Black Belly of the Tarantula
Three Bond girls appeared in this film. They were 1. Claudine Auger, who had the female lead in Thunderball (1965). 2. Barbara Bach, who went on to have the female lead in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). 3. Barbara Bouchet, who appeared in Casino Royale (1967). The first two appeared in Eon Bond movies, while the third appeared in a non Eon Bond movie which was a spoof.,The scientist who is arrested for drug smuggling refers to the tarantula as an insect. Spiders have 8 legs and belong to the class of arachnids. No scientist would make such an error.,Maria Zani: Why call me a nymphomaniac? That's the way it always goes!
[screams]
Maria Zani: Ah!
[gasps as Paolo slaps her]
Maria Zani: Ah!
Paolo Zani: You're no nymphomaniac! Whore is more like it--more accurate.,Featured in Celluloid Bloodbath: More Prevues from Hell (2012),"The Black Belly of the Tarantula" is a typically grandiose title in this genre of film known as the Giallo. Giancarlo Giannini stars as Inspector Tellini, a police detective on the trail of a killer. This killer is targeting the female clients of a health and beauty salon, and employs a particularly insidious method. They inject their victims with the poison from a rare species of wasp, and this poison thoroughly incapacitates them, so that they're unresponsive but conscious when they get carved up with the killers' blade.

Giannini is low key and likable in the lead role. His time on the job is contrasted with his more mundane home life with his wife Anna (Stefania Sandrelli), and it's actually what director Paolo Cavara *doesn't* do that makes this an interesting film of its kind. He doesn't concern himself with being overly stylish, instead opting for a slightly more matter of fact approach. Fans of this genre need not be concerned, for there is still quite a bit of female flesh to ogle and some bloody brutality to enjoy, but Cavara does an engaging job of combining the psychosexual proclivities of the maniac with a police procedural and a little bit of lightweight domestic drama.

All of the ladies just look ravishing, of course. Claudine Auger ("Thunderball") plays salon boss Laura, Barbara Bouchet ("Casino Royale" '67) is unhappy married woman Maria Zani, and Barbara Bach ("The Spy Who Loved Me") is the receptionist, Jenny. Silvano Tranquilli offers a fine supporting performance as Maria's husband Paolo, who decides to play amateur sleuth when he falls under suspicion.

Good pacing and a fairly tense finale help to make this a good entertainment, as well as a deliciously unconvincing dummy fall.

Seven out of 10.,