The Spice Girls go spelunking

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2007)

Not bad. But the lack of character development and too many unanswered questions left me a bit frustrated with this one. I wouldn't say this is a horror movie so much as it is a thriller. It does a very good job keeping up the tension in this dark, damp, subterranean, hell. The characters, all British women with diet ad bodies and beer commercial attitudes, enter what they believe is a previously unexplored cavern in rural Applachia. The fun begins the moment they realize that not only has the cavern been explored in the past but that they are not alone. A race of carnivorous, nocturnal, humanoids which evolution forgot, begin stalking them as their next meal. From here it's matter of fight rather than flight as the only entrance they know have has been sealed by a cave in. One by one they are picked off as they desperately try to fight their way back to the surface using only primal instinct and cryptic clues left behind by previous explorers. By now we know why they were never heard from again.
The atmosphere is nicely presented. Although at times a bit too dark to make out the action due to some very staccato editing; a technique bordering on the annoying. The relationships between these women, all friends on a bonding trip, is fairly well scoped out and maintained. The fulcrum of the plot surrounding Sam and Sharon is built up in the film's beginning yet never fully developed. We know know only of some sort of previous tension between these two which festers throughout the film to it's ultimate pinnacle, yet never are we let in on what exactly that was about, which was odd. We are also given little information about the creatures other than rudimentary speculation by one of the women that they may be "cave men who never left the cave". It would have been much more interesting to learn more about them, however that's just my personal choice. It really wasn't required for the purposes of scaring the hell out of you.
Overall I thought the film was different and it was interesting. The creepy subterranean environment really draws you in as frankly most of us have never been in underground caverns. The action sequences, editing aside, are still quite good and quite gory. Most of all I really enjoyed the way it ended, which I won't give away. It actually fooled me, and it may fool you too.
A decent effort, flawed, yet entertaining. Definitely recommend this one.