The Cave (2005)

While it might give spelunkers a few helpful hints about using their equipment, The Cave is strictly routine as an Alien-styled monster show. The film's major achievement is its impressive setting -- not a real cave under the Carpathian mountains (where the ill-fated characters are exploring "the Amazon of underground rivers") but a lavishly convincing cave set built on a Romanian soundstage. This gives first-time director Brad Hunt (a second- and third-unit director on the Matrix trilogy) the movie's only claim to originality, as the cavernous interiors become a death trap for most of the nine-person team (led by Cole Hauser, and including Morris Chestnut, Daniel Dae Kim from TV's Lost, and Coyote Ugly's Piper Perabo) that's exploring the maze-like cave for reasons never fully explained (maybe they just wanted to test out their fancy gear). They're not alone down there, and creature-feature specialist Patrick Tatopoulos borrows from the H.R. Giger design-book with some gnarly critters that, in turn, borrow elements from The Thing to foment suspicion and anxiety among the dwindling crew of survivors. It's all familiar to genre buffs, but there's just enough in The Cave to satisfy the curiosity of its intended audience. Dumped into theaters for a marginal release in late summer 2005, it's precisely the kind of horror flick that finds a second life on DVD. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Huge Cole Hauser fan...

and I have to say, first off, there wasn't enough of him in this for my taste. The story was chopped up and vague. They cut way too much out of this and left it on the cutting room floor. They cut the story out of it, the depth of the characters and ensured that you did not become attached to them as the movie progressed.

I'm not sure who cast Eddie and Cole as brothers, but they look NOTHING alike, carry themselves nothing alike. Cole even has a slight accent where Eddie does not. Don't get me wrong, I like Eddie but Cole Hauser is one of the most underrated actors we have now days.

I've read an interview from Cole and he wasn't happy with the way this movie turned out, so that has to tell you something. It had such potential, and someone blew it just to save money.

It was short also, only a little over an hour and a half long, plenty of time to make a better, longer movie and the base of a good one was there. I'm not sure what went wrong.

I love Sci-fi alien type movies. My two favs are Aliens and Pitch Black, so I'm used to this style, but... nothing. I'll watch it, for Cole and for hopes that in re-watching it, it gets better, more interesting.

So, for a die hard Cole fan or a die hard sci-fi fan, it's good enough... maybe? August 1, 2008

All the horrors of spelunking and diving rolled into one!

This is a classic action-adventure horror flick. From the opening scene you're already placing your wagers on the 'guess who survives' game. You can just tell where it's going, and, yes, for the most part who's going to die. There's nothing that sets this movie apart from all the other horror movies. And yet, I still enjoyed it. It did suffer from the too-dark phenomenon sweeping the horror film industry, which is a mark against it, but on the up side it didn't have a lot of gore for the sake of gore (like Saw or Hostel). The fact that the monster was not really shown also gives it high marks. The characters weren't great but they weren't awful, so that was a wash.

I'm torn on the very end scene being interesting or just a gimmick, so I'll leave that out of my evaluation. At first I had the 'oh cool!' reaction, but the more I think about it the more I think it was just that old, trite, last movie scene from so many horror movies.

I enjoyed watching it, but I don't think I'd ever watch it again. It's an average movie that you'd probably have fun sitting in a group of friends talking and watching (your own MST3K group!) but nothing special. July 18, 2008

Jaws in a cave enviroment.

Cave is about a group of divers who have been called in to investigate a recently discovered entrance to a cave that has been sealed up for many years. They expect they are just going to do the typical dive down, plant some communication wires, map out the cave and go home.

The plot begins when their first scout investigator finds a creature that he thinks is a form of mole, and some other things like eels. Only they end up discovering there is something much bigger in these caves, and they're stuck with it, with no way out.

The rest of the movie is the group trying to find an escape while staying alive. These caves seem to go on forever with 100 levels or so, but I guess it wouldn't make much of a movie if it was like a regular cave that has about 3 caverns and 12 inches of water.

I found it enjoyable because I was seeking out a horror/thriller movie that was not the typical slasher thing or some kind of supernatural story. This one is more something like a combination of a Jaws predator meets Starship Troopers kind of thing... maybe not Starship Troopers in the blowing things up kind of way and shooting aliens...just more a Jaws 5: In a cave kind of thing.
June 29, 2008

THIS WAS A GREAT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FORGET ALL THE BS REVIEWS, THIS WAS A GREAT MOVIE! ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES. THIS WAS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST UNFAIRLY REVIEWED MOVIES IN HISTORY BY AMAZON REVIEWERS WHO CAN'T SEEM TO REVIEW ANYTHING VERY WELL. VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING NEGATIVE THAT HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT THIS MOVIE IS BS. WATCH IT ON A HOME THEATER SYSTEM, WITH SURROUND SOUND, AND IT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY. A REVIEWER BELOW WHO LIKED THE MOVIE SUMS IT UP "WERE WE WATCHING THE SAME MOVIE?". I AGREE - THESE REVIEWERS ARE DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND. BUY THE CAVE - YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! June 1, 2008

extraterrestrial folklore

An alluring thriller with an intimation of extraterrestrial along with immense CGI effects which have been nicely played down allowing the film to keep as much of a pragmatic atmosphere as possible. The Cave isn't really a movie with distinguished climatic plots and elevated dilemmas, but it's a clear-cut plot, with appealing diversity of characters and with some brilliant location shots and cinematography.
It manages to hold your attention throughout the film, thus I give extra credit due to the fact that my imagination doesn't really dig the whole factor of Aliens, Goblins and Boogiemen.
I guess the only downfall of the film is that it fails to embrace any unique quality of film elements and principles that could gain critically acclaimed recognition.
January 3, 2008

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