Saturday, August 3, 2013

The Cavern (2005)

Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi

Starring: Sybil Darrow, Mustafa Shakir, Ogy Durham, Andrew Caple-Shaw, Danny Jacobs, Andres Hudson, Johnnie Colter, Neno Perrvan, Kamen Gabriel, Cassandra Duarden, True Tamplin

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Descend Into Terror.

Plot: 8 explorers trapped in a Russian cave system are hunted by an unknown presence.


My rating: 3/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm a sucker for cave movies even though there are very few that are worth your time (THE CAVE (2005) comes to mind as one of the best).  I like the idea of being in a dark, tight place that can leave you very vulnerable.  That's fucking scary in my book.  This picture is far from scary.  The frenetic camera movement is supposed to give you the sense of the character's panic but it's just a bunch of flashing images.  Everyone panics and it's a screamfest for much of the picture.  I'm not opposed to it but it bothered me in this instance.  The music was fine I guess but it got me wondering how nice it would be to have a well made cave film without any music once they're in the cave.  One thing I enjoy when in caves is the silence and the occasional cave sounds (like running water).  It's very soothing and creepy if you think about the danger.  Something else that bugged the bejesus out of me is how much emotional baggage the characters bring with them.  It's annoying and it feels like it'd be a better (albeit shorter) film without out the back story nonsense.  It's only 75 minutes long (excluding end credits) but it could have been much shorter and probably better and more effective.

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