The Black Belly of the Tarantula

The hook is nasty and precise. The killer jabs victims with an acupuncture needle that leaves them paralysed but fully conscious, so they feel every second of what comes next. Giancarlo Giannini plays the weary detective a year before he became an art-house name, and the cast stacks up three Bond girls in Barbara Bouchet, Claudine Auger and Barbara Bach. Paolo Cavara, who had a hand in Mondo Cane, directs with real control and lets Ennio Morricone's score do the creeping. It belongs in the top rank of the form and almost never gets mentioned alongside the Argentos and Martinos, which is the canon's loss.