I think I'll scratch caves off of my list of places to explore now, thanks girls

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2006)

As a horror fan, this movie gets me excited because it seems like we're finally heading in the right direction again with horror films. I found this movie to be very creepy and I definitely enjoyed this one quite a bit. I'll tell you one thing, before this movie even introduces the monsters, it shows you just how terrifying and dangerous cave exploring can be and it does it effectively enough that I swore I would never lower myself into some unknown darkness via rope.
The story involves a young woman who loses her husband and daughter in a horrific car accident and after taking some time to get her head together, decides to go cave exploring with her girlfriends (I have to add here that I've never met women who are this adventurous in real life... to have six of them together in a film like this gives me hope). Things go wrong as you can already imagine and you end up with a movie that in lesser hands, could have been a total piece but ends up being a genuinely scary movie. It's not the scariest movie in the world but it's better than a lot of what's been coming out as of late.
I thought the actresses (I fell in love with Ms. Mendoza who plays Juno..... I love you!) were really good and I loved the way that they were able to use the most subtle expressions to communicate. Looks are traded and you can basically fill in the blanks. I thought they interacted very well with each other and unlike other horror films, I didn't want them to get butchered as I began to sympathize with them. But guess what? You can't have a horror movie without people getting decimated and decimated they get. I wouldn't recommend this movie to the squeamish and people who are claustrophobic because while I'm not claustrophobic myself, there were several moments where I began to feel short of breath.
I loved the story and the tragedy that enfolds it. The way things turn out are understandable in a way but still makes you say, that's just not right. I won't ruin it for you but if you see it, you'll see what I mean. The gore effects are pretty good and I thought the monsters were okay as well. In all honesty, I enjoyed the movie's first half a little better than the monster fest of the latter half because the scares were rooted in reality. There was a moment where one of the girls gets stuck in a tunnel that was just cringe inducing.
I'll end the review by recommending this film highly. One of the better horror films I've seen in a while.
RATING: **** out of *****.