Beast from the Haunted Cave
Gene Corman was listed as producer for this early effort from Monte Hellman (who some consider responsible for most of the direction of Roger Corman's The Terror), who got the gig of directing this South Dakota [light on] horror film with a bank robbery of gold bars, a mine explosion that kills a man, and a boozing, tired arm candy for a criminal mastermind who romances a ski instructing "man of the mountain life" (nicknamed cowboy). The monster is a type of cobwebby arachnid that is disturbed of its rest in its cave by intruders and commences to hunt down humans for their blood supply. Michael Forest is the handsome ski instructor who offers a skiing experience which includes camping and spending a little time at his cabin. Sheila Noonan is the unhappy squeeze of Frank Wolff, a career leader of robbers which include Richard Sinatra and Wally Campo.
In researching some back story, I learned the bar maid, Linne Ahlstrand, died of cancer at just thirty. Too unfortunate. She had landed a recurring gig as dispatch on Highway Patrol and had only been married about three years when cancer took her life. In this film, she doesn't have a lot. Campo lures her to a reputed haunted cave to make out and the spider-thing drags her away to be bled dry. Sheila Noonan made one more film after this for Roger Corman, so basically Beast was her one substantial role before quitting the movies. She has this character yearning for something more and Wolff just likes the criminal life which has provided him plenty of bank. Eventually Forest realizes Wolff is bad news and plans to turn them in. An incoming blizzard will complicate matters. The monster looks like what it is: a scrapheap of materials slightly favoring a spider. Hellman had nothing of a budget and a cast working on the cheap obviously... can't blame him for getting little horror that works. So he has a lot of conversation including bickering between Noonan and Wolff, Campo doing his best to find and kill the beast, an arachnid arm grabbing people by the throat and pulling them off screen, and Noonan aching for love with the chill Forest who is even-tempered and coolly functional...he doesn't rattle. He accepts Noonan and listens to her contemplating an unflattering past and uncertain future which could or couldn't include her. The ending just kind of dies, though. Still, I kind of like it. Love the location, definitely. The Lakota maid and Sinatra love angle is rather unexpected!
**
In researching some back story, I learned the bar maid, Linne Ahlstrand, died of cancer at just thirty. Too unfortunate. She had landed a recurring gig as dispatch on Highway Patrol and had only been married about three years when cancer took her life. In this film, she doesn't have a lot. Campo lures her to a reputed haunted cave to make out and the spider-thing drags her away to be bled dry. Sheila Noonan made one more film after this for Roger Corman, so basically Beast was her one substantial role before quitting the movies. She has this character yearning for something more and Wolff just likes the criminal life which has provided him plenty of bank. Eventually Forest realizes Wolff is bad news and plans to turn them in. An incoming blizzard will complicate matters. The monster looks like what it is: a scrapheap of materials slightly favoring a spider. Hellman had nothing of a budget and a cast working on the cheap obviously... can't blame him for getting little horror that works. So he has a lot of conversation including bickering between Noonan and Wolff, Campo doing his best to find and kill the beast, an arachnid arm grabbing people by the throat and pulling them off screen, and Noonan aching for love with the chill Forest who is even-tempered and coolly functional...he doesn't rattle. He accepts Noonan and listens to her contemplating an unflattering past and uncertain future which could or couldn't include her. The ending just kind of dies, though. Still, I kind of like it. Love the location, definitely. The Lakota maid and Sinatra love angle is rather unexpected!
**
Comments
Post a Comment