While exploring Romanian’s Carpathian Mountains for an old church built by the Knight’s Templar, a team of archaeologists uncover a hidden cave system underneath the ruins. Believing the cave system may contain an undiscovered ecosystem, Dr. Nicolai calls in brother’s Jack and Tyler with their team of world renowned divers to explore the system and possibly make history. Together with Dr. Kathryn Jennings and photographer Alex Kim, the team set off miles below the surface to map the system and gather samples.
As they begin their first scouting party a member of their team is attacked setting off a chain of events that has them cut off from their point of entry. Trapped miles beneath the surface with limited supplies they soon discover they are also being hunted. Loyalties are tested as they go deeper into the cave system all while trying to survive and unravel the mystery that surrounds them.
This movie is tense for the duration as the small party tries to escape venturing into a system that is completely unknown. One wrong turn and you could be lost under the mountains forever with no one being able to find you. Add to that the pressure of being hunted by a predator that has adapted to the terrain and shows intelligence not found in your average creature and you have the workings of a successful horror film.
Beautifully filmed on location in Romania, the scenery shots are simply amazing. The underwater and caving scenes are enough to make anyone claustrophobic. The largest complaint from critics when this movie was released was the lack of character development but this viewer did not find that to be much of a drawback. The film was fast paced and to take the time to add the drama of the characters would only slow the momentum and take away the suspense that was needed.
Released in 2005, The Cave is not the only underground creature feature to hit the early 2000’s. Fast on its heels was the popular movie The Descent in 2006 and The Cavern in 2007. What separates The Cave from these films is the premise that it wasn’t a creature that evolved due to evolution or isolation per se. What caused the mutations was the introduction of an organism that systematically took over its host, mutating it for the sake of survival.
Starring Cole Hauser, Lena Headey, Eddie Cibrian and Daniel Dae Kim, this movie makes for a great weekend film when the moon is full and the lights are low. Grab your popcorn, sit back and enjoy this month’s 31 Days of Horror with style.
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