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:

ski instructor | gold bar | deadwood south dakota | blizzard | sucking blood | 

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Taglines:

Horror Beyond Words!

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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

The monster was based on the appearance of a wingless hangingfly.

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Connections

Featured in Killer Creature Features: 50 Movie Mega Pack (2016)

User Reviews

Beast of Boredom!

On paper, this simply couldn't go wrong! The long-feature debut of brilliant director/producer Monte Hellman ("Two-Lane Backtop", "Cockfighter"), owing its existence to legendary producer Roger Corman, and fully belonging in one of my favorite cinematic hypes of all time: cheap 50's monstrous B-movies! Evidently, a whole lot went wrong… From sheer boring dialogs over irrelevant sub plots and onwards to a largely absent and – above all – uninspired titular monster design. The "beast" looks like a vague shape covered in cobwebs and that's just plain lame; even according to zero-budget 50's horror standards. The basic plot definitely holds potential, and for the first 20 minutes or so, I felt convinced I was watching a undiscovered gem of the genre. But the, incomprehensibly, the plot somehow stopped evolving and became an unendurably boring ordeal to struggle through. A quartet of gangsters carefully planned a risky gold heist near a skiing resort. Whilst the drunken love interest already embarks on a skiing trip with the instructor, the other three break into a bank before joining the others. During their perfect alibi, however, the assembly encounters (eventually) a hairy and aggressive monster living in the mountain caves. "Beast from Haunted Cave" is a nearly insufferably dull film, and that's all the more painful to acknowledge due to the promising intro. The heist concept is ingenious, the characters are intriguing (the girl is a manic depressive drunk and one of the robbers is a womanizer) and the ski-resort setting is quite effective (cashing in on the contemporary Abominable Snowman paranoia). The rudimentary plot ingredients for a charming 50's monster-mayhem flick are well present, but I'm extremely reluctant to announce this movie is an utter failure. Disappointing to the nth degree…