Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Sam Panico Paolo Cavara and Gualtiero Jacopetti (who took all the credit) directed the first shockumentary, Mondo Cane. Following that, they worked on Women of the World before Jacopetti moved on to make increasingly more insane films with Franco Prosperi. Cavara? He went on to make his own films, including this one, a film that some place amongst the best giallo ever.A mysterious killer is killing women who were involved with a blackmail scheme, using a needle to paralyze them before he slices their stomachs open, the same way a tarantula kills a wasp. Even worse - the victims are awake and can feel the pain, but are unable to move or scream.Cavara uses one of the queens of giallo for his first victim, Barbara Bouchet (The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, Don't Torture a Duckling, Amuck!). Soon, it's up to Inspector Tellini to solve the case before he or his girlfriend are killed. He's a totally likable character, rare for a giallo, who mostly argues with his wife who buys too much furniture while worrying if he's good enough at what he does. He hits a little too close to home.There is plenty more eye candy in the film, with Claudine Auger (Domino from Thunderball) and Barbara Bach (The Spy Who Loved Me, The Humanoid) showing up. And there's a great Ennio Morricone score.

Bezenby In 1999, these films were impossible to get a hold of, and you had to look hard to find someone who would sell you them on the grey market. It is for this reason that my mate Marco and me found ourselves in the back room of some video store on Ingram Street, Glasgow city centre, staring into a filing cabinet jam packed with video nasties, category 3 Hong Kong films, and otherwise unavailable films like this. Marco bought this one. I watched the first five minutes and decided it looked boring, little knowing how obsessed by these films I'd be in a few years time. Also, I had no idea how bald I would become. And I didn't know YouTube would exist either. We were all young and naïve back then. If there was a generic starters pack for giallo newbies I'd definitely include this one. It's a straightforward giallo plot as in it has one masked/gloved/hatted killer, plenty of suspects, a couple of red herrings, a clue at the start of the film, quirky characters, nudity and a bit of gore. It doesn't deviate from the formula but it's a good film anyway, thanks to Ennio Morricone's music, the lovely cinematography, and some good moustache action from Giacarlo Giannini.It all starts off with Barbara Bouchet (a Bond girl) getting a nude massage from a blind guy and then getting into a fight with her husband because someone's sent him a nude picture of her with a mystery man. Next thing you know some gloved killer has paralysed her with a needle, then cut her open while she can only watch in horror. Depressed policeman Giancarlo Giannini (whose eccentric wife has sold all the furniture in the house!) is on the case, and thinks the husband did it, but when another victim appears and he uncovers a drug smuggling ring into the bargain, things heat up a bit. It doesn't help that he's the laughing stock of the force when the killer plants some evidence that turns out to be a covertly made film of the policeman and his wife in bed. There's a neat rooftop chase in this one too, and although it's a case of one killer all the way through, it makes for a good journey all the way through, thanks to appearances by Claudine Auger (a Bond girl) and Barbara Bach (a Bond girl) and Giancarlo Prete (not a Bond girl). There's also the requisite scene in a fashion store amongst mannequins that these films seem to require by law.

Leofwine_draca BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA is very much a typical example of the Italian giallo film. Expect style to spare, an intricate plot that draws in adultery, blackmail, and psycho killings, and a cast populated by sleazy and suspicious male characters contrasted with exceptionally beautiful Italian women. This one has a series of brutal and bizarre murders taking place around a health spa, with the killer donning rubber gloves and using an acupuncture needle to paralyse his victims before killing them - similar to the method used by a tarantula-killing spider. This isn't one of the nastiest of its type, but there's the usual nudity and character conflict; the lead is sympathetic and the stylish direction makes it an engaging watch, with a high-rise foot chase that takes place mid-way through particularly enjoyable. 3/5 or 6/10

Rainey Dawn OK I tried, really I did but I could not get into it. I love horror but this is not my style of horror. I was hoping this one was more of a spider creature feature and not a soft-core porn slasher. It's a very early stereo-typical slasher film of the 1970s - that all this movie is. If you are into soft-corn porn and watching beautiful women get slashed then here's your film! I had to keep fast-forwarding through this film - and I saw nothing of interest to me contained within. Nothing that made me wanna stop to watch the film in full, or should I say normal viewing speed.I'm not saying this is an awful horror film - I'm just saying "it's not my type of horror".1/10