SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

hrkepler A group of criminals steal gold from the bank and then hide themselves from police in the cabin of ski instructor while there is spider like monster on the loose who feeds from human blood.'Beast from Haunted Cave' was filmed in the same location with Roger Corman's 'Ski Troop Attack' with some of the cast and crew members the same. Corman hired Monte Hellman to direct to whom it was first feature film and later went on to direct such cult classics like 'Ride in the Whirlwind' and 'Two-Lane Blacktop'. Screenplay was written by Corman's regular collaborator Charles B. Griffith who reworked it from his earlier screenplay of 'Naked Paradise' That is the reason 'Beast' is sometimes called the remake of 'Naked Paradise' with the monster. The acting is good in the most parts and the directing is bit uneven. Although with short running time, the middle part of the film drags and starts to fall into melodramatic territories, but when the monster attacks second time, the film picks up pace again. Design of the monster is pleasantly effective (on all the wrong reasons), but it is not as laughable like some others in low budgeted B-movies from that era.It is not totally bad movie and it definitely has its moments, but all in all 'Beast from Haunted Cave' is pretty generic monster fare with crime film background.

Scott LeBrun "Humphrass" was the behind the scenes pet name devised by actor Chris Robinson for his creature creation, a mysterious, web spinning, somewhat arachnid-like animal that stalks a small group of people in the South Dakota wilderness. Some of these people are criminals who came to stage a gold robbery, using an explosion in a cave as a diversion. Unfortunately, by doing so, they unleashed the beast, which occasionally catches up to its prey in order to do some pretty creepy things to them.A 27 year old Monte Hellman, future icon of independent cinema (and director of classics like "Cockfighter", "The Shooting", and "Two-Lane Blacktop") made his directorial debut with this obviously low, low budget effort, done for producer Gene Corman and his brother Roger. On the whole, the movie isn't a great one, but it's under rated as far as this kind of B picture goes. It's got some genuinely spooky atmosphere, and Hellman and Robinson (himself star of such features as "Stanley") do their best to keep the monster in the shadows until the time arrives to show it in all its glory. And what a monster it is. It doesn't really look like anything seen on screen, before or since. It's wispy, long limbed, and has a largely featureless head.The creature sequences are the main reason to watch, but not the only one. The extremely moody cinematography is by Andrew M. Costikyan; Alexander Laszlo does the effective music. The screenplay is by Roger Cormans' frequent collaborator, the talented Charles B. Griffith, and it does have some good dialogue. (Basically, the scenario is a reworking of the earlier Corman flick "Naked Paradise", but with a monster added.) There are some interesting characters in the bunch, especially gangsters' moll Gypsy (Sheila Noonan), who is already depressed and defeated at age 26. The acting is generally solid - Michael Forest is a likable hero, Frank Wolff appropriately despicable as the criminal mastermind, Corman favorite Wally Campo amiable as comedy relief guy Byron, and Richard Sinatra (Franks' cousin) has a solid presence as young punk Marty. Robinson does a good job at creating a nightmarish creature character that could easily spook younger children.Not bad, this one. It's definitely worth a look.Seven out of 10.

Wizard-8 While you could get away with making a movie like "Beast from Haunted Cave" back in the 1950s, there's no way making a modern example of it that would appeal to contemporary audiences. While the title of the movie promises a lot of horror, that is not the case at all. In the first half of the movie, the monster barely makes its presence known. And while the monster makes a few more appearances in the second half, it's not worth the wait, since the monster looks flat out ridiculous and the direction of its homicidal rampage isn't particularly well done. I have a sneaking suspicion that the script for this movie was originally a straight crime drama, and that some quick rewrites made it into a (sorta) monster movie. Had the movie gone by that path, it might have been passable, but apart from some pretty good low budget photography there's not a lot here for B movie fans.

Scarecrow-88 Alex, Marty, Byron, and Gypsy (Frank Wolff, Wally Campo, Richard Sinatra, and Sheila Noonan) move from place to place, successful bank robbers, now in South Dakota, preparing to blow a mine so that the local authorities will be distracted while they are heisting loot (gold bars)from another location. They hire a ski resort owner/instructor, Gil Jackson (Michael Forest) to train them on how to ski, wanting him to take them to a specific spot where the group plans to catch an airplane ride, gold bars in tow. What none of them expect is to be in the midst of a creature that has been following close behind, living in a reputed haunted cave. Early Hellman picture is nothing special, but will probably remain a watchable item due to the novelty of featuring an up and coming director learning under the tutelage of Corman, allowed a bit of freedom as long as he keeps the production cost under budget. The "beast" of the title is basically a giant spider with two extended appendages that grab victims (Hellman is wise enough to keep the camera close and covers the creature in cob webs, never showing its face or total body, because doing so would hinder the creep factor). I think the most effective scenes have victims cocooned in web, white, lifeless faces displaying the drained blood thanks to the creature's thirsty appetite. Most of the film is rather dialogue-heavy, featuring noirish hoods, with Hellman preparing us for the eventual showdown between Alex, the leader of the thieves with a nasty streak that shows when he loses his temper, and the dashing, pipe-smoking, nature-loving, mild-mannered ski instructor, Gil. I know Forest from shows like Star Trek and The Outer Limits, and his character here is likable enough, tolerant of the obnoxious behavior of Byron and Marty. The animosity that starts to brew between Alex and Gil stems from Gypsy's burgeoning disenchantment with her current "family". It is evident early that Gypsy is falling hard for the handsome Gil, someone who could possibly offer her a better, more fruitful life. Alex is a calculating career criminal who likes the thrill his "occupation" provides, but he cannot contain his anger when Gypsy is flirting with Gil; Alex's jealousy in his Achilles' Heel. The creature mainly shows up at the end, with a great portion of the film dedicated to Alex's set-in-motion plans for the heist and exit strategy, Gil just a means to an end, the guide who takes them where they need to go to get on a plane (that doesn't show up on schedule due to inclement weather), Canada their destination. Like in many other (much better) heist films, the robbery is successful, but the escape plans go awry, this time a creature disrupting the supposed fool-proof trip out of the country and on to greener pastures. Good South Dakota locations help. Leisurely paced (even barely over an hour it feels longer), with less emphasis (probably because Hellman was little interested in making the standard creature feature picture) on monster attacks (until the very end in the cave, that is) and more on the dynamic that exists between the principles (particularly the love triangle).