When a cheating wife is discovered plotting her husband's death, her oddball daughter commits matricide with the aid of some hairy, eight legged companions. Creepy little thriller is a poor man's "Willard" in which the beguiling Susan (Suzanne Ling - never seen before or again) is remarkably naive to the cruel intentions of various sleazy characters with whom she comes into contact. High on the pervert-alert, is her nefarious uncle (Mason), the local police chief who's been chasing her tail since puberty, discovers her involvement in a series of unexplained deaths and seeks to protect his political ambitions abetting a cover-up to divert suspicion away from his family. Mason is the epitome of ugliness, and his predatory pursuit of the adolescent Ling, is as appealing from a cinematic perspective as it is morally repulsive.
Intense over acting and varying breeds of comically amateurish supporting performances coupled with laughable set-ups contrived for lukewarm climaxes, successfully mar what could have potentially been a minor sleeper, such is the satisfying symmetry in the storyline. Director Munger's casual treatment and unimaginative scene construction, display a lack of detail that is evident throughout the film, though he does manage to conjure some modicum of suspense at every critical peak – it's just a shame there's not a more palpable indication of the tarantula's impact on the victims (most seem to succumb to shock and hyper-anxiety, or is that just the quality of the acting?).
"Kiss of the Tarantula" takes a convenient pathway to imagined justice, while the central character's psycho-sexual motivation, which is intimated throughout the film, is never properly explored or connected to her deviant behaviour. As such, Ling's character is little more than a facade, and much of the film's promise is diluted by the superficial treatment. Perhaps lethally hampered by the budget, while there's lots of potential, overall, it's significantly lacking in the execution.
