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oddbodd · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 855 Location: Castle Dracula

A sci-fi classic that puts the technically-superior Eight Legged Freaks to shame.

John Agar is Dr. Max Hastings, who is asked to look into a strange disease that has recently killed a scientist. Professor Deemer (Leo G. Carroll), a friend and colleague of the deceased, is adamant about the cause of death and refuses to allow Hastings to perform a post-mortem, raising Hasting's suspicions.

It then becomes apparent that Deemer is testing a growth hormone on animals, and after a fight and a fire at his laboratory, a tarantula escapes. This giant arachnid hides in the local mountains and feeds on unsuspecting people and livestock. All the while, Hastings is uncovering the details of this bizarre story, and finally convinces the local authorities to arrange a very extreme kind of pest control.

The spider is very creepy, being a tarantula that seems to have been blue-screened onto the various "sets". It certainly works better than CGI ever has for big spiders. The film itself is very much in the style of Them! (the 1954 giant ant opus) and It Came From Beneath the Sea, complete with glamorous lab assistants. A must for any craeture feature fan.

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"It's ok to be different, it's good to be different, and we should question ourselves before we judge others." -- Johnny Depp