New boutique label Film Masters, who wowed us with their initial Blu-ray release of creature feature favorites, The Giant Gila Monster and The Killer Shrews which was outstanding, are back at it again with another Blu-ray double feature of another pair of entertaining B-movies in Beast from Haunted Cave and Ski Troop Attack. Deadwood, South Dakota will forever be known for having these two films shot there!  

Beast from Haunted Cave is one of the dozens of low-budget horror pictures that came out in the fifties, 1959 to be more precise, which thrilled and creeped out fans of the genre. The movie was produced by Gene Corman, the brother of the iconic Roger Corman and was directed by cult favorite Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop. The Shooting) and was the first film he directed!  Hellman and Corman would collaborate on many pictures after this feature.

Ski Troop Attack is an action-adventure World War II picture that was directed by Roger Corman and featured many of the same lead cast members as ‘Beast’ and was filmed in the exact same locations and were even shot at the same time! Roger Corman at his budgetary finest!

In Beast from Haunted Cave, a man-sized spider creature (played by Chris Robinson from the General Hospital television series) is attacking the locals in Deadwood, South Dakota.

A group of criminals led by Alexander Ward (Frank Wolff, I Mobster, Death Walks on High Heels) are in town and plan to steal gold bars at a bank by detonating a bomb at a nearby gold mine. The bomb’s explosion would serve as a diversion while the robbers take the gold bars from the bank! Their plans are successful and Ward along with his other gang members Marty (Richard Sinatra) and Gypsy (Sheila Noonan) hide out in a cabin where the spider creature is lurking in the area. After they encounter the hideous beast, they run off into a nearby cave where it lives. From there, we see shots of its victims webbed up in cocoons and the beast drinks their blood! Creepy stuff!

Ski Troop Attack takes place in 1944 during World War II where five US soldiers led by Lt. Factor (Michael Forest, 100 Rifles, King Kong Lives) go behind enemy lines on a reconnaissance mission, but Sgt. Potter (Frank Wolff) decides to attack the Germans, much to Factor’s dismay as it now becomes a suicide mission! From there it’s a fight for survival as the troops fight the German military!

Overall, this was an enjoyable double-feature. I, being a monster movie fanatic, enjoyed Beast from Haunted Cave quite a bit more.The ‘Beast’ is a pretty creepy looking creature and would have liked to have seen more of him as the film gets a bit into heavy dialogue at times when viewers would rather see the monster attack people!

I wasn’t into Ski Troop Attack all that much even though it was directed by Roger Corman who shows off his low budget magic that he’s famous for in this movie! The fact that it was directed by Corman made it a must watch! I probably would have enjoyed Ski Troop Attack more if it had a monster in it!

Both pictures are now together in a lavish two-disc Region Free Blu-ray set. Monte Hellman’s Beast from Haunted Cave receives a second Blu-ray release! The first Blu-ray with ‘Beast’ came out in 2017 from Retromedia and was part of a double feature with The Wasp Woman, just like it had been at drive-ins in 1959! This time around, Film Masters new Blu-ray of the Beast from Haunted Cave has a new tag-team partner in Ski Troop Attack as they were part of the Filmgroup library and filmed together.

Beast from Haunted Cave has been given a 4K scan from 35mm archival elements with excellent results. The picture quality for the film has never looked any better. The image in motion looks exceptionally sharp with rich whites, inky blacks, and a balanced grey scale. The outdoor snowy scenery shots, indoor shots of the cabin and inside the cave along with characters all show a wealth of detail with rich textures. I didn’t detect any flaws or print damages such as vertical lines or speckles while viewing this release. Andrew M. Costikyan’s cinematography really shines and stands out with the 4k scan! Film grain is present throughout giving the movie an organic appearance. It does appear that a lot of time and care has been done to restore ‘Beast’ to have the film looking as pristine as possible.

Beast from Haunted Cave is also presented in both widescreen (1:85:1) and full screen (1:33:1) aspect ratios with the full screen version containing the 7-minute longer television cut. The image quality is fantastic no matter which aspect ratio of the movie you decide to watch it in.

Ski Troop Attack, debuting on Blu-ray, also looks fine in 1080p. The full screen transfer has very little to no print damage. The only ugly parts of the film occur when stock footage is used and you will notice some vertical lines, and some heavy grain and a few blurry shots. Outside of the stock footage, the image does look clean overall. The grey scale looks perfectly stable with dark black level and crisp, clear whites. Details to the characters in close-ups and scenery also look strong. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is an impressive transfer!

For their Blu-ray, Film Masters has used a pair of audio tracks. This release has both English HD Master Audio 2.0 and English Dolby digital 2.0 Mono soundtracks. Whichever audio option you choose, the two tracks are perfectly crisp and clear. The dialogue, music, action sounds for both films are flawless without any hissing, drop-offs, popping or age-old anomalies. The music in the background blends in perfectly with the dialogue, basically none of the sounds were coming in too dominant or aggressively. The Dolby digital sounded a bit stronger to me, especially when it came to the music and action sequences. Optional English subtitles are available for this release.

As some may already know, and certainly worthy of mentioning, are a couple of tidbits. Much of Alexander Laszlo’s eerie soundtrack from Beast from Haunted Cave can also be heard on Attack of the Giant Leeches and The Wasp Woman. Also, the roar of the spider creature is same as the giant spider in Earth vs. The Spider.

Film Masters has provided a nice amount of bonus material for this Blu-ray offering.

In Beast from Haunted Cave, Tom Weaver and Larry Blamire provide a great, entertaining commentary track where they discuss the making of the film, its cast and crew to go with stories about the film and actors. They sound like they are having a wonderful time talking about the movie.

There is also a pair of trailers for Beast from Haunted Cave. One is the original theatrical trailer, while a second trailer was re-cut and scanned in 4K from 35mm archival elements. This new trailer has never looked so good! There is also a stills gallery for ‘Beast’.

Last, but not least, there is an Easter Egg where you will see a six-minute interview with Chris Robinson, the ‘Beast’ himself coutesy of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures! You have to click the ‘Beast’ on the menu to access it!

Extras for Ski Troop Attack include an audio commentary. C. Courtney Joyner and Howard S. Berger, who have done an excellent, thoughtful commentary track for the film, with discussions about the making of the film, the budget and actors who were also working on Beast from Haunted Cave at the same time.

Another cool extra found on the Sky Troop Attack disc is from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures which presents an original production, entitled “Hollywood Intruders: The Filmgroup Story: Part One” which was founded by Roger and Gene Corman. This feature discusses how Filmgroup came to be along with some of the double features that came from the company including High School Big Shot, T-Bird Gang, The Wasp Woman, Beast from Haunted Cave and Ski Troop Attack.

There is also a re-cut 2023 trailer for Ski Troop Attack which looks fantastic.

Just when you’ve watched everything on these discs, there is still more information to be had! A 22-page booklet is also included for this Blu-ray. Half of it has Tom Weaver interviewing the Beast from Haunted Cave himself, Chris Robinson. The other part of the booklet, called “Roger Corman goes to War” is written by C.  Courtney Joyner and has more information about Ski Troop Attack.

This Blu-ray is a great, GREAT offering from Film Masters. The image and audio quality for both films are outstanding, nothing short of remarkable, to go with a bevy of extras to make this a highly recommended package.

The Beast from Haunted Cave / Ski Troop Attack

Director- Monte Hellman / Roger Corman

Cast- Michael Forest, Sheila Noonan, Frank Wolff

Country of Origin-USA

Distributor – Film Masters  

Number of Discs – 2

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date – 10/9/23