The Cave
Dir: Bruce Hunt
2005
*
The underwater photography in 2005's The Cave is beautiful and I thought the idea was quite clever. I really liked the monsters too, it was all going so well, but it soon got very silly indeed. The whole concept is ruined by the fact that there was a way out of the Cave after all, thus making the parasitic monsters that evolved in total darkness and isolation an impossibility and the story/conclusion void of credibility. Not the first time a horror has defied the laws of realism but it never looks good the more they try. What I hated most though was the colour by numbers characters. They were mostly unbelievable and could have been replaced with puppets. The last few minutes in the cave were utterly stupid. In one scene, two groups go in different directions, one goes down a river in the opposite direction and the other climbs up half a mile of rock, then walks a further mile and then falls down an icy cliff, only to walk around a corner to greet the other team. I can only imagine the continuity guy must have been on a very long lunch break. Also, it's quite clear the actors have breathing apparatus in their mouths while diving through the underwater caves but we are lead to believe they can somehow communicate via a radio. Stupid. Treat your audience like idiots and your audience won't like it. Shame, as I think it had potential.