Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)

User Rating:

3.5/10   

Director:

Monte Hellman

Writers:

Charles B. Griffith (story)
Charles B. Griffith (screenplay)

Release Date:

October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Romance

Tagline:

Screaming young girls sucked into a labyrinth of horror by a blood-starved ghoul from Hell.

Plot:

Gangster Alexander Ward, his girl friend, Gypsy Boulet, and two henchmen come to Deadwood, South Dakota with the idea of stealing a few gold bars...

Plot Keywords:

Cabin | Cave | Ski Instructor | Gangster | Refuge

Cast

Michael Forest	...	Gil Jackson
Sheila Noonan	...	Gypsy Boulet (as Sheila Carol)
Frank Wolff	...	Alexander Ward
Richard Sinatra	...	Marty Jones
Wally Campo	...	Byron Smith
Linné Ahlstrand	...	Natalie, the bar-girl
Chris Robinson	...	The Beast / A Bartender (as Christopher Robinson)
Kay Jennings	...	Jill Jackson (Gil's sister)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jaclyn Hellman	...	Jill Jackson (scene added later for television showings)

Also Known As:

Creature from the Cave (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated (video release) | USA:Approved (original rating) (certificate number not listed) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Deadwood, South Dakota, USA

Company:

Gene Corman Productions

Trivia:

This Roger Corman-produced "quickie" was the first directing job for Monte Hellman.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fantastic Fantasy Fright-o-Rama Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Great example of low-budget horror

One of the rarest experiences for a B-movie fanatic is to find a film you haven't seen in 30-plus years is much better than your childhood memory of it. While "Beast From Haunted Cave" was obviously made on a shoestring -- it's a Gene "Brother Of Roger" Corman production, so what do you expect? -- first-time director Monte Hellman (The Shooting, Two Lane Blacktop) had a better-than-average script and capable actors, not to mention a director of photography who made effective use of the stark winter landscape near Deadwood, South Dakota.

The film starts out slow as a gang plans and executes a robbery, but then it veers off into darker territory as they and their guide are trailed to the hideout by a surprisingly well-realized and startlingly nasty monster.

Just for the record: Though it has some spider-like characteristics, the "Beast" is definitely NOT an arachnid.

This is by no means a perfect film: There are occasional stumbles in motivation, dialogue and the timing of events, yet for me these inconsistencies actually contributed to an atmosphere of dreamlike disorientation as the story plays out against the bleached-bone white of the snow and the soot-black shadows of winter pines. The plight of the Beast's victims -- cocooned alive, and fully aware as it feeds on them -- yields a heaping helping of shudders.

The DVD transfer (I'm talking about the most recent release, not the one paired with "The Brain That Wouldn't Die") was made from an excellent print; the soundtrack is quite clear. You may recognize the score as the same used for "Attack Of The Giant Leeches" and -- I think -- "Night Of The Blood Beast": These guys knew how to recycle!

Even with its defects, this is a distinctly weird and creepy chiller, a fine example of how much can be accomplished even with limited resources.