The Black Belly of the Tarantula

Directed by Paolo Cavera
1971
3.5 out of 5 Stars

*Slight Spoilers Ahead*

I have a love for old movies, specifically from 70's and 80's, which I wholly credit to my parents who exposed me to such classics as "The Goonies", "The Dark Crystal", "Labyrinth", and the "Princess Bride". From there I found more obscure films that soon became my favorites, like Neil Jordan's 1984 adaption of one of Angela Carter's short stories, "The Company of Wolves" . Recently my sister (go follow her blog!) has developed an obsession with "Giallo" films, a type of Italian produced horror/thriller of the 60s, 70s, and some of the 80s, typified by fantastical plots, beautiful women, and a bit of psychedelic fashion.
I'm, of course, hooked.

One she's had on her list for a long time is "The Black Belly of the Tarantula", directed by Paolo Cavera. We watched it on Amazon Prime with high expectations of ridiculousness and got just that within minutes of it opening. The beautiful Barbara Bouchet is laid out nude on a table, perfectly tan and svelte, getting a message while campy music plays. Her masseuse is blind, because why not, and their session is soon interrupted by her receiving a call. She argues with someone the phone and reluctantly sets up a meeting. Cut to her being slapped around by a man who we later discover is her estranged husband. He's upset with some photos he's found of her naked with another man. She later becomes the unfortunate first victim of a killer who stabs his victims through the nape of the neck with a long needle, paralyzing them but keeping them alive as he slowly cuts them open. 

We are shown loving closeups of the killer's hands as he prepares his weapon of choice, but receive no hints as to who he could be. They are covered by the strange latex gloves he wears, similar to those worn by the police as they comb through the evidence. 

On the case is Inspector Tellini, played by a very young Giancarlo Giannini, who is in his own words, "not cut out for it". He's puzzled by the murder, and looks for comfort with from his wife, Anna, played by Stefania Sandrelli. We get some scenes that at first seem to do little to further the plot, of him at home, Anna having sold all their furniture and a stray cat she feeds wanting to be let into the apartment from the veranda. This later turns out to be tantamount in one of the final scenes. 

We later learn where the name of the movie comes from in a skin-crawling scene showing a wasp fight a tarantula, piercing the spider's tender belly with it's stinger and paralyzing it to lay its eggs within, all while the spider is alive and aware. 

From there the plot gets a little thin, with drugs and blackmail at the health spa thrown into the mix. As the murders stack up and the suspect list grows smaller, I found myself wondering if my hunch could be true. The end is far-fetched to say the least, but I did turn out to be right. I also felt it was a bit lackluster after the dramatics of the rest of the film.

For me, it just wasn't as good as my current favorite Giallo film "Deep Red" or "Profondo Rosso" by Dario Argento, but it was a fun way to waste an hour and a half. Watch it for the beautiful women, the scenery, and the style.

The Confined Woman of Poitiers: The Story of Blanche Monnier

Blanche Monnier

Warning: This post contains distressing information about the imprisonment of a woman.

Born in 1849 in Poitiers, France, Blanche Monnier had it all. She was a socialite from one of the oldest families in Poitiers, with a gentle aristocratic beauty, dark curling hair and wide eyes. Her beauty attracted troves of suitors all over the Paris of her youth. 

Belle Époque France was an era of peace and optimism, a reprieve between the end of Franco-Prussian war that saw 756,285 French lost, dead, or interned, and the outbreak of World War I. It was the Golden Age of France, the time of refinement and art, of burlesque performances and the Moulin Rouge. Electric light began to supersede gas lighting and the Eiffel Tower would start to be constructed in 1887. 

In 1874, Blanche would have been 25 and deeply in love with a much older man, a lawyer with very little money. Her mother, Louise, didn't approve of the match. Blanche wouldn't have it and rebelled against her mother, remaining true to the man she loved, all the while bearing the brunt of her mother's ire. Louise, incensed by her daughter's growing rebellion, did something unforgivable. She locked Blanche in the small attic of their home, the place where she would spend the next 25 years of her life. 

Paris was confused and worried for the beautiful girl who had dazzled them all. She was missing, and her mother and her uncle, a man named Marcel, seemed to be in mourning for her, though there had been no indication of her passing. She simply disappeared. The man she wished to marry died in 1885, unaware that girl he so loved was still alive, trapped by her family.

In 1901 the Attorney General of Paris received a distressing letter:

"Monsieur Attorney General: I have the honor to inform you of an exceptionally serious occurrence. I speak of a spinster who is locked up in Madame Monnier’s house, half-starved and living on a putrid litter for the past twenty-five years – in a word, in her own filth."

When they arrived they found Monnier locked away, weighing just barely 55 pounds and covered in old food and feces. One policeman described the conditions in which they found her:

"The unfortunate woman was lying completely naked on a rotten straw mattress. All around her was formed a sort of crust made from excrement, fragments of meat, vegetables, fish, and rotten bread… We also saw oyster shells, and bugs running across Mademoiselle Monnier’s bed. The air was so unbreathable, the odor given off by the room was so rank, that it was impossible for us to stay any longer to proceed with our investigation."

Louise Monnier was arrested immediately but died only fifteen days later after seeing the angry mob that gathered in front of her house. Marcel was put on trial and convicted, only for him to later be acquitted on appeal. He was deemed mentally incapacitated, and the judges, while not agreeing with his choices, decided that a "duty to rescue" didn't exist in the penal code of the time with sufficient rule to convict him. Blanche was never the same again, suffering from both health issues and mental ones. She was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, schizophrenia, coprophilia, and exhibitionism, to just name a few. With no other options, she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Blois, France, where she died in 1913, aged only 64.

Four Shows to Watch While You Wait for The Alienist: Angel of Darkness

Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes

Historical mystery and historical fiction in general are two of my favorite genres, for TV, books, and movies. I really enjoyed the first series of "The Alienist", based on the book by Caleb Carr, and I'm eagerly awaiting season two to come out on July 26th! Below you'll find four suggestions that will hopefully tide you over while you wait! *Slight Spoilers Ahead*

*Update* The second season of The Alienist will now premiere July 19.

Ripper Street (2012-2016) - Netflix and Amazon Prime

I watched this show when it originally aired on BBC America and was immediately hooked. The story follows Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, Detective Sergeant Bennet Drake, and American doctor Captain Homer Jackson as they deal with the aftermath of the Ripper murders which were committed only six months before. They are a part of the H Division, which still exists to this day, and were in charge of one and a quarter square miles of East London, a region which had more than 67,000 of the sick, poor, and destitute. Between the brothels, pubs, and dark and labyrinthine rookeries women are being killed again, and they fear that Jack is back. 

This show ran for five seasons, and starred Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothenberg as the three main characters.

Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes (2000-2001) - Amazon Prime

I've always had a fascination with Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle and was really pleased when I found this show was available on Amazon Prime! Unfortunately they do not have the pilot episode but luckily you do not need it to enjoy the show, as it picks up several years after the initial episode. Charles Edwards plays the young Arthur Conan Doyle, trying to navigate his career as a Doctor and his friendship with his mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell, played by Ian Richardson, the real life inspiration behind Sherlock Holmes. Together they solve mysteries, from a woman haunted by an apparition that follows her down a dark forest path, to a killer who photographs his victims moments before death in the hopes of catching proof of the afterlife.

The series is based on the novels by David Pirie and sadly only ran for one season. Each episode is about an hour and a half, which sometimes feels a bit too long, even for someone with a keen interest in Doyle. But I really enjoy the methods they use, the glimpse into the medical side of the Victorian era, and Doyle's burgeoning obsession with the Occult.

The Limehouse Golem (2016) - Amazon Prime, Hulu and Youtube

This excellent film is an adaption of the novel "Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem" by Peter Ackroyd, and tells the tale of a serial killer stalking the streets of Victorian London, leaving messages written in the blood of his victims. Assigned to the case is Inspector Kildare, played by Bill Nighy, who believes that the killer is connected to music-hall star Elizabeth Cree, a woman accused of poisoning her husband on the same night as the last murder committed by the Golem. She is set to hang, but Kildare is convinced of her innocence and fights to prove it before she is hanged. He finds a diary kept by the Golem on the pages of De Quincey's "On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts" in a public library and knows that one of the four men who were in the library that day must be the Golem - among them Elizabeth's now dead husband. 

The twist in this movie is simply spectacular and Olivia Cooke's performance as Elizabeth Cree is one of her best.

Freud (2020) - Netflix

Out of all of my suggestions I believe "Freud" is the closest to "The Alienist" in terms of tone and subject. Freud, while taking a rather melodramatic angle, shows us Sigmund Freud as a young man, before his marriage and his fame. Robert Finster plays a convincingly erratic and drug-addicted genius who is embroiled in murders that all lead back to a medium by the name of Fleur Salome, portrayed by Ella Rumpf, who is one of the strongest of the cast. Fleur has visions of the murders before they happen, and she wants desperately to help solve the crimes while also being scared of the power she possesses.They are joined on their quest by Alfred Kiss, a Detective with a dark past that won't let him go, played by Georg Friedrich, the other stand-out of the show. 

Freud ended up going down a campy, paranormal route that I hadn't anticipated, and I think ultimately cheapened the story. However I would like to see a second season, if just to continue my guilty pleasure obsession with the show. 

3 Shows and 1 Book to Make Every Day Feel like Halloween

I am absolutely obsessed with Halloween. For as long as I can remember I've been in love with everything spooky - from movies to books to urban legends to cryptids - I want it all. It's my favorite holiday, and though I don't dress up anymore and live too far out in the country to give out candy, Halloween makes me happy. The weather, the smells, the marathons on TCM, the opening up of costume stores in otherwise abandoned buildings, all feel me with a sense of warmth. This list for the like-minded people who wish everyday was Halloween!

Slight spoilers ahead!

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Netflix

I grew up on Sabrina the Teenage witch, so when I heard they were doing a new, grittier take on it I was immediately sold. We follow Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina as she juggles with her mortal friends and boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle (Ronan Lynch), with signing her soul over to Satan, cannibalistic rituals, and two overbearing Aunts who may know more about her parents' mysterious death than they let on. It is definitely not a show for kids. There's orgies and gore and demons and some seriously scary scenes, but I found it perfect. The town of Westbridge is so steeped in history and lore I feel like I could plan a trip there, and I would! CAOS is Riverdale but better.

Marianne - Netflix

I'm shocked that the French show "Marianne" isn't talked about more. Set in the fictional seaside town of Elden, the show has spooks galore and just some amazing storytelling. The main character, a bestselling novelist by the name of Emma Larsimon, is one of my favorite characters on television right now. At turns charming and plain unlikeable, she is complex, driven, not afraid to say she's scared, and most of all, she's female. Her sort of character is one that is often relegated to men, and it's a breath of fresh air. She brings to mind a more lighthearted Lisbeth Salander, who is one of my all time favorite heroines. 

We follow Emma as she returns to her hometown after announcing she's done writing horror, and things only get scarier from there. The main antagonist in her books, a witch called Marianne, turns out to be more than just a figment of her imagination, as she comes to terms with her past, and the fact that she might be nothing more than a pawn. I really don't do it justice at all, so please check it out!

Shutter (2004) - Netflix

Yes, there is an American remake, and no, don't watch it. As a horror connoisseur I feel like I've seen it all but I can honestly say this movie has one of the best and most interesting twists I've ever seen. And at times I felt it could've been a bit shorter, by the end it feels completely worth it so stick with it!

"Shutter" is a simple tale steeped in Thai folklore. The main characters are Jane and Tun, a young couple who make a terrible mistake - after a night of drinking and celebrating they hit a young woman. They didn't see here, and Tun urges Jane to drive off, leaving her to die on the road. Soon, Tun, a photographer, starts seeing strange shapes in his work, and Jane fears it's the ghost of the young woman they killed. Obviously I'm not going to say much more as I don't want to spoil it, but it is a great film, a favorite of mine.

The Silent Companions - Laura Purcell

This was my favorite book of 2019 and I read it in about two days. At the center of this tale is The Bridge, a house the heroine, Elsie Bainbridge, has inherited from her husband. It's downright Gothic, with locked doors that open on their own, a skeleton crew of staff that see things, and the nearest village is practically abandoned, and those who remain are terrified of The Bridge. Elsie, is mostly left to herself at the old house except for a cousin of her husband's who acts as a sort of companion. Soon, she starts hearing strange scratching at night, and discovers that one of the previous occupants was a rumored witch. As Elsie explores more she finds a sort of attic that contains much of the past - foreboding diaries, and five strange wood cut-outs of people - that almost seem alive.

It is so inventive and clever and one of a kind that I'm actually jealous. Laura Purcell has become an author that I actively check for to see what she's up to next.

I hope you enjoyed this post and check out some of my recommendations! What are some books and movies you use to get you in a Halloween mood?