Beast from Haunted Cave

The 50's are often fondly remembered by those growing up in them as a Golden age of SciFi & Horror movies. As a child of the 60's & 70's, I give grudging assertion to maybe a quarter of what came out. While this one pales in comparison to "The Thing" or "Them!," it certainly has it's own special quality. I first stumbled across it one quiet summer evening at my Uncle Billy's house in New Orleans. I caught it just after the opening credits, and thought I'd landed on "Peter Gunn" or one of the other B&W crime tales flooding the airwaves in '68. Silly me. I recently bought a DVD player and have begun amassing a collection. As as was my desire when I bought my first VCR, I am collecting these rare old gems. I got this one on a double-feature disk with "The Brain that Wouldn't Die!" Cool!

Plot wise, the film does a lot of character building in a short time, mainly by sticking with the basics: Scowling guy is the villain; he has two dorky henchmen (one of them a would-be Sid Melton); the girl is a tarnished angel-type; and our hero is a square-jawed manly man. I half expected his name to be Lance Manion (although Gil is pretty snazzy).

The locals of the town our villains flee to after a robbery are also cookie-cutters, the exception being the plump little barmaid the Sid Melton-ite bonds with. She shows some depth, and provides the ominous prophecy duties. The hottie bar-girl seemed to have been added as an after-thought(and she runs circles around fallen angel in the looks department). The villains decide to rob the town while they're there. The Beast pops up after the antagonists arrive in town. From barwench's tale, we learn that it is a local legend that no one ever proved existed, although some folk have disappeared over the years. The scenes of it acquiring victims are really creepy, and some of my older relatives have asserted this was a really scary flick back then. It's physical appearance leaves something to be desired, but this is a jaded child of the media talking. It's minimalism fits in fairly well with the production. I believe the intent was to portray it as a spider-monster, and the scene of it feeding on the hottie barmaid are really gruesome. The plot lurches a few times as it heads towards the final confrontation. Amazingly, square-jaw and fallen angel willingly go to the cave (the former laughingly mentioning the presence of the monster while the latter smiles admiringly at his virile countenance), soon followed by the ostensibly jealous scowler and henchman #2. Scowler, of course, is looking to off square-jaw (out of jealousy and common sense. It seems he has some connection to the local authorities). The monster appears, bad guys die, but not before Scowler sets the beast ablaze. The End. The wintry setting of the film adds to the isolated atmosphere, and with better production values and some dinero, a decent remake is possible (are you listening Charles Band?). If you get a chance, check it out. The DVD has the original theatrical trailer. too cool.

The Corman family (notably Roger) has this nasty habit of padding a movie with lots of walking. Oh sure, there are variations on the theme. Generally, though you will find yourself subjected to a tour of Bronson Canyon, or wherever they decided to film that day's movie. Brother Gene has added variety by giving us lots of SKIING!!

The plot involves four theives who stage a mine explosion in South Dakota to divert the town's attention while the bank is relieved of gold bars - but only six bars! Why six? Why, they're going cross-country skiing to the lodge of a local man, and that's all they can carry. From there, they will hop a plane to Canada. Unfortunately, there's a monster following the crooks, sort of a cross between a spider and Bigfoot with extra floppy arms.

If it all sounds odd, that's because it is. The tension between the boss (I suspect it's really Donald Sutherland undercover) and his *ahem* secretary is almost palpable. Frank Sinatra's cousin's performance is outstanding, definitely paving the way for Frank Stallone's run of fame years later.

The disturbing thing is that if these crooks are into putting their fellow fireworks manufacturers out of business, why are we robbing banks in South Dakota? Let's face it, South Dakota is not known for much other than Sturgis and it's motorcycle rally. I'm trying to figure out how partially robbing a bank in South Dakota cements your claim to the fireworks empire. Fortunately, I have other things to worry about other than these jokers.

Sterno says spin your spider web somewhere else.

In the great scheme of all things cinematic this is certainly not a great movie, but it is in many ways an intriguing one. Made in 1959, it is billed as and pretends to be another example of the '50s creature-features, but it largely eschews the standard formatting of those films for a deeper, character-driven narrative, more in common with subsequent films of the sixties and beyond. In that sense, it is slightly ahead of its time.

In fact, the horror elements take a back seat for much of the film, which plays more as a drama of tensions between a band of criminals and the skiing guide they have hired as part of their cover story. From this point of view, the film's real strengths come to light. The characters are written as though they could be actual people and not just devices to move the plot along, as some earlier films of the genre tended to portray their casts. The photography is very good, and there is a superb performance by Sheila Noonan as a troubled moll, one that virtually carries the movie and makes it much more interesting whenever she is on screen.

While the characterization is good for a B-movie, the writing is somewhat uneven. There are some quite deep philosophical insights offered up by the characters, such as the benefits of city life versus country living. If the writer wanted to take these musings in a more serious direction, perhaps this could have been Beast From Plato's Cave. But we can't read too much into a film where the guide's sister - Kay Jennings in a neat little performance - tries to sweet-talk a handsome stranger with the line "Did I tell you I knitted this sweater?" to which he replies "Is knitting your scene?" Some find the ending quite disturbing and scary for a film of its time. Others may find it somewhat flimsy and rushed. Either way, this film still has enough going for it to rate as a must-see for the serious fans of the genre.

The beast seems to be some kind of tree limb through most of the movie. He begins following them LONG, LONG before they ever stumble upon his cave and then, mysteriously, they just do. Two scenes stand out. A group of the criminals are in some cabin and they just finished some lame dialogue and then they just stand there, since they finished all their lines, with about five or six seconds of dead air, waiting for the director to yell "CUT!" They try not to appear lost but they clearly are.

The other scene is in the cave where some Mexican or Filipino woman is captive (she's being held by what looks like spider webs) and when someone else comes in to inquire about one of the other captives, or something like that, she blurts out "he is SUCKING HER BLOOD" or words to that effect. The scary music is cued and this semi-transparent beast, who appears to be a man wearing a blanket over his head, with tree limbs for arms, walks over and begins on one of the captives, who begins a long, plaintive howl, presumably of agony, albeit psychological agony.

It was so ludicrous that I couldn't stop laughing.

It's not a beast from *a* haunted cave, it's from a cave called Haunted. Or not. I think they need an indefinite article in there. Either way, this is a low-budget, low-effects, low-costume thriller about a gang robbing a lodge and then escaping via cross-country skiing. There's a menacing leader, the sensitive guy, the dopey guy, and the 'secretary.' And the guide who's smarter than any of them know! Plus a formidable Native American housekeeper. But the real star of the show is the monster, which looks quite tame (and humorous) by modern standards. Roger Corman was the producer, and Monte Hellman made his directing debut, so you know expense was spared all over the place. I did like some of the dialog, particularly from Sheila Noonan as the moll. This is probably best viewed as an unserious example of wacky monster movies of the 1950s.