Bonus Reviews: Corruption (1968) and The Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)
Bonus Reviews: Corruption (1968) and The Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)
Horror Bulletin Bonus for Week 178
For this week’s bonus films, we’ll look two more horror films. We'll start with the really lame "Beast from Haunted Cave" from 1959, and then follow that up with the ridiculously violent "Corruption" from 1968.
Don’t forget, the first week of each month, we publish ALL our reviews, including the bonus content, in our monthly “Horror Bulletin” print magazine (also available as an ebook). If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you! The new issue is out now!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JN2WBJ8
Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)
Directed by Monte Hellman
Written by Charles B. Griffith
Stars Michael Forest, Sheila Carroll, Frank Wolff
Run Time: 1 Hour, 12 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s challenging to find good things to say about this one. It’s not awful, it’s not unwatchable. But it’s pretty tedious and doesn’t have much to offer that hasn’t been seen before and done better.
Synopsis
A man takes a photo and drives away. He uses one of those high-tech almost-sci-fi instant cameras. They arrive at a ski lodge and run to take more photos. Absolutely nothing happens as credits roll.
Gil Jackson runs the place Happiness Lodge. Alexander Ward and Gypsy Boulet have hired the two photographers, Mr. Smith and Jones to take photos of old mines in the area. Marty Jones flirts with Jill, Gil’s sister.
Ward instructs Smith and Jones to set charges in the mine tonight. This is a distraction so they can go into the town’s payroll office and rob the place in the confusion. Gypsy is getting tired of their lifestyle, but Ward doesn’t care. She comes onto Gil, which infuriates Ward.
Jones and Natalie go out for a drive and stop by the old mine. While he’s in there, he drops off the explosive charges as planned. The pair starts to make out when they are suddenly covered in something like a spiderweb. Jones returns and reports to Ward that Natalie was killed in the mine. He says a monster did it, but there have been reports of a cougar in the area, so who really knows?
The next morning, everyone prepares for their cross-country getaway. The mine blows up as planned, and sirens go off in town. Ward, Smith, and Jones go to town and start drilling into the safe. The robbers take six gold bars and hop on a ski lift. The whole gang reconvenes and starts on their cross-country ski run, which should take a couple of days.
They walk all day, and Jones says it feels like they’re being followed by the monster that no one else believes exists. They stop to camp for the night and start looking for firewood. That night, Jones hears strange noises coming down from the mountain above. They find strange tracks in the snow the next morning.
They arrive at Gil’s cabin and meet his housekeeper, Small Dove. They hear the monster outside and shoot at it, but the creature feels no effects. Bad weather is coming in, and the group decides they have to spend the night, which is just fine for Ward, who wants to stay there until the heat of the manhunt is off down in town.
Gypsy explains to Gil what the plan was, but she’s changed her mind and wants to stay with Gil. He’s not surprised. He plans to return to town and turn the men in, but he’s willing to let Gypsy come with him and play innocent.
Meanwhile, Jones goes to the cave to investigate the monster. He comes back and tells them he found the cougar’s cave. Gypsy tells Ward she wants out, but he’s not willing to give her up.
Gypsy and Gil kiss while the others fight the monster back at the cabin; it kills Small Dove. Jones thinks Gil and Gypsy went to hide in the cave, and he goes back there, alone. He finds Small Dove and Natalie’s body in the cave, but the monster gets him. It sucks out all of Natalie’s blood and then moves in on Jones.
Gil and Gypsy arrive in the cave. Ward and Smith capture Gypsy and shoot at Gil, but the monster gets them both. Smith shoots it with a signal flare and it burns up. It all concludes very quickly.
Commentary
It’s... tedious It’s long, and the acting is definitely subpar. The story is fairly boilerplate, and the characters are all uninteresting archetypes. It’s not truly awful, but it’s about an isolated group being picked off one-by-one by a cheap-looking monster in a cave. Nothing new to see.
The creature is a sort of humanoid spider-like thing, more covered in spiderwebs than hair.
Corruption (1968)
Directed by Robert Hartford-Davis
Written by Donald Ford
Stars Peter Cushing, Sue Lloyd, Noel Travarthen
Run Time: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one was really very good. Not a typical role for Peter Cushing, more physical and emotional than some of his other work. The movie was given an X rating by the British film board. It's violent with some gore, but tame by today's standards. Would highly recommend.
Synopsis
As credits roll, we watch Sir John Rowan performing surgery. Dr. Steve Harris wonders how he can operate for five hours straight. Sir John takes it in stride as just being good at his job.
His fiancée Lynn invites him to a party later tonight. It’s one of those Austin-Powers-style 60s parties. He looks a little out of place in his suit and tie. Lynn goes off to talk with a photographer and leaves Sir John with a 60’s bimbo. They are not exactly what you’d call a perfect match. He’s a bit too old and a bit too upper-crust for all this nonsense, and it soon gets overwhelming— he wants to leave, but Lynn is on a roll wanting to do some modeling work right there while she has an audience.
The photographer, Michael, and Lynn start doing their photo shoot, and Sir John doesn’t like her undressing for the camera, and soon Michael and Sir John are fighting each other. They accidentally knock a burning hot lamp onto Lynn, disfiguring her face badly. Dr. Steve says they saved her sight, but plastic surgery might not help very much. Lynn’s sister Val goes to the hospital, and Sir John tells her what happened.
Lynn will never regain her looks, and she has nightmares. Sir John becomes obsessed with fixing Lynn’s face. Val warns him about obsessions and wants him to go back to his real work.
He finds a cure; an entirely new process with no ill effects. He rushes in and tells Lynn all about it. Sir John goes to the mortuary to do a post-mortem on one of Dr. Harris’ patients. Once he’s alone with the body, he cuts out her thymus gland. Steve comes in and yells at him for messing with his patient, but he says he won’t report it this time.
He goes home to his home operating theater and gets to work on Lynn. He injects the gland-juice into Lynn with Val’s assistance. He then uses a high-tech laser to burn away layers of the scar tissue. It’s a long operation.
Soon after, John calls Steve over to see Lynn’s face. It’s perfect. Steve says it’s fantastic, but for how long? What about side effects? Steve and Val start dating, and John and Lynn go on a long sea cruise. John sends a telegram that they’ll be coming home unexpectedly early.
They arrive back, and Lynn’s face has melted to look worse than before. She reacts badly. He tries to comfort her, “Last time I used dead tissue; this time, I’ll try living tissue.”
He finds a hooker who wants five pounds. He goes up to her room and listens to her talk to a friend on the phone first. He looks at all her dolls and toys. By the time she gets off the phone, he’s putting his coat back on to just leave - he's clearly reluctant to kill. She stops talking and convinces him to stay, which is a big mistake on her part… Fresh body parts!
Lynn knows what he did; she’s at the very least an accomplice. After the next injection, she goes to see Michael for more modeling work. He tells her that she’s not going to be able to make a comeback after being out of the spotlight for so many months. “I made you!” He cries. They argue. They will not be working together again.
Lynn tells John that she doesn’t want to work with Mike again, so she buys John a camera. Val told Steve about Lynn’s “setback” and miraculous recovery. John isn’t too happy to hear about that. Steve and Val get engaged.
John and Lynn take another trip, this time to the country. John figures out that this time, Lynn’s face will last around another week. Deterioration isn't visible yet, but it will be. She says that’s plenty of time for him to get more raw materials. He refuses, but she’s very convincing. It starts to become clear that she doesn't love John, but she’s also completely dependent on him now.
Lynn spots Terry, a lone hitch hiker, on the beach; she’s all alone. She tells John to go get her. Turns out, the girl was about to commit suicide, and Lynn offers to let her stay a while. John doesn’t want to murder the girl, but once again, Lynn forces him into it. That night, Terry invites Rick into her room, and he comes in through the window. Turns out, the pair is actually here to rob Lynn and John.
The next morning, Terry is gone, out through the window. John needs more parts, so he gets on a train and rides in a compartment alone with a strange woman. She screams her head off, but trains are loud. By the time they get to the next stop, the “headless girl” killer has struck again. Lynn is waiting at the next top to pick him up.
Steve hears about the murders, and he thinks it’s too much of a coincidence.
John prepares for another operation, and Terry walks in to find the girl’s head out on the counter. She screams and runs across a field with Lynn and John in pursuit. They chase her across the beach and into some rocks. John eventually catches and kills her.
John says he’ll never do another operation, and Lynn threatens to turn him in to the police. Just then Rick and his whole gang, including Georgie and Groper, come in, they’ve overheard just enough to muddle things. Lynn is surprised to hear that Terry was Rick’s wife. They want to know where Terry is, and there’s just too many to resist.
Lynn tries to enlist Georgie to force John into doing the next operation. Georgie is easily bought, and he tells John to do the operation. As John prepares the anesthetic, one of the gang members finds the head in the freezer. If John could do that what did he do to Terry?
Lynn totally sells out John and takes Rick to where Terry’s body is. Down there at the bottom of the cliff. That's in Rick, lean way over to look. And Lynn gives him a shove. This sets Lynn completely over the edge, so she turns on the laser to zap Georgie. The three fight as the laser overloads and shoots all over the room. Val and Steve join in the pandemoBefore John can switch off the laser, it’s randomly killed… everyone.
Commentary
The music and style of the credits make it look like a made-for-TV movie, but since this was rated X by the British Film Board, that’s probably not the case here.
This is not a typical Peter Cushing movie. He’s a lot more violent and emotional than usual here, but Cushing manages to show us his revulsion at what he’s doing while still making it clear that he’s ruthless enough to do these things. Also, he runs more than I figured he actually could at his age; there was a good bit of actual action in this one.
It’s super dated with all the 60’s clothes and styles, but otherwise, it’s still very entertaining. Depictions of British gangs in the 60s and 70s were always ridiculous, but this group is just a comedy troupe waiting for an act.
That ending though. Wow!
Newsletter Contact Info:
Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!
Email: email@horrorguys.com
Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
Subscribe by email:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys