but getting the runaround from Deemer. Deemer tells Hastings and Clayton that the fire was caused by an equipment malfunction, all the test animals were killed, and Lund has left his employment. Deemer explains his work - the use of a radioactive element to produce an artificial super-nutrient, which once perfected, could provide an unlimited food supply for humanity. Days later, the sheriff asks Hastings to accompany him to Andy Anderson's ranch as he investigates picked-clean cattle skeletons and large pools of a thick, white liquid. The tarantula, now grown to the size of a tank, is the cause. That night, Anderson and two men inside a pickup truck are killed by the tarantula. The next day, at the scene of the wrecked truck, Hastings looks around at the request of the sheriff, and once again finds pools of the white liquid, of which he takes samples. He calls Deemer to ask him to analyze the liquid, and Clayton answers. Deemer ambushes her, and the phone call is cut. Hastings drives back to the mansion, where he finds Deemer near death, suffering from severe acromegalic deformities. Deemer divulges all that he knows about the nutrient and says that Lund and Jacobs tested it on themselves against his advice. Hastings flies the samples of white liquid to the Arizona Agricultural Institute in Phoenix. The substance is determined to be tarantula venom. Hastings flies back to Desert Rock. As night falls, the tarantula, now larger than a house, attacks the mansion. Deemer is killed, but Clayton escapes. Hastings returns for her in his car. The tarantula pursues them down the highway toward the town. The sheriff's men intercept, but their guns have no effect. Dynamite is gathered from town, but a blast large enough to blow up the highway does not faze the tarantula. As they evacuate the town, an Air Force fighter jet squadron, summoned by the sheriff, launches a napalm attack, incinerating the tarantula at the town's edge. Cast John Agar as Dr. Matt Hastings Mara Corday as Stephanie Clayton Leo G. Carroll as Prof. Gerald Deemer Nestor Paiva as Sheriff Jack Andrews Eddie Parker as Jacobs, Lund, and the Airport Workman Ross Elliott as Joe Burch Hank Patterson as Josh Edwin Rand as Lt. John Nolan Raymond Bailey as Dr. Townsend Bert Holland as Barney Russell Steve Darrell as Andy Andersen Clint Eastwood appears uncredited in a minor role