A tarantula escapes from a lab after being injected with a growth serum and begins to terrorize the countryside around a small desert community.
I hate spiders, but I love movies about them because I know they cannot get to me from the screen. John Agar stars as a small town doctor who is puzzled by some strange deaths around the town of Desert Rock. Leo G. Carroll is Prof. Deemer who created the monster and gorgeous Mara Corday is Stephanie Clayton the young assistant to the good doctor.
The effects for the spider are very well done as they used a real Tarantula for most of the shots and a studio prop for close up shots as it eats it's prey. As a child this movie really creeped me out and it still does to some extent. The acting is very good as always in a Jack Arnold film and the desert phototgraphy is stunning.
Carroll's performance as the scientist who created the monster by mistake is very good and his fate is one of the many high points of the film. The rest of the cast includes Nestor Paiva as the Sheriff, Ross Elliot, Hank Patterson and Raymond Bailey. Clint Eastwood has a small role as the heroic jet pilot.
Recommended for any fan of horror, especially 50's horror.
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