***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** When I was a kid I loved this movie because it was different. Then when I grew up and saw it again I realised just HOW different it was and how wrong my youthful assumptions had been. Now wait a minute, I am not implying that I don't like this movie anymore, I still love it! It's just that as a child I always thought the beast could become invisible. I mean the gangsters never see the thing as it follows them cross country and the one time it attacks them you can see right through it so I thought it could turn invisible. Re-watching the film as an official "grown-up" I discovered it was just cheap special effects and bad double exposures that made me think the Beast was "unseen". Oh well. So what IS the Beast anyway? It looks like a giant hairy spider but it has a light bulb shaped head and tentacles. It does have the spider-like habit of weaving its victims into cocoons and then draining their blood while they are still alive. But WHERE did it come from? One of the crooks says he found pieces of an egg in the cave and we're supposed to think that's where the monster came from. Then a little later someone says it's actually a spirit that the early Indians were afraid of. Okay, let's think this over. If it really is an Indian demon maybe THAT'S why it chases the crooks all over, because it's mad at them for disturbing its sleep. That's why they see the Beast only when IT wants them to be aware of its presence.

WATCH OUT, I HAVE TO DISCUSS THE END OF THE MOVIE IN DETAIL NOW.

Now as to the haunted cave at the end of the movie. The Beast corners the crooks there. Up to this point bullets have been ineffective on it. Only after the last of the crooks has been killed is the hero capable of destroying the beast; and he doesn't use a rifle he calls on one of the four natural elements, in this case a fire started by a flare gun. Perhaps it WAS that ancient Indian demon after all. It's job was done and by appearing to die it was actually going back to sleep until some other fool disturbed it. Fascinating captain. I do believe I actually like this movie more now than when I was a kid.