And the acting saves the day!

Rating: 6/10 (21 June 2006)

Like I do all the time when I hear about a new independent horror film that has critics and festival-goers amazed, I got my hopes up.
In this one, a group of British girls looking for kicks go caving in new-england and they have a great time until they start being hunted by cave-monsters. As you can see, the premise isn't too original but, hey, we're talking horror film here. The problem here isn't the premise, it's pretty much everything else; first, the movie takes it's time to start, now, usually that doesn't bother me, actually i like it when you get to know and like the characters before they get ripped apart, but they only really develop 2 of the characters so, when people start dying, it's like free gory deaths but you don't actually feel for the characters. Also, the fact that the movie is set in a pitch black environment could have been a real plus but after you see the first 3 or 4 monsters, you start seeing them all the time and really take a good look at them so, after a while they're not really scary anymore not even creepy, just gross. The only moments you're not sure of what you're seeing is during action/fight scenes, which is quite annoying. The techniques used to scare you are pretty lame too, like the "I'll make you jump so many times you'll have to be scared" and the "pan to the left, then pan to the right, then to the left, then to the right, then to the left and BOOM! Big Scary Monster!" and so on. The last 15 minutes didn't make much sense to me either it just seemed like "Rambo vs. the Cave-Monsters: The All Girl Version" with a twist ending that wasn't necessary at all.
So, what did I like? Well, apart from the acting, not much, but the acting was definitely great, kudos to all the girls for pulling this one off because they really save the film. Really, I must say, the mood wasn't very good, the action either, but the acting WOW! Subtle, always on the mark, no useless girly screaming, no overacting, great panicking... Seriously, I hope you girls read this comment to make yourselves feel better because I AM AMAZED!
So, in 25 words or less: like Aliens underground with an all girl cast without guns with less budget and not as good... so, not really like Aliens after all...