Surprisingly effective creature feature

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2006)

An exceptionally scary, effective, and surprisingly involving horror/thriller. Despite the monsters not appearing until over halfway into the film, the story not only manages, but excels, at staying exciting and thrilling throughout. The story is built up quite well in the exposition, though a bit more character development was needed before the mayhem begins. The car crash at the beginning of the film was so well-executed and yet still made me jump. Even when they are just lost in the cave, without any monsters, the suspense is nearly unbearable, just through the claustrophobic set and dark lighting. Once the action sets in, it's sufficiently gory but also serves the story well. All in all, just a great horror film.
The acting was pretty good, for a no-name cast. The girls were all believable as spelunkers, although not so much as action heroes. Technically, the film was very effective, with some great camera work and terrific creature makeup. And the story was well above a typical creature feature flick. The character dynamics underlying all the action was what made the film so involving. Sarah's transformation was very 28 Days Later-esquire, and the ending - the original, international one - was quite interesting and very Jacob's Ladder-esquire. Quite the surprise for what seemed like a generic horror film.