The titular beast only appears for a few minutes... So all that's left is to focus on the human characters, and, fortunately, perhaps thanks to Hellman's touch, there's a grittiness, a lack of artificiality, to them that seems uncommon for this period.

It’s interesting to note how the creature cocoons and feeds on its still-living victims in much the same way as a more famous monster that was first introduced in a 1979 Ridley Scott classic.

The contrast rests between the existentialism of Monte Hellman's direction and the satire of Charles B. Griffith's screenplay

Schlock, schlock! But one of those so-bad, it's good type.