The archetypal '50s big bug movie, Tarantula sees a rapidly growing spider—the result of an experiment involving nutrients and radioactive isotopes—escaping from a laboratory to crawl around the countryside devouring cattle and the occasional rancher. Eventually, the eight-legged horror reaches such massive proportions that the air-force is called in to prevent it from trashing the town of Desert Rock.
John Agar plays town doctor Matt Hastings, the first to suspect that it is an over-sized arachnid that is causing the trouble; Mara Corday is Hastings' love interest, beautiful lab assistant Stephanie 'Steve' Clayton; Leo G. Carroll is over a barrel as Professor Gerald Deemer, who winds up hideously disfigured by his own experiment; and Clint Eastwood saves the day as a plucky U.S. fighter pilot, his face mostly hidden behind a breathing mask, although his squint is unmistakable.
Matters get very silly at times, especially with the humongous, hairy spider somehow managing to wander around the desert unseen (at one point, it peers into Mara's bedroom, the woman blissfully unaware of the huge eyes and mandibles at her window), but the hokey nature of the plot only adds to the overall enjoyment. Excellent special effects (for the day) and solid performances also go to qualify Tarantula as a must-see sci-fi/horror classic.
John Agar plays town doctor Matt Hastings, the first to suspect that it is an over-sized arachnid that is causing the trouble; Mara Corday is Hastings' love interest, beautiful lab assistant Stephanie 'Steve' Clayton; Leo G. Carroll is over a barrel as Professor Gerald Deemer, who winds up hideously disfigured by his own experiment; and Clint Eastwood saves the day as a plucky U.S. fighter pilot, his face mostly hidden behind a breathing mask, although his squint is unmistakable.
Matters get very silly at times, especially with the humongous, hairy spider somehow managing to wander around the desert unseen (at one point, it peers into Mara's bedroom, the woman blissfully unaware of the huge eyes and mandibles at her window), but the hokey nature of the plot only adds to the overall enjoyment. Excellent special effects (for the day) and solid performances also go to qualify Tarantula as a must-see sci-fi/horror classic.