Trailer
Plot summary
Eric Jacobs, a research scientist, is found dead in the Arizona desert with features distorted by acromegaly, a condition that usually takes years. Dr. Matt Hastings, the physician in the nearby town of Desert Rock, is called to the body and doubts the explanation offered by Jacobs's colleague, Professor Gerald Deemer, who refuses to authorize an autopsy. At Deemer's isolated mansion, a nutrient meant to feed a growing world population has been tested on lab animals that grew to astonishing sizes. Stephanie "Steve" Clayton arrives in town to work as Deemer's assistant, and Hastings drives her out to the house. Meanwhile, ranchers are finding picked-clean cattle bones and pools of a thick white substance in the desert.
Cast
- Edwin Randas Lt. John Nolan
- Wag Blesingas Townsman
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Tarantula (1955)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A live tarantula was used whenever the giant spider is seen moving on screen; miniature shooting was kept for close-ups of its face and fangs and for the final napalm attack, while real rabbits and guinea pigs stood in for the lab's giant animals.
- Tarantula and its lead actor Leo G. Carroll are named in the lyrics of "Science Fiction/Double Feature", the opening song of the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show and its 1975 film adaptation.
