Film Masters Doubles-Up With Both Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Beast From Haunted Teamed With Ski Troop Attack On Oct. 24

On the surface the latest announcement from Film Masters seems a bit odd, but when you dig down it makes all the sense in the world.

We are talking about the Oct. 24 Blu-ray (also available on DVD) double-feature combination of director Monte Hellman’s Beast from Haunted Cave and Roger Corman’s Ski Troop Attack.

 

According to Roger Corman, in his book titled “How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime,” he set out to shoot Sky Troop Attack and for production cost reasons he selected Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota.   

 

The script for the film was written by Charles “Chuck” Griffith, who is well-known to genre fans for serving up such classics as It Conquered the World (1956, Corman directing), Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957, Corman directing), Not of This Earth (also 1957, Corman directing), Creature from Haunted Sea (1961, yes, Corman directing), Death Race 2000 (1975, which Paul Bartel directed) and the horror/comedy classic, Little Shop of Horrors (1960, Corman directing).

 

Since they were already there, with a cast and with a crew, Corman — a genius for such things — elected to hold over much of the cast, the crew and had another Griffith script all lined-up.   

 

This would none other than Beast from Haunted Cave, with Roger’s brother Gene producing and newcomer Monte Hellman as the director.  Hellman would become a cult icon with his back-to-back films in 1966 — The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind with Jack Nicholson — which were produced by … Roger Corman.

Common members to the cast and crew for both films were Michael Forest (as Lt. Factor and as Gil), Sheila Carol (aka: Sheila Noonan — as Frau Karl Heinsdorf and Gypsy Boulet), Frank Wolff (as Sgt. Potter and Alex), Wally Campo (as Pvt. Ed Ciccola and Byron) and Richard Sinatra (as Pvt. Herman Grammelsbacher and Marty).   Cinematography was handled by Charles Hanawalt, the film editor was Anthony Carras and Charles D. Brown did the sound.

To get German and American troops — who could ski — Corman recruited members from the two local high schools.  As he describes it in his book, he had something of a casting coup with a skier on the German squad who could actually speak German.   

 

But, he broke his leg and being on a tight budget and an even tighter schedule, Corman stepped in to play the part — look for the German leader with the extra-large goggles (so that long shots with someone who could actually ski would match up).

 

The creature in Beast from Haunted is Christopher Robinson, who also did the visual effects.  Double-duty for everyone!!

 

Ski Troop Attack is a new HD scan from the original 16mm reduction print, while Beast from Haunted Cave is a new 4k scan from 35mm archival elements.  There are two viewing options for Beast from Haunted Cave — the original theatrical cut (65 minutes) and an extended television version (an additional seven minutes worth of footage).

 

As to bonus goodies, Tom Weaver and Larry Blamire provide commentary on Beast from  Haunted Cave and C. Courtney Joyner and Howard S. Berger team for commentary on Ski Troop Attack, plus there is the special feature from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures titled “Hollywood Intruders: The Filmgroup Story: Part One.”