A
family returns from a river raft ride and
then a tragic car accident occurs leaving
one survivor named Sarah (Shawna
MacDonald).
A year passes and Sarah as well as a
group of her friends go up to the woods
in a cabin. Sarah still has nightmares
about the tragic accident but the next
day they decide to hike to a mountain
cave to explore different things there
led by Juno.
Suddenly they are caved in and try to
find a way out. It's suddenly very quiet
and they discover other stuff in they
cave as they realise someone else was
once there.
One of their friends named Holly
(Nora-Jane Noone) falls into a hole and
severely damages her leg.
They discover skeletal bones in the cave
as well and then are attacked by these
predatory flesh eating cave crawler that
can only sense their surroundings by
sound.
They suddenly eat and kill each of
Sarah's friends causing the rest to
separate as they battle these crawlers
while finding a path to escape and then
Sarah realises Juno has had a dark secret
about her and her late husband as well
causing their friendship to turn sour.
An impressive beginning as we spot the lead character Sarah talking to her husband as things are good and still while driving in their vehicle which looked good and calm and offered perfect shocking timing with a vehicle crashing into their with pipes from it crashing through their windows breaking the silence and perfectly disturbing whiile watching this and making you jump out of your seats big time.
Great attention grabber when we spot Sarah waking up in a hospital and is devastated while running in the hospital to find out what had happened which was well done. We also spot dream sequences with a birthday cake involving her daughter as this looked perfectly silent and still and was used in other segments of the film.
perfect uplifting scene with the group of friends in the cabin and one of their friends waking them up for the big day as this looked good and natural by what happens here making you want to join in on the situation since all of this was done naturally.
Many great silent and good shots on them rock climbing inside the cave as well as spotting risky moments making you watch carefully on what goes on as well as spotting a hook that was old leaving a clue someone else had been there as well as outside of the cave dioscovering a dead buck which adds more mysterious moments on the things living in the caves which makes you excited to find out what kinds of terrors will be unleashed later on.
A perfect suspenseful moment on Sarah trapped in a croner of the cave and not able to move with her friend Beth trying to give her confidence and to help her which looked nicely done as well as a sound of an avalanche happening which gives you the chills imagining that you're in a sticky situation and have to move fast. This was perfectly put into the story.
We also have a perfect suspenseful scene with Holly falling into a dark pit in which she doesn't respond when her friends call to her as this is a nice sign that somethings wrong which gives you the chills. Also perfect moments with what we reveal on what happened to Holly and her mangled leg as this is painful to watch imagining on what she has to go thbrough and her friends trying to help along with realising they're in a pit full of skeletal bones which adds a nice touch to the story. Also another great perfect touch is when Sarah spots an object a distant away staring at her and then running off which looked well shot and perfectly put into the story along with her telling the others by what she saw.
Nice fast shots on these monsters attacking as well as others getting killed and good close up shots on what is happening to everyone.
Nice dark shot on Sarah trying to keep quiet with some of her surviving friends and the creatures lurking around her as well as them spotting their eyes and figuring out as to how they sense that someone is near which looked good. Plus some upsetting moments when one of them sees their friend dying which was strongly put in. We also spot an unpleasant situation when Sarah falls into a pool of blood surrounded by skeletal bones looking like she's drowning and you wonder if she will rise up as there's a good camera shot looking down with the bubbles flying around.
Perfect confrontation between both Sarah towards Juno as this looked quite powerfully done and getting a feeling something good won't turn out of this.
Then near the end some perfectly concentrated shots on Sarah trying to dig out of the cave and the moments she goes into her vehicle as you wonder if something is going to happen in which the moments will make you jump right out of your seat and then it teases you that this isn't really happening at all.
Bottom line is that this was a very well done
film which wasn't a surprise that it had
a huge success in film festivals over a
year before receiving a theatrical
release. When you first watch the film you think
to yourself there's going to be a
terrifying surprise later on and there is
but once the terrifying events happen it
doesn't seem to go anywhere after that
sadly. Still it's quite scary and worth a try
watching it. The makers put alot of money into this
and deserve a pat on the back regardless.
The acting is
great. Shawna MacDonald (Sarah) is
excellent playing the grieving family
woman who finds out she was the only one
who survived her deadly car wreck and breaking down into an emotional wreck which looked believeable. Also does a good job acting bothered by her past as well as getting anxious when trapped in an area of a cave as she shows great anxiety. Also does a nice job with her aggressions and fearsome behavior when the terror strikes her. Plus does well breaking down and acting upset near the end of her performance letting it all out. She
deserves a gold star.
I also loved Natalie Jackson Mendoza
(Juno) in which she really springs into action and acting full of life when waking everyone up for the big day which was energetically performed with her doing all of this. Also does a great job with her aggressions especially when she battles these creatures showing
them no mercy along with some great aggressive expressions too and she is another natural
character actress.
I thoroughly enjoyed Alex Reid (Beth) as the one, especially
when she tries to calmsomeone
down when she is trapped in a cave and
encouraging her to overcome her fear and acting full of life while doing this which shines off perfectly and can be very memorable to anyone who saw her perform like this. She also added some nice humor to when she speaks to her online friends too as she was very lifelike within this. Also does a nice job acting timid and emotionally scared when the terrors strike as she offers a perfect versatality within all of this.
Nora-Jane Noone (Holly) really showed off her supporting role very effectively and also does well with her no nonsense type of behavior along with acting tough about stuff and convincing as someone who likes to speak her mind. She comes across perfectly onto the screen as one of the courageous types on the suspenseful matters. Does well acting in pain when she's in a terrible situation as well as hollering in pain too when someone tries to fix her leg adding some nice intensity and really drawing into this adding a perfect punch to whatever she had to do here.
Everyone in this film performed very
professionally well.
A metal pipe is
stabbed through a mans head.
A womans leg is severed showing her
bones.
There are rotting corpses and a big pool
of blood.
Creatures are tearing the flesh off of
people.
Yup lots of gore in this one.
David Julyin is
terrific with his music bring it a real
punch to the screen as the music really
makes a movie regardless. Alot of intense trombone playing sounding high pitched all coming in together which keeps you in suspense watching the screen while this is all playing. Also alot of airy sounds and hissing effects too. Plus there's neat clear spacey type synthesizer playing which works in terrifically. Also alot of low and deep keyboard music making the dark scene's in the cave look perfectly gloomy. Plus we have alot of echoey intense drum playing too sounding perfectly strong and very much out there.
Holly:
[Sarah has just been scared by a bunch
of bats which attacked her. Holly films
the bats flying away]
[in imitation of 'The Count' from
Sesame Street]
Holly: One bat, two bats, fifty
bats!
[Beth comes up to her]
Beth: Holly... Fuck off
Sam:
Trying to set this watch is impossible,
the buttons are to fucking small.
Holly: Why do you wear that thing
anyway ?
Sam: My boyfriend gave it to me,
it's sentimental.
Holly: It's fucking mental, any
guy who'd give that to me i'd dump him on
the spot.
Juno:
Sam's gonna be doctor Van Ney in like a
year's time.
Beth: please tell me it's longer
than that.
Beth:
[Sarah is trapped in a tunnel and Beth
is trying to calm her down with a joke]
Hey, you love this one, "How do you
give a lemon an orgasm?" You tickle
its citrus!
Holly:
Hey, there's something down here...
Juno:
[while fighting a crawler] Fucker!
Beth:
I'm an English teacher, not fucking Tomb
Raider.
Sarah:
What about you Holly, got a man ?
Holly: Oh I'm a sports fuck like
Juno.
Rebecca:
The noise she's making, she'll bring
every one of those things down on her
head.
Sam: As long as it's not on mine.
[Terrified,
looking at Sarah who's covered in blood]
Juno: What happened to you? |