The Cave (2005) Review

The Cave (2005) Review

“Beneath heaven lies hell. Beneath hell lies…The Cave.” 

So reads the tagline for The Cave, a sci-fi/horror/action/adventure film about a team of scientists that go on an expedition to explore the deepest cave in the world, and discover some fearsome subterranean creatures. 

Coincidentally, The Cave came out the same year as another below ground horror movie, The Descent. Though they are superficially similar, The Cave is a straight-up creature feature, whereas The Descent is like two films in one; the first half is a thriller, the second half is more of a monster movie. The Descent was far more successful than The Cave, both financially and critically, but I think The Cave is quite underrated, even though it’s far from ground-breaking. 

The story is very familiar, and the characters are all stock. You have your typical team of inept scientists that make some questionable decisions and become action heroes when things go awry, but the cast is surprisingly star-studded. There’s Morris Chestnut, who was in a similar film, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Daniel Dae Kim, who played Jin in the TV show LOST, and Lena Heady, who later became most-famous for her role as Cersei in Game of Thrones.

What this movie lacks in original plot and characters it makes up for with creatures and environments. Caves are creepy, no doubt about it, and you could pick this movie apart for its numerous moments of impossible lighting (there’s no sunlight, how could it be so bright down there?), but the lighting I think works to create an unnerving atmosphere, and the cinematography is quite good, which is pretty impressive, given it’s primarily set in one location for the whole runtime. 

I distinctly remember renting this movie from the video store when it first came out, and hoping it would live up to the awesomeness of the cover, which directly rips off Jaws. They don’t try to trick viewers, even the cover lets you know right up front it isn’t going to be that original. Thankfully, the creatures do deliver. They aren’t that scary, and are inevitably shown more and more toward the end, yet never really given a proper money shot. The creature design is definitely the most original aspect of the entire film. Though they are mostly cgi, there are some practical effects, which is nice, and despite only being PG-13, it still allows for the monsters to be ferocious. 

I’m not saying The Cave is a must-see for everyone, but if you are into straight-forward creature features, it should suffice. I probably only like it as much as I do because it has some minor nostalgia for me and I saw it before I saw many other similar (and better) sci-fi/horror films, but I still find it fun to re-visit from time to time.