Black Belly of the Tarantula has everything a great giallo should have. An interesting mystery, an interesting killer method, high society setting, bloody kills, music that switches between sultry and eerie, and of course beautiful women. What sets this one apart though is the police and investigation aspect to it. While this isn't usually classified as a giallo-poliziottesco hybrid it is an early attempt at that. It has a forensic investigation aspect. It has an incredible foot chase scene in the middle of the movie where these films usually lag. The main character is vulnerable cop who has a family which is something different from the tough lone wolf cops you usually see in crime movies. His job actually getting to him gives this a different mood at times. Ennio Morricone's score is one of his best encompassing al the different traits I've said about the movie through the music.
Synopsis: An Italian detective (Giancarlo Giannini) hunts a health-spa killer who uses a knife dipped in venom.
The movie starts with the ungodly beautiful Barbara Bouchet getting a massage. Morricone's sultry music with the human voice adds to the feel of the scene. She gets a call presumably from her husband or significant other and then leaves. The scene transitions to her and her husband fighting. Her husband Paolo Zani (Silvano Tranquilli) holds up a picture of her topless with another man to show he knows she has bene cheating on him. During the fight this picture gets torn in half. Some time later a man breaks into Maria's (Bouchet) house and kills her. The killer plunges a giant needle into the back of her neck near the base of her spine and she gets a harrowing 1000 yard stare. the killer than stabs into her lower stomach and slashes upwards.
Inspector Tellini (Giancarlo Giannini) is on the case. The cops find only her side of the missing picture. Tellini goes back home to his wife Anna (Stefania Sandrelli). They have a very natural conversation about the furniture in their new home and how his job is getting to him. There are some interesting details next. In a forensic scene that I always enjoy in these movies they talk about not finding any fingerprints at the house. Zani has the other side of the picture and heres a private investigator to help him find the man in it. A woman played by Annabella Incontera is stalked and murdered in a room full of mannequins. The quick cutting between mannquins adds to the feel of the scene. Morricone adds in some drums to make the score go along with the kinetic energy of the scene.
The coroner talks about how the needle paralyzes the victim. Tellini traces Zani's whereabouts to the doctor who uses such needles. Zani then hilariously threatens Tellini in his car with a gun saying to back off but he won't turn himself in because he wants to do his own invesigation. Tellini goes to a professor in an awesome scene where the professor talks about how wasps use venom to paralyze spiders and lay eggs in them. Hence the title of the movie. The ending of this scene is where I could use more. The scientist tries to sneak up on Tellini with a spider but then runs outside where cops have him surrounded. Could have used more of a chase.
Tellini and his wife have another natural feeling scene where they end up having sex. The natural feel of this scene is perverted by the fact that someone is filming them for blackmail. This is the second time we've seen Claudine Auger's character who is giving instructions to the man in the other half of the photo to film them. The cops see find a jet in the background of the photo and are able to trace where the photographer lives based on that. At the same time the PI and Zani arrive at the house.
Spoiler Section
I always loved this chase scene because of the different viewpoints that increase tension. The cops are behind and on the ground while Zani and the photographer are all ready on the roof of a tall building. The geography is well set and I enjoy the lingering shots on the spiral staircase. There is a real feeling of dread when Zani falls from the building. Eventually Tellini chases down the photographer but a car comes and runs him over. I love how much this film pays attention to detail because the cops say the vehicle was registered to him and we see Claudine Auger in the background in a different color car. Tellini eventually finds another person involved with blackmail and the people who take the pictures. There is a great suspense scene when he goes to visit this character played by Rosella Falk as when he approaches one door of her place we see the killer near another door. In a terrible diabolus ex machina she doesn't want to talk about the case until the next day. The killer breaks in and kills her.
Tellini has another human scene with his wife where he says he wants to resign because he feels guilty for not being able to save her. After an attempt on his life is made, in the form of a log truck almost hitting his windshield he wants to solve the case. A girl at a health spa who wants to talk to the cops named Jenny (Barbara Bach) is killed before she can say anything. Just a quick aside, I always wondered if Barbara Bach had some no nudity clause in Italian films. I've never seen her naked in an Italian film but I did se her topless in Force 10 from Navarone a PG rated film by the way. Tellini finally goes to the health spa and interrogates all of the employees. One of them is a hilariously stereotypical gay waiter played by Eugene Walter of House with the Laughing Windows. Tellini accuses Laura (Claudine Auger) of knowing more. Once again she says won't talk until later when she finds proof. She calls him the middle of the night. Tellini goes to the spa and sees her dead. He finds white colored contact lenses on the floor. He had previously seen an employee there with the contacts on posing as a blind masseuse. This is the same masseuse from the beginning with Barbara Bouchet. Tellini races home as the masseuse is attacking Anna. They have a much more physical fight than a typical giallo. Tellini eventually knocks him out and saves Anna. A doctor explains that the blind man had killed his wife who very dominant and humiliating toward him. He posed blind so he could find more women. His relationship with Barbara Bouchet's character was similar and it re-activated his urge to kill. He didn't stop there. Tellini doesn't want to hear anymore and he quits his job.
I really like all of the details in this movie. Upon rewatch you can all ready see what is going on and all the plot details in the first 5-10 minutes of the movie, yet I always love how it unfolds and all the minor details. Something as subtle as hearing the dog bark during the kill at Barbara Bouchet's house and then seeing the dog bark at her husband the next day. Little things like that I love. I always love when an image or thing is linked to the mystery hence finding the jet in the background of the picture. This killer is one of the most nasty in any giallo movie. Not only reprehensible for posing blind but just how he needs the women to feel what he is doing to them. As he says to end at Anna I need you to wake up before I kill you, I don't get any pleasure if you can't feel it. Yikes. I love the chase and all the forensic investigation stuff with consulting the professor. I like all of the scenes between Tellini and Anna though they do slow the movie down a bit. As a person used to seeing Claudine Auger as Domino in Thunderball I love seeing her play a much more femme fatale role in gialli movies like this and Bay of Blood. Morricone's score is certainly one of his most versatile.
Rating: 9.5/10 If this movie were just five minutes shorter it would be a 10. The pacing is very good, just not perfect.
Trivia: When Zani's body falls from the building it is a mannequin. The mannequin falling and breaking a window was an unintended blooper they left in.
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