BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE (1959)

BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE (1959)

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

(Horror, Crime, A Bunch Of Chicken Wire) [PG]

Note – This movie was just given an “approved” by theaters when it came out. I think if it had been given an MPAA rating it would have been a PG. The tagline is kind of hilarious if you watch the movie.

I don't care what it is. I don't care if it chews up the whole state. I care if it came from Mars or happened by spontaneous combustion. We're going to Canada with a load of gold, so forget it!

In this one 4 gangsters steal a few gold bars and decide they want to head off to Canada to just be rich. They are passing through South Dakota and decided to hire a ski instructor to help them navigate the territory. After a blizzard, they have to stay at the ski instructor's cabin. Meanwhile, an explosion they set off at the mine to distract the cops ends up letting loose a humanoid spider web spinning being that dwells in the cave. 

Filmed under Gene Corman Productions they seemed to want to go for the lowest budget possible. There was literally chicken wire involved in the costume for the creature and it probably cost all of $15.00 to make. The Corman’s wanted to handle the filming so cheaply that they actually filmed a war-action movie called SKI TROOP ATTACK with the same exact cast right after they filmed this. Released with THE WASP WOMAN this was part of a double feature, but THE WASP WOMAN is a far superior film. 

Acting-wise this thing is rough as hell. Sheila Noonan gets the most screen time and she was only in 5 films overall. This included THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD, which is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. She is okay as Gypsy (the main gangster's girlfriend), but that isn’t saying much. Frank Wolff plays the main gangster Alexander Ward but I really didn’t like anything about his effort in this. Michael Forest plays the ski instructor Gil Jackson. Forest is actually a decent actor and was still active in Hollywood as of 2020, but is bad in this. I blame all this on the seemingly rushed production and director Monte Hellman who just might not have been able to handle things well at the time since this was his first film ever. 

Pacing wise this movie is a slow burn, but it’s interesting enough to keep watching. Because of that, the 72 minute run time doesn’t exactly hurt. Some of the Hollywood monster creators out there bashed the monster in this one, but to be honest, this monster was effectively creepy looking and the final sequences are intriguing, to say the least. 

Unfortunately, this movie was a hard watch for me and I love this kind of stuff. I really just typically don’t like movies that involve gangsters where it’s not even close to being a central plot point. Also, if you are going to do a slow burn film you have to give us more of the actual creature at some point. While this one is a bit freaky, it’s on-screen for maybe 60 seconds of the whole movie. 

Overall this is a disappointment for me with some cheese, but none of the fun. For me, this is a 2 out of 7. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF SUNSET PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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