Kindly Dr. Reemer (Leo G. Carroll) has big plans for his new radioactive serum. It makes animals grow at a fantastic rate, and this could solve the world's food shortage, but when an accident at his Arizona laboratory leads to a tarantula injected with the serum escaping, havoc results. The eerily silent desert is soon a lot scarier, as cattle and humans start disappearing at an alarming rate. Local doctor Matt Hastings (John Agar) and Reemer's shapely assistant (Mara Corday) finally figure out what's going on after the enormous spider attacks the house where she is staying.

TARANTULA is considered one of the best giant bug movies of the 1950s. Director Jack Arnold is a master at conveying unearthly menace through the desert landscape, and the scenes of the gigantic tarantula creeping over the horizons are chillingly effective. The memorable score is by Henry Mancini and Herman Stein. Clint Eastwood pops up in the end as a jet sqad leader, though he's hidden by his oxygen mask.