Hellman also directed Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown, as well as producing Jean Anouilh's Colombe and William Saroyan's The Cave Dwellers (starring Katherine Squire and George Mitchell, both of whom would appear in Ride in the Whirlwind and Two-Lane Blacktop). Although the theater only lasted one season, it became a magnet for several young L.A.-based actors, notably Jack Nicholson, who was attending Jeff Corey's acting class at the time. Other class members included Roger Corman, Barboura Morris, Robert Towne and B. J. Merholz: "I was caught between two worlds. I was trained at Stanford University by a wonderful director and teacher named F. Cowles Strickland, who was part of the great tradition of the first half of the twentieth century which was still partially indebted to the nineteenth century. And then, about the middle of the twentieth century, a new tradition sprang up out of the Actors' Studio and the Group Theater and so forth, and so I was trained in the traditions of the old and also I was trained in the new traditions when I came to Los Angeles and studied with people like Martin Landau and Jeff Corey. And I think that that combination gives me the weapons and tools with which to work with actors of various types. I feel very comfortable with all kinds of actors. I love actors."16
The company disbanded in June 1958 (soon after Hellman and Barboura Morris divorced) when the theater was converted into a cinema by its new owner, Robert Lippert (later the producer of two Hellman films): "Lippert bought the theater from the Dahls after I did my season of plays from September 1957 to June 1958 and forced me to give up the building (he wasn't interested in plays). It still exists—now called the New Beverly Cinema. For a time it was divided into twin theaters, but now it's opened up again into one theater."17 Roger Corman advised Hellman to "get healthy," and offered him work at his recently formed company the Filmgroup. It was there that Hellman made Beast from Haunted Cave: "Leo Gordon wrote the original screenplay for Beast. My original contract was as 'writer/director/editor.' Soon after I was hired, Roger decided to get Charles B. Griffith to work on the rewrite with me. He wound up doing the writing, while I supervised. Chuck's re-write bore almost no resemblance to Leo's original. I added a number of private jokes, such as Frank and Sheila calling each other 'Charles', which really came from my relationship with Frank Wolff. Frank was a school friend at Stanford, a summer stock partner, and my roommate in L.A."18 The film was shot in 12 days on South Dakota locations, back-to-back with Ski Troop Attack, a Corman film featuring the same five stars as Hellman's— Frank Wolff, Michael Forest, Sheila Carol, Richard Sinatra and Wally Campo. Roger Corman produced and directed Ski Troop Attack (from another Griffith screenplay), leaving his brother Gene to produce Beast from Haunted Cave: "Gene pawned us off as a group of UCLA students, and he made a deal at a hotel in Deadwood, South Dakota, for 50 cents a night per person, and put two to a room. And we had salami sandwiches for lunch. Just plain bread and salami, in basically 10 degrees below zero weather, so it was a grueling experience, but it was fun. I cast all the actors except Wally Campo. Mike Forest and Frank Wolff were close friends of mine. Sheila Carol was a waitress at a coffee house on the Sunset Strip when I discovered her. Mike, Frank and Sheila were cast in Ski Troop Attack because they were in Beast."19 The fact that Hellman was still technically an apprentice meant he could not edit his own footage, so the editing was carried out by Anthony Carras: "Since I was not allowed to edit Beast (it wound up as a union picture), Roger paid me for three jobs when I only performed on 11/2. Since I got paid a total of $1,000, I figure, by Roger's methods, I was overpaid by $500. I was present in the editing room. That's where I learned the rest of what I know about film directing, from seeing my mistakes."20 Nevertheless, Hellman regards the experience as a positive one: "I just did it, and I probably made more mistakes than the average person who makes a first film. I didn't really have any help, and I wouldn't take any help. I had to do it on my own. Once I made my first film I considered myself a film-maker. I lost all interest in the theater and never went back. After Beast from Haunted Cave opened, I got an agent and tried to find directing assignments."21
Beast from Haunted Cave begins at the ski resort run by Gil Jackson (Michael Forest). Gangster Alexander Ward (Frank Wolff), his moll, Gypsy Boulet (Sheila Carol), and his two henchmen, Marty Jones (Richard Sinatra) and Byron Smith (Wally Campo), are using a skiing holiday as cover for their robbery of a mining company. Marty takes Natalie (Linne Ahlstrand), a waitress from the local bar, to the mine, where he plants a bomb in order to trigger a diversionary explosion. While in the mine, Natalie is killed by a monster.22 The next day, the gang carries out its robbery successfully (though a guard dies in the mine explosion), and makes the arduous journey to Gil's isolated cabin, followed by the beast. While Alex's gang waits for the plane that will fly them to safety, tensions mount as Gil begins to realize who his guests really are, and Gypsy falls in love with him. After the beast attacks, carrying off Gil's housekeeper Small Dove (Kay Jennings), Gil and Gypsy decide to slip away. A snowstorm forces them to take refuge in a haunted cave, where they discover the cocooned, half-living remains of Natalie and Small Dove (as well as Byron, who arrived earlier). Alex and Marty find the cave, and Alex is killed by the beast. Marty attacks the beast with a flare gun. As the beast dies, it lashes out at Marty, killing him. Gil and Gypsy watch as the beast goes up in flames.