Movie Review: Beast from Haunted Cave (1959) directed by Monte Hellman
Deadwood, South Dakota may have had a wild reputation back in the day, but in modern times, it’s a quiet tourist town. It’s the sort of place you might go for a ski vacation if your budget doesn’t run to Aspen. And that’s why entrepreneur Alexander Ward (Frank Wolff) is here with his business associates Marty Jones (Richard Sinatra) and Byron Smith (Wally Campo) and secretary Gypsy Boulet (Sheila Noonan). They’ve hired local guide Gil Jackson (Michael Forest) to give them skiing lessons, and then lead a cross-country trip to a remote cabin.
This being a movie, that’s not the real reason they’re here. The plan is to set off an explosion in a disused mine on Sunday morning, thus drawing the local law enforcement and emergency personnel out of downtown. The three men will then rob the active mine office, stealing bars of gold. They’ll then rendezvous with Gil and Gypsy at the top of the ski resort (far enough away from town to not notice the excitement), and go to the cabin. There’s a pre-arranged plane set to land there in a few days; Mr. Ward plans to kill Gil and any members of his crew that have become liabilities, and escape into Canada.
The first wild card shows up when Marty gets a little drunk and picks up barmaid Natalie (Linné Ahlstrand), getting her to show him the disused mine in the middle of the night. He plants the explosive while her back is turned, but they’re then attacked by a mysterious beast (Chris Robinson). Marty flees, leaving Natalie for dead, but is shaken by this and suffering random attacks of guilt and belief that he’s being followed by the beast.
Natalie’s disappearance is investigated by the authorities, but they don’t make the connection to Marty, and it’s noted that some recent animal deaths have been attributed to a loose cougar.
The explosive goes off (killing an unlucky watchman) and the robbery itself goes off just fine. Next wild card is that Gypsy starts being attracted to Gil, and vice versa. (Alexander is not a good boyfriend.)
On the trip to the cabin, the audience sees that the beast is indeed following Marty. At the cabin, Gil learns about the robbery and becomes increasingly suspicious of his clients. Byron finds himself developing a flirtation with native housekeeper Small Dove (Kay Jennings). A heavy snow delays the plane.
Isolated as they are, the small group is menaced by the beast, which has taken up a lair in a nearby cave. Who, if anyone, will survive?
This crime movie interrupted by a monster was shot on location in Deadwood and the surrounding area as producer Gene Corman and his brother Roger had been lured to South Dakota by that state’s Chamber of Commerce offering financial incentives to film there and their own desire to get out of California for a while. Roger Corman was preparing his own movie Ski Troop Attack which used some of the same locations, actors and screenwriter Charles B. Griffith. The beast costume was made by Mr. Robinson himself out of his own pocket, as he was working for exposure (it worked, he got a lot of TV roles, and was still doing movies as of 2022!)
As you might expect, the lack of budget really shows. The sets are minimal, the acting is mostly adequate at best, and there’s a reason we see very little of the monster until the climax. But it’s nice to see the South Dakota locations, and the skiing sequences don’t feel overly long or like filler. The scene where some of the beast’s victims wake up in Haunted Cave is actually pretty disturbing.
Content note: Alcohol abuse, smoking, extramarital sex is implied. Outdated term for a Native American woman. Younger children should have adult guidance.
Several of the people involved would go on to make much better movies, but with its short run time, this would make a good double feature with another B-Movie–say, The Wasp Woman, its first feature partner.
