This tail of trails and terror will tingle your toenails, teeth, and telencephalon.

Rating: 10/10 (11 August 2006)

I loved the characters in this movie. The director gets you involved with their lives in a big way right from the beginning. The excellent pacing and plot seems to both excite quick AND gently build to an explosive climax which seems to be hard to come by in thrillers these days. Top notch idea for the beasties. I don't want to spoil anything for you so just go see this movie and you won't regret it. It's gory but not in an exploitive way and the sense desperation the gang starts to feel when the beasties reveal themselves makes all that happens very logical. If you rate movies the way I do (never see it, wait for the rental, matinée, full price evening with dinner and popcorn) I would rate this full price evening show with dinner and popcorn.
The concept for the beasties is a nice change of pace because they attempt to explain them by a "small genetic mutation" and as with any movie of this ilk you will enjoy it immensely if you don't sweet those details to much.
I've been down deep in the earth (Carlsbad Caverns} and our tour guide made a point of showing us how absolute the darkness is underground by turning off all the lights. You sit there blinking and trying to see the hand inches in front of your face but you can't. I was afraid that this movie would do what most do when filming in dark situations and have unrealistic lighting effects that highlight the surroundings in the tunnels and caverns the gang had to traverse. To the directors credit most if not all of the lighting was realistic and seemed to develop a higher sense of foreboding to the plot.