Charles B. Griffiths’ script however is characteristically sharp, off-beat and pulpy as hell, meaning that the movie begins as a kind of scrappy rural noir about a bunch of Jim Thompson-esque misfits planning a gold heist at a South Dakota ski lodge... and more-or-less continues as one too, notwithstanding occasional, lethargic attacks from a shapeless, cobweb-covered Lovecraftian snow-beast.
Making one of his only significant screen appearances before relocating to Italy, the great Frank Wolff is one cool mo-fo as the leader of the crooks. Looking almost like Warren Oates in ‘..Alfredo Garcia’ as he knocks back drinks in the bar early in the film, he provides a startling contrast to the kind interchangeable squares who usually tended to populate these movies (whenever Griffiths and Gene’s brother weren’t involved, at least).
Possibly revealing traces of ‘Key Largo’ in the script’s DNA, Frank’s venomous love/hate relationship with heavy-drinking moll/“secretary” Sheila Noonan crackles nicely as they exchange barbed put-downs, archly addressing each other as “Charles” (a detail made even weirder by the fact that that was also the name of the screenwriter). The other two members of their gang (Wally Campo and Richard - yes, cousin of Frank - Sinatra) are ill-defined, quasi-comedic goons, but they’re dumb and unpredictable enough to heft the necessary amount of menace, so all is well.
Though it’s rather poorly explained on-screen, the gang’s plan seems to involve blowing up a local mine as a distraction whilst they pilfer a very small number of gold bars from a nearby bank vault (Frank insists that they only can only carry two each in their backpacks). Then, they’re to proceed with undertaking a pre-arranged trek through the mountains, guided by an unsuspecting, granite-jawed ski instructor / wilderness survival guy whom the gang sneeringly call “nature boy” (played by the appropriately named Michael Forest, although he could easily be mistaken for a Scots Pine).
Give or take a dead barmaid (the monster killed her, but of course the others assume goon # 1 did away with her like the psychotic freak he evidently is), this scheme goes surprisingly smoothly, and… to be honest, I’m not really sure what they planned to do once they’re out in the wilderness, besides hide out indefinitely in the remote cabin Nature Boy leads them to, but… would you really expect a gang this dysfunctional to have thought things through properly? Besides, by the time they hit the shack, the monster is getting seriously on their case, so they’ve soon got bigger antediluvian, spider-like horrors to fry.
Filmed back-to-back with Roger C’s ‘Ski Troop Attack’ (1960) (apparently the Cormans had cut a deal with the ski lodge in which both films were shot), in technical terms ‘Beast From Haunted Cave’ is a pretty terrible film in just about every respect, feeling much more amateurish and chaotic than most of the films Roger turned in on similarly tight schedules in the late ‘50s. At the same time though, its warped (and occasionally inaudible) human drama has a loose, punk-ass charm that’s difficult to deny. So… perhaps not actually that far removed from Hellman’s later achievements, now that I think about it?
Instantly redeeming the movie’s rep with the monster kids meanwhile, when we finally reach the final five minutes of climactic monster action, they’re actually pretty damned good. Created (and indeed played) by actor and future director Chris Robinson, the beast seems fairly laughable during its early appearances, but when framed in the gloomy, atmospheric confines of the titular cave, it becomes a far more interesting and frightening prospect than most of its competitors in the Corman/AIP-adjacent monster movie canon.
Shot against this shadowy backdrop, the candy floss-like white tendrils which cover its spider-like appendages look sinewy and icky, whilst the beast’s lack of a face or fixed shape also proves extremely effective. Perhaps its just the snowbound setting, but it feels in some ways like a distant ancestor of Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’, and… would it be too much of a stretch to suggest that the way the beast sticks its still living victims to the walls in webbed cocoons seems to pre-figure ‘Aliens’ a quarter century later…? Probably, but it still looks really scary and cool nonetheless.
In conclusion then, approximately ten times more enjoyable than Creature From The Haunted Sea, which I watched as part of my pre-Halloween marathon a few years back because I got the titles confused and thought it was this.
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Check out the amazing artwork on this 8mm digest version…
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