Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)

A group of gold thieves pull of a heist and flee into the snowy wilderness, only to be pursued by a horrible, spider-like monster.

Director:

Monte Hellman

Writers:

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

Stars:

Michael Forest, Sheila Noonan, Frank Wolff

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Michael Forest	...	Gil Jackson
Sheila Noonan	...	Gypsy Boulet (as Sheila Carol)
Frank Wolff	...	Alexander Ward
Wally Campo	...	Byron Smith
Richard Sinatra	...	Marty Jones
Linné Ahlstrand	...	Natalie, the bar-girl
Chris Robinson	...	The Beast / A Bartender (as Christopher Robinson)
Kay Jennings	...	Jill Jackson

Storyline

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. They enlist the aid of a local ski instructor, Gil Jackson, and plan to use him as a guide out of the territory after the robbery. However, a blizzard forces them to take refuge in Jackson's cabin, where Gypsy lowers the inside temperature by giving the cold shoulder to Ward, her former sweetie until she saw Jackson. Ward don't care, as he plans to kill Jackson after they have no further use of him. But they had used an explosion in a cave to serve as a distraction during the heist, and this explosion had irritated the big spider that lived there and, sure enough, all hands have to seek refuge in the cave from the fury of the storm. All but two of them would have been better off facing the South Dakota elements.

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Plot Keywords:

heist | snowstorm | criminal | flare gun | cave | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 October 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Creature from the Cave

Filming Locations:

Deadwood, South Dakota, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gene Corman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

66 min (theatrical) 71 min (DVD) 72 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Directorial debut of Monte Hellman.

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Connections

Featured in The Schlocky Horror Picture Show: Beast from the Haunted Cave (1959) (2008)

User Reviews

Decent Low-Budget Talk Fest

Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)

** (out of 4)

Slow-moving but mildly entertaining horror film from director Monte Hellman has a group of thieves stealing some gold and deciding to hide out in the snowy mountains. Their plan seems to be working at first but soon they come across a giant spider deep within the cave.

This here was an early Roger Corman production and like a lot of the films from this era you soon realize that they were working with very little money, which means that there's going to be a lot of talking and very little action. One of the Corman's most known sayings was how when you're monster looks bad it's best to keep it hidden. That pretty much happens in BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE as the spider is rarely seen outside of a part here or a part there. The bad costume finally shows up at the very end but at that point it's too late to turn the film off.

I thought the cast were decent for what they were asked to do, which was basically hit their marks and say their lines. The cast were at least interesting enough to keep you glued to the movie and to stick with it longer than you probably would have otherwise. The spider creature design is obviously very cheap but there's some mild charm that you can take from it.

Hellman would go onto make much better cult movies but this one here was mildly entertaining as long as you don't take it too serious.