"WHEN THE MONSTER IS DEAD..."

Released on a double bill with THE WASP WOMAN in 1959, BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE is a better-than-it-has-to-be little horror film. I'm not here to make an argument that it's an overlooked masterpiece in need of rediscovery and re-evaluation. It's not that good. Nonetheless, it is an interesting and effective little chiller that has some good things going for it.

Two things going against it however are the tinny, echo-y sound and an absolutely horrible musical score by Alexander Laszlo. But the pluses outweigh those negatives, the pluses being a quirky screenplay by Charles B. Griffith (who most likely wrote the entire script in a matter of days, if not hours), nice South Dakota locations, decent cinematography by Andrew M. Costikyan, an interesting cast and solid, if unspectacular direction by first time director Monte Hellman.

BEAST is part heist/caper film, part weird monster thriller, a mash-up that, surprisingly, works well. A gang of small time crooks, led by Alexander Ward (Richard Dreyfuss look-alike Frank Wolff who went to star in numerous Spaghetti Westerns in Italy including Sergio Leone's masterpiece ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1969)), plot to steal some of the gold bars kept in a local bank. The plan is to set off an explosion in an abandoned mine as a diversion, rob the bank, hike on cross country skis to a remote cabin and eventually get picked up by a getaway plane. Local ski-instructor (and owner of that remote cabin) Gil Jackson (Chris Cuomo look-alike Michael Forest), is hired to serve as guide for the mob. The mob consists of Marty Jones (Frank's cousin, Richard Sinatra), goofus Byron Smith (Wally Campo) and bad-girl trying to go straight Gypsy (Sheila Noonan).

The mine explosion awakens/sets free (it's never made clear exactly) the titular beast who begins stalking the gang, picking them off one by one. But instead of out-and-out killing its' victims, the beast cocoons their still conscious bodies in an enormous cavern where it proceeds to suck their blood (a similar plot point found in THE GIANT LEECHES (1959) and Ridley Scott's classic ALIEN (1979)).

The monster is never clearly seen in it's entirety but it's a weirdly effective creation, designed, built and brought to life by Chris Robinson. Things come to a climax in the aforementioned cave (a real, honest-to-goodness cavern, not the tunnels of Bronson Canyon doubling as a "cave"). where the monster is killed by flare guns. The monster is dead and the movie is over.

Produced by Roger Corman's brother Gene, BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE is a fun little horror film. The most notable aspect of the film is the directorial debut of Monte Hellman, a Corman buddy who went on to have a decidedly checkered film career. Hellman never achieved mainstream acceptance and status but he earned indie credit among film fans for such quirky, offbeat, and diverse fare as FLIGHT TO FURY (1964), BACK DOOR TO HELL (1964), RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND (1966), THE SHOOTING (1966), TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971), COCKFIGHTER (1974), THE GREATEST (1977), CHINA 9, LIBERTY 37 (1978), IGUANA (1988), SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3 (1988), TRAPPED ASHES (2006) and ROAD TO NOWHERE (2010). Hellman also served as executive producer on the cult classic RESERVOIR DOGS (1992). 

Thumbs up.