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| Sony (Australia). Region 4, PAL. 2.40:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 5.1, Czech DD 5.1, Hungarian DD 5.1, Polish DD 5.1. Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian Subtitles. 94 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Bruce Hunt
Starring: Cole Hauser,
Morris Chestnut, Eddie Cibrian, Rick Ravanello,
Marcel Iures, Kieran Darcy-Smith
Screenplay: Michael
Steinberg, Tegan West
Country: USA |
A cave diving expedition, including Jack (Cole
Hauser), his brother Tyler (Eddie Cibrian) and
their diving team are trapped in an underground
grotto when a cave-in blocks their entry point.
So, the intrepid explorers have to travel further
into the cave system, through both air and water,
to try and discover a way out. What they don't
realize though, there is something in the caves
with them…something that has lived underground
for a long time….something that is waiting
for their warm, soft bodies…
The premise/plot for The Cave is pretty much the same as that of any other generic
monster movie. People trapped in a situation where
they are stalked by a creature (or person if we
throw in slasher pics) and cannot get away through
conventional means (of course with the slasher
pic, this means not having normal thought processes).
This is a tried and true formula that has worked
in many cases: Alien, Leviathan, Pitch Black…really far
too many to name. With these films you need two
hooks to get an audience in: the beast and the
location. Usually the beast isn't so much
of a hook, as the trailers rarely, if ever, give
away much of the look of the beast, although K
Mart will generally have the toy of it on the
shelf before the film is released, the other hook
is the location. It has to be one of those 'oh
God, I wouldn't want to be caught there'
situations, where the threat may not just come
from the beast, but the location itself causes
an issue: Alien has the confined
spaces of the ship, the Nostromo. Pitch
Black had the abandoned planet with the
never ending night, and The Cave takes place in…well…a cave. Claustrophobia
is the key to making these films work, and The
Cave does it really well.
As usual in Hollywood, when one movie with a
particular idea comes out, there is generally
another floating around waiting to be released
at the same time, and occasionally neither really
get the respect they may deserve. Unfortunately The Cave was produced around
the same time as The Descent,
and therefore probably didn't get much recognition
as a pretty good action/ horror film. The only
real problem I had with this movie was some of
the casting. Sure, all the acting was competent,
and the characters are all interesting, but at
times, visually, three of the male leads were
spitting images of each other, which made some
scenes confusing, especially with them all wearing
almost exactly the same Body Glove wetsuit, which
is a whole other 'product placement'
issue with this film that I won't dwell
too much upon. |
| Video |
| The picture is perfect, and I didn't notice
any apparent issues with it. The underwater photography
is lush, and the camerawork done in the darkness
of the cave never becomes visually incoherent. The
low-key, yet intense colours of the subterranean
scenes are great. |
| Audio |
| The sound on this feature is moody and magnificent,
and with the surround on creates a wonderfully subdued
and dangerous atmosphere…the room seems to
get colder during some of the more quiet scenes. |
| Extra Features |
There are two commentaries on this disc, both
of which are quite interesting. The first is with
Director Bruce Hunt, Producer Andrew Mason and
Special Effects Producer James McQuade, who go
through the film, pretty much shot for shot, scene
for scene and described the process of filmmaking
well, even delving into effects and character
motivation. The second is with Writers Michael
Steinberg and Tegan West, who talk about the ideas
behind the story, changes that were made and film
as a collaborative medium.
Into The Cave (18 minutes 44 seconds) is a really
exciting documentary about the Underwater Director
of Photography Wes Stiles, and the Underwater
Unit Co-ordinator Jill Heinerth, and their actual
fascination with this type of cave diving. The
documentary covers their involvement with the
film and shows footage of theirs from dives they
have actually done, including one that concerned
them swimming through the fissures of an iceberg
to discover some of the creatures dwelling on
the sea floor.
Designing Evolution: Tatopoulos Studios (10 minutes
33 seconds) is a look at creature designer Patrick
Tatapoulos' and creature effects supervisor
Guy Himber's work on The Cave.
This disc also has trailers for The Exorcism
of Emily Rose, Stealth, Into The Blue, Mirrormask and White Dragon. |
| The Verdict |
Atmospheric, with a creepy setting and an unusual
creature, The Cave is for lovers
of monster movies of all ages. Sure, with an M rating
it is light on the gore, but this isn't a
chunky bloodletting piece; more a 50's styled
monster sci fi monster flick… heaps of fun!
Got something else to say? Spill your guts on the
Digital Retribution Message Forum! |
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