This movie stars John Agar and co-stars Nestor Paiva. Produced by William Alland, directed by Jack Arnold. Made by Universal-International pictures.

The above usually results in bad-but-classic movies, usually featuring large insects. "Tarantula" is a chance of pace, because THIS movie features a giant ARACHNID.

John Agar is a doctor who is called by the town Sheriff (Nestor Paiva) to inspect a corpse. They believe it to be a famous scientist, but they aren't sure because his face is deformed. So they call the deceased's scientist partner (Leo G. Carroll) to identify him, which he does. John Agar thinks the deceased died from a very rare disease which takes years to deform the victim, but the Sheriff saw him in perfect health only a month ago. Leo G. Carroll assures them that he did have the disease, only he died in 4 days.

And nobody's even slightly suspicious. Except for John Agar, of course.

Leo G. Carroll goes back to his lab, where he has huge rodents and a tarantula (sting music!) in glass cages. He gets a needle ready to inject a monkey, obviously to make it bigger also. His assistant, who is also deformed, finds Carroll and proceeds to get angry with him. It seems Leo G. Carroll caused his deformity (who's surprised?). They fight, and the assistant shatters the glass that the tarantula was behind (sting music!). He injects Leo G. Carroll with the needle. The assistant tries to run but stops a few feet away and dies.

Then, Love Interest (Mara Corday) comes into town, ready to be Carroll's new assistant. Meanwhile, random shots of the tarantula have popped up, showing it getting bigger and bigger.

Then Love Interest and Leo G. Carroll do sciency stuff, and Leo G. Carroll shows Love Interest his collection of giant bunny rabbits. Leo G. Carroll starts to deform like the others, but Love Interest is too interested in the bunnies to notice.

The giant tarantula kills some cattle, then people, leaving icky pools of sticky spider stuff behind.

Love Interest and John Agar get close, and Love Interest tells Agar about giant bunny rabbits. Then they go out into the desert for a drive, and after they drive away, the giant tarantula comes into view. I can't believe they didn't see it. You can see for miles in the desert.

Then sometime later (I guess), Love Interest finally notices Leo G. Carroll's deformity. She calls John Agar and he comes back so Leo G. Carroll can explain everything.

Plot stuff happens, and Agar and Love Interest figure out that the growth potion is giving people diseases, and Carroll has it now. Agar figures it was the tarantula that's been killing people. He takes a pool of icky spider stuff to Mr. Drysdale, from The Beverly Hillbillies, to make sure.

The tarantula kills two prospectors, one of whom falls down a LOT while they run away from it. The giant spider actually roars before it eats them. Yep. Roars. Really. This is probably the most entertaining scene in the movie.

The spider is getting closer and closer to Leo G. Carroll and Love Interest's lab (they live in some rooms above it). The tarantula peeks into Love Interests' window for a few minutes, while Love Interest gets up, walks across the room, and doesn't even notice the giant tarantula outside her window.

The tarantula crashes into the building, Love Interest runs around in her PJ's, and Leo G. Carroll predictably gets eaten.

Then there's a car chase, where the spider is pursuing Agar and Love Interest. They happen upon the police, who see the tarantula, shoot at him, and get eaten.

Our heroes try dynamite on the tarantula, and we get some trusty stock footage of rockets and napalm. The napalm kills the spider, but it also starts a HUGE fire in the desert. Everybody sighs in relief, and then it's the end. I wonder if they'll ever do anything about that fire.

Rating: 3 1/2 turkeys. 4 1/2 if watching with friends.

Scene to watch out for: When the two prospectors laugh to hysterics about Geiger counters.

Best line: The sheriff, on seeing the tarantula for the first time: "Jumpin' Jupiter!"

Things that make you go "Huh?": Why Love Interest didn't see the giant tarantula not 25 feet away from her.