Awkwardly constructed; some good scares though

Rating: 6/10 (20 April 2008)

The greatest weakness of this film is the direction. The director concentrates too much on some irrelevant material, and occasionally fails to utilize the most exciting elements of the story being told to their utmost potential.
Still, it's an exciting ride. Several women, all friends for several years, and adept at many athletic thrill-seeking pursuits, reunite after one of their number loses her husband in a tragedy. They decide to be spelunkers this time out, finding some mysterious, deep, and unexplored cave. There's excellent interaction between the characters, and the suspenseful scenes with difficult to see creatures menacing the team. Close hand to hand combat and claustrophobia are the order of this adventure, which rarely lets down. The director wastes about a half hour with unnecessary back stories, and nearly puts you to sleep, but if you make it to the chapter when they enter the cave, you will be rewarded. The acting is superb, the monsters appropriately yecchy and creepy for their grisly purpose.
This could have been a better production with another director more masterful at the horror genre; however, the movie is still very chilling in places, and a worth while way to spend a couple of hours.