A gangster by the name of Alexander Ward comes to South Dakota with his girlfriend, Gypsy Boulet, and a pair of dimwitted henchmen. They plan to steal several bars of gold while creating a diversion using an explosion in a near by mine. They enlist ski instructor Gil Jackson to take them on a guided tour of the area, planning to escape via helicopter once hidden deep within the mountainous surroundings.
But what they didn't count on was that their activities would awaken a sinister monster, somewhat akin to a gigantic spidery octopus type creature, which lived deep within the cavernous mine. Now the creature is out to get those who have disturbed its spidery octo-slumber. Let's just call it an octo-spider. Spider-puss?
By today's standards, this is a cheese-ball movie with a cheese-ball monster, and cheese-ball effects. On the other hand, this movie is in black and white and was made in 1959, so its only fair to look at it in context rather than compare it to today's flashy big budget movies with their computer generated creatures.
Actually, Beast from Haunted Cave isn't such a bad movie at all. The acting and plot are decent and the monster has a definite charm that modern monster movies just don't have. It follows the usual, cookie-cutter pattern. The bad guys, who are clearly bad guys due to their general mean-spirited and nasty behavior, plus being racists and sexists to boot, get what they have coming to them. Meanwhile, the good guy gets the girl and lives happily ever after. Or at least we can assume they did... the movie ends incredibly abruptly. Maybe they get eaten by the octo-spider's monsters angry wife or husband on their way out of the cave. Or by a horde of little angry spider-puss babies. Either way, a kind of fun movie.
3.5 giant spider monsters out of 5Unrated, contains mild violence, language, and sexuality.
Watch the Beast from Haunted Cave trailer.
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