Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

azathothpwiggins Two would-be coffee exporters / human traffickers (Tom Atkins and Howard Hesseman) run into trouble when they discover some unexpected stowaways on their cargo plane. It seems that the hairy arachnids of the title have decided to forfeit their native Ecuador, for the good old USA. Going from bad to worse, the ill-fated flight ends in the obligatory disaster. Once stateside, horror ensues in the small town of Meadowmere, California, when the tarantula passengers fan out on their mission of tiny-fanged destruction. Can crusty doctor Pat Hingle and cranky fire chief Claude Akins combat this horde of creeping doom? Of course, there's a big orange crop that simply must be harvested, or it's greedy owner will have an aneurysm. His blindness to the unfolding tragedy around him is reminiscent of that exhibited by the soul-less mayor in JAWS. As made-for-TV movies go, TARANTULAS: THE DEADLY CARGO isn't bad, though the cheeeze-factor is quite high. Some of the death scenes are sure-fire chuckle-inducers! Of course, several unbelievable / absurd events take place for no discernible reason, including the explosive "motorcycle jump" sequence. Still, it's all a lot of fun to watch! That is, as long as you have a strong hankering for nonsense...

bkoganbing A bunch of nasty poisonous variety of tarantula come up from Ecuador in a plane piloted by Tom Atkins and Howard Hesseman. The eight legged critters snuck aboard their plane with a cargo of coffee, and three illegal aliens. But the tarantulas do their dirty work on the plane and it comes in a ghost ship, just like Renfield and those rats in Dracula, a much better movie.The creatures which seem to multiply exponentially upon arriving in California farm country make for the warehouse where the oranges are stored. As the towns people discover what has descended upon them it's Fire chief Claude Akins has to figure out a way to kill the bugs without destroying the oranges in this one crop economy town. After all can't let the Department of Agriculture know. They might just kill all the oranges and the mayor of this place Bert Remsen says that just can't be.I'm not sure of the science in all of this. All the actors including some very known players besides those already mentioned just seem to be sleepwalking their way through this gobbler.

Coventry Possibly one of the best and most suspenseful made-for-TV creature-feature flicks accomplished during the 70's decade, "The Deadly Cargo" nearly equals the menacing atmosphere of classic and more famous spider films like "Kingdom of the Spiders" and "Arachnophobia". Of course, you shouldn't expect a bloodbath, partly because it's a TV-production and partly because… well, tarantulas aren't exactly capable of tearing people to pieces. But hey, at least the suspense is constant and the plot moves forward at a satisfying pace. Two sleazy coffee smugglers, one of them being Tom Atkins of "Night of the Creeps" and "Maniac Cop", fly a cargo full of Ecuadorian coffee beans and political fugitives towards California and through a thunderstorm. The cargo is infested with "Banana Spiders"; the deadliest kind of tarantulas in the world. With the plane severely damaged by the storm and the pilot wounded, it crashes down in the fields surrounding the orange-producing & exporting town of Finleyville. The spiders escape, all hell breaks loose and pretty soon the entire town lives in a state of hysteria. The script is solidly penned down, partly courtesy of Guerdon Trueblood (director of 70's favorite "The Candy Snatchers") and Stuart Hagmann's direction is surefooted. At least during the first half, the plot contains a few surprising shock-elements and unlikely victims (that'll teach them to poke animals with sticks!) The second half is very muddled and particularly the unexciting climax is a letdown. Overall a decent film that deserves a slightly better rating around here.

Woodyanders This merely okay 70's made-for-TV killer animal fright feature centers on a horde of lethal poisonous tarantulas who run amok and attack folks in the heretofore sleepy little California hamlet of Finleyville after a cargo plane containing the deadly critters crashlands in a nearby field. It's up to take-charge two-fisted fire chief Claude Akins, diligent doctor Pat Hingle, and cranky mayor Bert Remsen to stop the evil arachnids before things get too out of hand. The story has the potential to deliver a suitably creepy nature-turns-nasty yarn, but alas Stuart Hagmann's pedestrian direction, a by-the-numbers script co-written by "The Candy Snatchers" director Guerdon Trueblood, sluggish pacing, infrequent and blandly staged spider attack scenes (although I have to give the film a couple of points for killing off a little boy), and a silly subplot concerning the town's orange crop doom this one to mediocrity. However, the sturdy cast do their best with the generic material (Tom Atkins and Howard Hesseman are especially engaging as the two cargo plane pilots), both Robert Morrison's crisp photography and Mundell Lowe's funky jazzy score are up to snuff, and the last twenty-five minutes with a bunch of people trapped in a warehouse infested with the dangerous buggers makes for a genuinely gripping and nerve-wracking set piece. All in all, this one sizes up as a strictly passable, but altogether rather blah and unexceptional timewaster.