Beast from Haunted Cave 1959

A group of criminals led by Alexander Ward hatches a plan to steal gold bars from a bank vault in Deadwood, South Dakota. Ward sends one of his henchmen, Marty Jones, to plant a time bomb in a nearby gold mine. The detonation will occur the next morning and act as a diversion for their heist. Although Marty, accompanied by local barmaid Natalie, succeeds in setting the device, he encounters a huge, hairy beast. It captures Natalie, but Marty escapes. It is later revealed that the beast survives off of the blood of his captives, who eventually experience a slow death. Natalie is only the latest of its many victims.

The next morning, the explosive goes off as planned, and Alex and his gang succeed in stealing gold bars from the bank’s vault. Then, led by a local guide named Gil Jackson, they make the trek to a remote cabin, where they hope to be picked up by a plane bound for Canada. Gil is initially unaware of their plans, but he becomes suspicious when he hears reports of the robbery on the radio and then discovers his clients are toting handguns. They reach the cabin without incident but, once there, a violent snowstorm delays the plane’s arrival. Gypsy Boulet is taken with the young Gil and tells him that Alex plans to kill him once the plane arrives. Thus, Gil and Gypsy split for town.

Marty carries unpleasant memories of the beast. He perpetually senses someone (or something) is watching him. Thus when he reports encountering the beast again, his companions suspect he’s becoming delusional. Eventually, however, they are convinced of the beast’s existence when they see it attack Byron Smith. Despite their fear of further attacks, the gang attempt to track down Gil and Gypsy before they reach town. But with the snowstorm approaching, they head for a nearby cave. The weather also forces Gil and Gypsy to take shelter in the same cave. That shelter turns out to be the lair of the beast. In the final struggle, the beast kills the remaining gang members; but before dying, Marty shoots it with a flare gun. Gil and Gypsy are left to watch as the monster burns to death.