The Cave Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
There are places man was never meant to go.
Beneath heaven lies hell, beneath hell lies...
A group of cave-divers and scientists explore a newly found cave system in Romania. However, rockfall blocks the exit and after delving further into the cave, the group discover a pack of deadly creatures are waiting for them. With their leader Jack having very strange side-effects and with their numbers dropping, the group must delve even further into the cave, battle the creatures and hope for an exit.
| Cole Hauser | Jack |
| Morris Chestnut | Top Buchanan |
| Eddie Cibrian | Tyler |
| Rick Ravanello | Briggs |
| Marcel Iures | Dr. Nicolai |
| Kieran Darcy-Smith | Strode |
| Daniel Dae Kim | Kim |
| Lena Headey | Kathryn |
| Piper Perabo | Charlie |
| Vlad Radescu | Dr. Bacovia |
| Simon Kunz | Mike - Caver #1 |
| David Kennedy | Ian - Caver #2 |
| Alin Panc | Razvan - Caver #3 |
| Zoltan Butuc | Corvin - Caver #4 |
| Brian Steele | Creature Performer |
| Bruce Hunt |
4.50 out of 10 (6706 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Not all that bad
posted on 28 Aug 2009This movie had everything I like about a movie about monsters killing people except bloody kill shots. The story was one that anyone who watched AVP are any other monster flick today has seen all too many times.But thats OK it is a b movie delight not to have a story that makes you think. It was enjoyable to spend all that time down in the cave with cardboard characters who you just cannot wait to see die but when their time comes the awesome pg-13 rating says its time to cut away. One thing I can say is I love Cole Hauser he is the the king of not getting good role but aways pulling off decent work. I hope the man starts to see some good scripts. He and everyone else did fine jobs at their basic killable characters and the movie if it had a R rating would have been fine but it was just build up to quick shots and too little blood. My guess is that this will have an unrated DVD that will please more than the theatrical cut so just wait.
Too bad
posted on 28 Aug 2009My God, this film was just unbelievably bad. 6 monkeys with a camcorder and a torch could have produced something better. Everyone involved with this film deserves a slap, including anyone dumb enough to watch it (I 've already slapped myself for my own stupidity, and believe me it was far more an enjoyable experience than having to sit through this tosh.) The Cave is the sort of film that makes you just sit there open mouthed, pulling you hair and screaming "What were you thinking?!!" at the TV. There is no character development, the editing is appalling, the directing laughable and it is about as scary as a sleepy kitten. If you like this film you are either its director or mentally ill. Either way you should seek professional help immediately.
Saw the movie
posted on 29 Jul 2009I totally agree. This is "Pitch Black underground" and a well worn plot. The best scenes I thought were the divers exploring the caves, going through impossible subterranean passageways, some of them were heart pounding. The scenery was great. Had they dispensed with the staple "alien" toothy CGI badboys entirely the movie would have been much better. All they would have had to do is never show any monsters at all but have everyone wondering, and follow Jack's descent into madness, and this might have been a top rate hitchcock-style thriller, maybe award material. The acting isn't bad. But those rubber bats just reduce it to standard fare.
Bad from start to finish
posted on 25 Jul 2009Terrible, sloppy, foolish waste of money. The only good decision was getting Piper Perabo in a tasty two piece bathing suit. The rest was a mish-mash of Aliens (monster that slowly possess the host) Anaconda (snakes that kill) and Jaws (hunt for the monster). The obligatory evil team leader saw a slight variation as the leader who is slowly becoming a monster somehow stays loyal to the humans. Why is he immune to the evil? Who knows. I was surprised that the lead scientist was not privy to the evil he was leading the crew toward. He was just an idiot who died a quick death. Subtext was nonexistent. But if all you want are some good creatures chasing humans in a fantastic setting then I recommend Aliens or Lord of The Rings, because The Cave fails on both accounts. The monsters are 80% CGI and 20% puppetry. The sets appear borrowed from the set of a Guns And Roses video where Axl Rose gets sent to hell for doing too much cocaine. Burning water. Stalactites and stalagmites. Prehistoric creatures that possess humans in a few hours and transform them into more prehistoric creatures. How? Germs. Super germs. Moral of the story: Germs win.
Forgettable
posted on 13 Jul 2009Perhaps the best way to describe THE CAVE, which was briefly in theaters this past summer, is AVP: ALIEN VS. PREDATOR without the Alien. The premise is quite similar, with the only other difference besides the absence of the Alien being that instead of a archaeological expedition, here it's a cave diving expedition. To be fair to the screenwriters of THE CAVE, they did write screenplay long before Paul W.S. Anderson was even attached to 'AVP'. Still, it is unfortunate for THE CAVE to have been released after 'AVP' otherwise it might have seemed better and slightly more original.Besides the similarities in plot, THE CAVE and 'AVP' share something else in common: the fact that both films should have been hard R's instead of being rated the dreaded PG-13. Again, this is not the fault of 'CAVE' writers Micheal Steinberg and Tegan West. On their DVD commentary, they state that they wrote THE CAVE has an R-rated picture. According to them, it was even shot as an R-rated but then the studio wuss-ed out and cut it down to a PG-13. It shows since the editing is quite choppy at times when it seems like the audience should be treated to some spectacular gore. In fact, in certain scenes it appears that the film was edited in mere hours. Ultimately it is the editing that drags the movie down, but there are some other problems with the THE CAVE as well. Character development is rather weak and the finale is a huge disappointment. Had the picture gone out with a bang, this could have been something worth watching. However, it ends up being nothing more than another forgettable entry in the ALIEN vein. 4/10
Out of the ordinary film
posted on 09 Jul 2009Don't let the unknown cast misguide you. This is an excellent film, which deserves credit although it steals some features from Alien, but it doesn't make this movie any less appealing to watch. Scuba diving in the caves is portrayed very well. There are some really good scares and the plot is believable: one cannot predict what is going to happen.I don't understand why some people mock this film e.g. due to actors. It is said that the actors in this film are hired simply because they have muscles. Well, I don't know what is better: that you have Hollywood actors playing a role, which they cannot possibly fulfill (such as Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill": Uma can't portray a single kick believably) or that you have average actors who are good in what they do. I myself would have go for the actors who can realistically portray the role that they are playing, such as the actors portraying to be real cave divers. It would have been an absolute disaster if Tom Hanks had tried to act in this film. There is one other reason that the film is excellent: wonderful Finnish band Nightwish plays the theme song in the film.
Good Visuals, Suspenseful editing, What's not like about a cave diving movie?
posted on 05 Jul 2009The film had my heart thumping, my eyes bulging and my sense of Hollywood's stereotyping fulfilled from beginning to end. Arresting visuals both scenery and CGIs. Good looking set of modelesque actors and most importantly this movie contained a lot of footage of caving both subterranean and underwater. I might have preferred that this movie not have the predators as that would have devoted more time to the actual exploration of the caves but, in fairness, this wasn't the Discovery Channel. Film editing both sound and visuals were such that the movie created a high-paced suspension of disbelief, albeit much of the movie being relatively implausible. It, however, was not so ridiculously impossible that I could stomach the movie while I remained on the edge of my seat for the majority of it. Definitely worth seeing but don't get your hopes too high.
Cavity
posted on 05 Jul 2009From the trivia section: "One of the film's producers, says they hired some of the world's greatest cave divers as consultants in order to keep the movie as technically plausible as possible." Wow, pretty amazing. If only they had invested on writers instead... because this schlock is way below your horror movie standards. 1) Lousy script, 2) bad screenplay and - 3) bad directing. Due to strike three, also the actors are lost. I hate watching a movie (especially in this genre) which induces me a headache because it keeps me thinking "I could have done that better", "why didn't they boost this scene up with..." and "why didn't they give this guy depth by..." I know shooting for an Oscar would be a lost case and the target audience doesn't usually ask much but leaving stuff this shallow is an insult!See "Descent" instead
The Cave
posted on 05 Jul 2009I'll admit I didn't pay the fullest attention to this film when I saw it, but it was obvious that it didn't matter, I could see it was a very dull film, from director Bruce Hunt (unit director of The Matrix Trilogy). Basically a group of cave explorers blow open a new system in Romania, under a church, and unfortunately a landslide traps them inside. The group, lead by Dr. Nicolai (Marcel Iures) and Dr. Kathryn (300's Lena Headey) were exploring for a local legend of a display of God's protective power, and something about Templar Knights and winged demons. Soon enough the winged creatures show up and start attacking them all one by one, and they are now struggling to find the only way out. Also starring Pitch Black's Cole Hauser as Jack, Eddie Cibrian as Tyler, Boyz n the Hood's Morris Chestnut as Top Buchanan, Cheaper by the Dozen's Piper Perabo as Charlie, Rick Ravanello as Briggs, Lost's Daniel Dae Kim as Alex Kim and Kieran Darcy-Smith as Strode. The creatures looked like a cross between aliens and dragons, but even special effects making them can't save it, the entire film is boring and creates no reaction whatsoever, it's just boring. Pretty poor!
To my surprise, it was great.
posted on 03 Jul 2009You have to enter the theatre with low expectations. If you go into the movie expecting "Jaws", well you are not going to be happy. I thought The Cave was great movie. Computer graphics. Visually appealing, the creatures could had more detail. I enjoyed the cast. The writers could be shot for some VERY bad dialogue in spots to make the female rock climber sound like a stereotypical surfer which she was not. Also, a bad one liner they gave Morris Chestnutt. Overall, I love it. My best friend and I screamed, laughed, wished a couple of cast members characters dead. (Our wish did come true.) What more can a girl ask.P.S. For the ladies, the male cast members are hunks. The eye candy is enough to get you into the theatre.
MUCH better horror movies to be seen!
posted on 29 Jun 2009All right, I didn't expect much out of this movie when I caught it on the telly the other day. Even so - this movie was ATROCIOUS. First, let me count the ways this movie was horrible, then at the end I'll tell you why I thought it still merited some stars from me.- The acting/characters in this were AWFUL and utterly flat. Almost less than 2-dimensional, I didn't care one bit what happened to any of them. Literally, you're given no reason at all to care, because you get to find out NOTHING about them.- The camera work is terribly shoddy. I don't know if this was someone's idea of 'style', but it jumps all over the place, especially in the beginning-middle parts.- I've got a pretty high 'suspension of disbelief' threshold, but this movie will leave you constantly asking: "Why didn't they do THIS instead of THAT?!" "Why didn't they pick up that useful tool on the way by?" "How is that guy walking on a broken leg?" "How did they get there from here?" "Is that even technically possible?"You get the idea.- I realize this is a fantasy/horror movie and totally fictional, but no explanation was ever given on how critters that big actually SURVIVE down there. There were quite a lot of them, so what do they all eat? It's not like cavers could be a big part of their diet, since not many people come to go spelunking/cave diving there, and at least half of the ones that came before seem to have been transformed, anyway!- Jack (played by Cole Hauser) is apparently the leader of their expedition. He gets bitten/clawed, and starts looking rather ill and acting oddly. But yet...they keep following him anyway..? The list just goes on and ON, so I'll give a (short) list on the things I liked:- Many monster and horror movies never give you a clear view of just what's attacking. I'm not sure whether this is to cover up poorly done F/X or what, but I LOVED how we got to see quite a few awesome shots of these odd cave creatures!- Some very nice scenery in this movie.Other than that, this movie was pretty good to play Mystery Science Theatre 3000 with, one of our favorite games for bad movies. The ending left room for a sequel - though the premise sounded interesting, sequels are generally worse than the original, leaving thoughts of just how bad it could possibly be. Maybe there's nowhere to go but up? >.<
Bottom Dweller
posted on 25 Jun 2009I went to see this movie because of Cole Hauser. I enjoyed Hauser's work in Tigerland, Tears of the Sun, Pitch Black and especially Hart's War. I thought that Hauser had the makings of the next great actor and was looking forward to his future works. Then Hauser chose the dreadful Paparazzi, but I figured everyone makes a bad choice. I was wrong. The Cave is a very bad choice. Hauser will have to find a great project to dig himself out of this hole. The Cave is a dog through and through. The premise, of The Cave, makes for an interesting movie. But you learn the "thrill" too early and the supposed twist never quite brings the chills and terror to the film. The fact that one of the team is turning into a creature could have made for an interesting study in people losing trust in friends and allies, but instead this change just allowed that character to "sniff" out an exit route. Good premise---bad, very bad, definition.
Not as good as other movies in this genre!
posted on 23 Jun 2009OK so it has a few more famous people in than "The Descent" but I would highly recommend that film much more than this - purely for the tension which was cleverly built up - I just didn't feel that with this movie. It was shot beautifully and some of the cave scenes were amazing but I never felt the tension/fear as I did in "The Descent". Overall not a bad film, had a interesting storyline which could have been expanded on a little more, but I felt the twist in the end was a little bit silly and it did contradict what had been said previously. I am glad to have seen this film, as it was entertaining but I don't think I would give it a second watch.
an alright idea
posted on 11 Jun 2009hello this my first review for a film. i have tried to not spoil scenes for you and write this critique of the structure of the film. this is my overall opinion of the film rather than pick apart certain scenes and spoil other peoples possible enjoyment of the film.just watched the cave and came out thinking that the writer/writers were lazy. they just came up with a premise then sat and watched other horror films and saw a scene and adapted it for quite a few scenes.the ending is telegraphed almost as clearly as in the sixth sense. the creatures seem to be hybrid of other screen monsters which makes them seem a little silly. with the plot line they devised they should have kept them simple they may have been more effective and scary.as a hardcore horror nut this film left me asking questions about the storyline. but to put my gripes to one side for a moment if you are not an avid horror fan you may like this film so i will not tell anyone to not watch it.at the end of the titles you may be left like thinking they could have done so much better with the film.p.s. if you have not watched it watch the descent after this.
I can't think of a worse movie...
posted on 09 Jun 2009I honestly cannot think of a movie worse than this...no matter how hard i try nothing comes to mind. Sure people will bash Battlefield Earth and other such movies, but at least they had their points; the humor, the overall message, something could be said for each and every movie most people bash. But not this one, o no. There was no point, no reasoning, no explanations, and no acting! Let me explain.The movie starts 30 years ago, with several men, who just got out of jail (and they never explain why they were in jail), trying to find a cave. They find said cave, which is supposed to have some uber cool treasure, but they all get trapped inside. 30 years later, one of the world's premier underwater mapping teams takes the job to go explore said cave. They never really give a solid reason as to why, just that they got the funding for it, so their going to do it. Jump forward, their in the cave, and people are starting to get hurt/eaten/die mysteriously. So their trying to get out, and pretty much everyone gets killed. The main character gets slashed early on and starts "slowly becoming one of them", yet managing to stay human THE WHOLE MOVIE. However, one of his little buddies gets killed and 5 minutes later a monster with the same tattoo comes out of nowhere to give them hell. Really this movie is a sad waste of money and time, and anyone who gives it a rating other than 1 has absolutely no taste.
an implausible Alien clone
posted on 05 Jun 2009The only good thing, along with the sexy female explorers (Piper Perabo and Lena Headey), is its being set and shot in the middle of fantastic caverns. Apart from that it isn't scary at all, almost nobody is convincing in his acting, humour and personality are lacking, so what to save in this flick? It shouldn't be that difficult to make at least a B-grade movie, a few laughs and some thrills(considered the genre) would be enough.. well, none of these requirements was satisfied. This cave, in spite of the original Romanian mountain, isn't worth being explored, I'm sorry for the first-time director Bruce Hunt but he could do better, rather than focusing only on the impressive sets..
A project which has fallen through..
posted on 30 May 2009The beginning promised interesting things.Like "the keep" ,"the cave" takes place in Romania,a country whose fantasy and horror legends are famous;Hints at cold war might predict a rich screenplay fusing politics,Dracula's stories and fear of darkness.Disappointment quickly comes.The script writers try to hide the mediocrity of the story by thrusting forward scientific jargon (and a lot of f. words).But in the end it's the umpteenth story of a hidden monster (à la "Alien(s))where the only suspense rests on the "who's gonna die now?".There is the obligatory "open" ending :had the movie been a blockbuster,they would probably have bestowed on us "Cave 2:out of the cave" .Fortunately ,it had not.
Predictable Rip-off of Alien, But Entertains
posted on 30 May 2009Thirty years ago, in the Carpathians Mountains of Romania, a group of explorers blows an entrance to a cave hidden under a church, but the explosion causes a landslide and they become trapped inside. In the present days, the expedition leaded by Dr. Nicolai (Marcel Iures) and his assistant, Dr. Kathryn (Lena Headey) are exploring the place and they find the access through an underwater river, requesting the experienced cave divers team leaded by Jack (Cole Hauser). Dr. Nicolai discovers that, in accordance with the local legend, the church was built to seal the cave as a display of God's protective power, and that Templar Knights entered the cave to fight winged demons. When the group reaches a cave though a tunnel one mile below and three miles in, a creature attacks one of the members and his breathing apparatus explodes, collapsing the tunnel and trapping the group in the cave. Sooner they realize that they are the rescue team and they have to find an exit to survive from the attack of the monsters."The Cave" is a predictable rip-off of Alien. If the viewer sees the trailer, as I did, he knows the whole story, and will only bet how many, if any, of the characters will survive in the end. This movie entertains because of the locations and the good cast. I am a fan of Lena Headey and her beauty is a good reason to see this film. The conclusion is a hook for a sequel, as usual. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Caverna" ("The Cave")
A movie for people who want to see another Alien.
posted on 22 May 2009The mission to see the movie "The Cave" was a dream of a friend of mine after witnessing the highly dramatic trailer, full of flashes of a creature lurking in a cave, some young cave divers, and not much else. It's too bad that the movie didn't change much more than the trailer did.The immediate allure of a movie like this is the creature. What's he going to look like? Why does he live in a cave? How is this one supposed to be different from the other creatures we've been shown in movies like Alien and Predator and the Relic? The cave "demons" do not look far from the skeletal creature in Alien: Resurrection and even has the sight of Predator. Shame that's a total ripoff...Well, let's look at the plot: very confusing and jumps to more and more totally improbable twists as a team of cave divers is sent to find a cave and its dwellers in the Carpathian Mountains. The casting was very much clear that we want young, hip, tough chicks, chiseled guys, and the girls who have brains also have to be hot. We also have to have one of every racial background in case the audience thinks that the film-makers are biased to a certain viewpoint. Totally been done, and I'm totally tired of it.The other main problem was the ending, as if to say there might be a sequel. Plase shoot me if there is one. The tagged on ending made me wretch.I gave this movie 3/10 stars. The points that it did get were more or less appreciation points towards the creature-builders for their high-quality job spent on the costuming and design for the monsters who dwell within, even when they looked totally ripped off. And there's an interesting (yet labored) documentary on the DVD on underwater cave diving. Go check it out only if you love new creations of monsters and creatures, but be warned that you've probably seen this movie before, and it was better the first time.
Not quite the worst movie in the world
posted on 30 Aug 2009Take your video camera, turn out all the lights in your house and film people running around with flashlights for an hour and a half and you've got the basic idea of what this film looks like. It is very irritating to watch this kind of movie. To be fair, there are scenes of daylight at the very beginning and very end of the movie. I like scary movies and creature features but this one just didn't do a thing for me. So sorry. I really tried to like it. There didn't seem to be much of a plot other than we've got to find a way out of here. Didn't learn too much about any of the characters so it didn't matter if we lost one or two along the way. This isn't the worst movie in the world. "Open Water" holds that title for now.