competent, and I'm being nice. It also feels like the director doesn't use his full potential during the entire movie. During the climax, we see that he is a genuinely good director, capable of injecting tension into a scene, but just seems to be coasting through most of the movie. Hopefully, his other movies draw on that potential.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 December 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tarantulas

Filming Locations:

Piru Mansion - 829 & 837 Park Road, Piru, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alan Landsburg Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1