A skin-crawling tale of terror begins when two Americans fly down to Ecuador to pick up a load of premium coffee beans. Unbeknownst to them, the cargo contains hundreds of lethal stowaways: gigantic, venomous tarantulas. When the plane crashes in a small California town, the furry fiends escape and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting inhabitants. Beware of the chilling arachno-horror that lurks within Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo. Claude Akins (Tentacles), Charles Frank (The Right Stuff), Deborah Winters (The People Next Door), Bert Remsen (Code of Silence), Pat Hingle (The Falcon and the Snowman), Tom Atkins (Halloween III: Season of the Witch) and Howard Hesseman (Honky Tonk Freeway) are among those victimized by the eight-legged evil. Directed by TV and Film veteran Stuart Hagmann (Believe in Me).
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Video Quality
Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo comes to Blu-Ray with a digital AVC encoded 1080p transfer in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio derived from a new 2K master that looks great. Kino Classics never fail to make fans of forgotten TV movies extremely happy by keeping them in circulation with excellent quality. First off, black levels are deep and hold up well with no trace of crush, and highlights are stable without any blooming. The transfer retains the natural film grain of the source without any hints of digital manipulation to smooth over the fine details. Grain resolves well without becoming a chunky mess which allows for greater depth to the image. Overall clarity and detail is strong with subtle features such as stubble easily noticeable in closeup. Skin tones appear to be mostly natural with only a hint of pastiness, and colors are well saturated within the limited visual spectacle This print is in solid shape and instances of print damage have been cleaned up immensely with no obvious blemishes. Kino Classics has paid a great deal of respect to this one.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that sounds consistently pleasant throughout. There does not seem to be any obvious instances of age-related wear and tear. Dialogue always comes through with supreme clarity without being trampled by any competing elements. Environmental sounds are rendered well alongside everything else including sounds of airplane motors and the murmuring of crowds of people. This track handles the distinct score well throughout the duration of the film without distortion or fluctuations in fidelity. Kino Classics has done a nice job with this release. There are optional English subtitles provided.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: The Made for TV Mayhem Show Podcast Hosts Amanda Reyes, Dan Budnik and Nate Johnson provide an entertaining and informative commentary track in which they discuss their history with this particular title, the landscape of the television movie scene of the time, the potential subtext of the narrative, the greater social anxieties of the era, the sense of community within the story and more. These three have an easy rapport that gets across the information really well.
- Trailers: There are trailers provided for Fear No Evil and Scream, Pretty Peggy.
Final Thoughts
Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo is a decently entertaining eco-horror film, but it ranks last among the three genre entries debuting on Blu-Ray from Kino Classics on the same day. The main issue lies with finding a way to make the threat seem notably unsettling, as the slow-moving creatures are not captured in a way that gets your pulse pounding all that much. The human element does not really pick up the slack in the way that is needed, leaving you to appreciate the activity on the surface and not much else. The new Blu-Ray features a strong A/V presentation and an entertaining new commentary track. This one is recommended for fans of TV movies, but the other options currently out should be pursued before this one.
Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.