Roger Corman and brother Gene spent about $72.50 on Beast from Haunted Cave (1959). I'm kidding of course. It was probably in the thousands, but still cheap. Roger also got composer, Alexander Laszlo, to do the soundtrack and had a cast, that included Playmate Linné Ahlstrand, in a small part. Corman was able to piggyback the principal photography for this film with another one of his films, Ski Troop Attack (1960). After coming up with a plot, that mimics that of Key Largo (1948), he added a monster, then landed the biggest star of the film, Deadwood, South Dakota. That's right, the best thing about this film is the shooting location. Beautiful, majestic, snow-covered, Black Hills mountains, that made Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), interesting enough to say, "check it out". The shooting of the film had to be treacherous, cold and scary.
If you are lucky enough to go get a Playboy playmate, a legendary film composer and picturesque locations, you should write a better script. Also, bring a better camera along, check your audio equipment and don't shoot the film in thirteen days. If you have no money for special effects, drop the monster idea. The effects in this film are atrocious and you could, easily have made a much better film, by taking one of the characters and making them a crazy serial killer or something. In closing, the acting wasn't too bad, but the creative technique just isn't there. The directing and editing is freshman at best. If it wasn't for the skiing scenes, the snow-covered landscapes and the cool, creepy cave locations, this film wouldn't be worth watching at all. In my opinion an IMDB rating of 3 or less is unwatchable, but I gave this a 4, because you need to see Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), to believe it. Also, look at this movie, as another chapter, in the legendary career of Roger Corman, which is a very important part of film-history.
PMTM Grade: 3.8 (F+) = 4 IMDB.
