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Gangster boss Ward (Frank Wolff), his henchmen Smith (Wally Campo) and Jones (Richard Sinatra), and his moll Gypsy (Sheila Carol) plan to rob a bank in a skiing resort, their plan being to blow up the local goldmine as a distraction, then make a getaway via a skiing tour led by local, good-natured nature boy Gil (Michael Forest). The one problem with this plan is, it doesn't take long for Gypsy to fall for Gil, and she grows a conscience because of that, ultimately deciding to make a getaway with him, reporting ward and company to the police. The other, much bigger problem though is that the explosion of the mine has set free a tentacled monster (Chris Robinson in cobweb-outfit) that delights in cocooning up its victims and sucking up their blood, and that has since been following out gangster friends and now sets up shop into the nearby aptly named "Haunted Cave" to wait for its victims like a spider in its web ...

Admittedly, above synopsis sounds all pretty underwhelming for a late-50s monster movie, as there were scores of others that practically shared basically the same plot (not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that), with only slight variations. What makes this a standout is on one hand an imaginative use of unusual camera-angles and -shots that put this film closer to the French nouvelle vague (back then still in its infancy) than to executive producer Roger Corman's usual output of the era (not that there would be anything wrong with that neither), on the other hand the dialogues are much sharper written, much more to the point than usual for this kind of movie, foreshadowing Hellman's later existential masterpieces Ride in the Whirlwind, The Shooting and Two-Lane-Backtop. As monster movies go, this one's very much worth your while!

Shot back-to-back with Roger Corman's Ski Troop Attack (with which it shares most of the cast) and originally co-billed with Corman's Wasp Woman.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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