Teenagers Battle The Thing (1958/63)

aka: Curse Of Bigfoot

Archaeologist Dr. Bill Wyman (Bill Simonsen) takes five high school students and their teacher to an ancient Indian campsite. While there, a strange stone tool prompts them to explore a high ledge above its finding place. This leads to the discovery of a stone tablet sealing the entrance to a cave. As it is opened, white fumes erupt. Inside they find a mummified corpse that is plastered in mud. The mummy is brought back to a shed at their lodging. Free of the fumes, it runs amok through citrus groves to a nearby ranch where it kills a young woman (Mary Brownless). The local sheriff joins the group to track down the creature before it can kill anyone else. Also stars Bob Clymire, Jan Swihart, Dennis Kottmeier, Ruth Ann Mannella and Ken Koepfer.

NOTE: This film was completed in 1958, but the only theatrical release it ever received was in the director’s hometown in 1963. Later in 1976, to pad out the film’s running time and to cash in on the then-current Bigfoot craze which was sweeping the entire county at the time, the director filmed an additional 28 minutes of new footage, featuring a subplot about Bigfoot, then sold it to TV stations under its new title, Curse Of Bigfoot (also available here at Rare Movie Collector).