There are four family members that are in this film. Beverly Eddins (mom) plays the mother, Martha Bradley, W. James Eddins (dad) plays Sgt. Wes Matthews, Rebecca Eddins (older daughter) plays Susan Bradley at age 10, and Susan Eddins (younger daughter) plays Susan at age 5.
Jay Scott was the tarantula supplier and spider expert on the film's set. He also played the role of Bo Richards.
Tarantulas are a favorite subject of horror film and science fiction film directors because they look scary, are slow-moving, and are easy to photograph. But in truth, the bite of a tarantula is not as deadly as these films make it out to be. A tarantula's fangs are small and cannot penetrate the skin enough to reach anything vital, and even if they could, the venom of North American tarantulas is no more deadly to humans than a bee sting (some South American tarantulas do have deadly venom, though).
The scenes in this film that were shot at a drive-in theater were filmed at the Pickwick Drive-In in Burbank, California. A brief glimpse of the theater's marquee is also shown.
This film was riffed by three guys from MST3K (Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy) under the name Rifftrax.