Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)

Too bad Sheila Carol (aka Sheila Noonan) was not naked in this film, but she's seen in a bathtub and then wearing a towel for a minute or so.Skiers are terrorized by a creature in a cave. Nobody seems to care much (I didn't). The monster here looks like a reject from 'Sigmund and the Sea Monsters'. It dwells in a rock fortress (cave) where the town's local idiots go to have a good time... I know I have always wanted to find a good cave to bring a chick for a wild weekend, but even Bronson Canyon would be better than this dump.This movie was filmed in North and South Dakota concomitantly with Corman's 'Ski Troop Attack'.

Last night I actually came across a classic B film that I had never seen so I sat down to watch "Beast From Haunted Cave". The picture was directed by Monte Hellman. The same man who went on later to film the straight to video slasher flick "Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!" in 1989. This movie which was shot in South Dakota seemed a bit more risky in its choice of dialog than your typical 50's horror story. So right away I gave this picture a little more respect than I normally would. "Beast From Haunted Cave" tells the story of bank robbers fleeing in the snow who run afoul of a giant spider that feeds on humans.As for the character relations for "Beast" my opinion is much the same as my opinion toward any 50's films. I just don't get that people related to one another in such offensive and atypical repertoire. I guess the lack of modern technologies and information we now have really stunted people emotionally in prior generations. I am not sure what it is but even though I like a lot of old black & white movies I never quite comprehend peoples single pointed view of one another in the dialogue. It is just part of the culture gap thing, I guess.Anyway despite my ignorance of the 50's mentality I still enjoyed the fact that this movie was pretty progressive in its subject matter when it came time to display loose morals and wild behavior of the characters. Drinking at ten in the morning, premarital sex, and lude conduct, as much as the censors would have aloud in your 1953's cinema was ahead of it's time and showed the first signs of your now classic set up for creature features. There is the group of wayward souls set out in unknown territory, up to no good. Then you have the local legend, attention to animal attacks, followed by the reveal of the true monster plaguing the land.In "Beast From Haunted Cave" there is actually only one hint as to why this creature existed. Mining in the region had unearth some prehistoric creation. This is the only hint as to how the creature came to be that I could tell. It was also the only mention as to industrialism expanding into nature and the consequences' that could result. This film managed not to be arrogantly preachy. It was just your basic drive-in monster movie. I love it when movies just play out the story with out spelling out the set up or true intent of the picture. This was one of the first classic stories that felt like it was meant purely for entertainment.The story is a good simple one that just start, as if the story is already being told and we just peeked in during the crucial moments of these peoples lives. It was not over acted, well by 50's standards the melodrama was down played. The monster stays in the shadows except during crucial moments, so the fact that the creature looks cheap is excusable. It is a cool classic b-movie that I had never seen and I actually enjoyed it.

After making a getaway from the authorities with a ransom of gold, a group of thieves' plan to use an accident at a ski resort unwittingly releases a giant spider-like creature that puts a halt on their escape plans as it hunts them down one-by-one.This was a decent but enjoyable effort that really works a lot better than it should, despite some noticeable flaws. The main part is the haphazardly-edited finale, which is so chaotic and confusing that there's no way to tell what's going on in any of the scenes and the method of killing the creature gets lost in the fray due to this, it's all done so fast. At times the creature looks way too cheesy and doesn't really seem a part of the scene at all with the way it's imposed onto the image, and the only time you see it in full is at the end which is quite confusing. That leaves a large portion of time on useless features where the cast is forced to go through their different story lines which just aren't that interesting or enjoyable with the heist or the group's distrust of each other really making for some lame times. That said, the suspense of the attacks works well with a few creepy moments, the film is never really all that slow so it's got a nice pace to it and the overall design of the monster creates quite an impression. Those are enough to make up for some of the flaws.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

In snowy South Dakota, handsome ski instructor Michael Forest (as Gil Jackson) gets involved with sensuous Sheila Carol (as Gypsy Boulet) and a gang of thieves led by her jealous lover Frank Wolff (as Alexander "Alex" Ward). The other crooks are wily Wally Campo (as Byron Smith) and Frank's cousin Richard Sinatra (as Marty Jones). The latter has the convincing line, "Nobody takes my watch!" The former takes cocktail waitress Linné Ahlstrand (as Natalie) out for a quickie, but she gets spun by the "Beat from Haunted Cave" instead. The monster is played by future soap opera star Chris Robinson, who also appears in the bar. The location and a couple of set-ups are okay, but that's about it for this dull, unwarranted horror.*** Beast from Haunted Cave (10/30/59) Monte Hellman ~ Michael Forest, Sheila Noonan, Frank Wolff, Wally Campo