Das Geheimnis der Phantomhöhlen

This British film set in the US is a fine example of what UK cinema used to be before they adopted gangsters & football hooligans as their only subject matter.

Starring Robert "The Detectives" Powell it revolves around a specialist sent into assist the military in setting up a transmitter deep within an unexplored cave complex. Once inside they discover a lost civilisation who aren't all too happy to see intruders.

Robert Powell is excellent and demonstrates again why he has always been a very underutilized actor. The presentation is brilliant as is the score.

Allegedly the movie was filmed a couple of miles down in a real cave complex, if so that is highly impressive though a fair few scenes look like they were more likely located in a studio.

Not sure why this deserved an R rated but regardless is a damn fine effort and an enjoyable piece of British cinema.

The Good:

Looks great

Robert Powell

Decent story

The Bad:

Falls apart a bit near the end

Rupert 'Wolf' Wolfsen works for the US government, he is liaising with the US military in central America to help find a suitable cave where they wish to instigate a new top secret radio device for submarines?. They have trouble finding such a location until after a large landslide an entrance to just such a cave reveals itself. After setting up their equipment, they retire to base camp only to find that when they return the next morning, their irreplaceable transmitter has been taken and the guards dead. A search and rescue mission is authorised to go into the furthest reaches of the cave. Preposterous premise aside this was rather good fun, What Waits Below can only be described as a cross between Marshall's The Descent and Universals The Mole People, right down to the latter's albino civilisation who live there. Don Sharp just about retains an air of quality to proceedings, there may even be some pseudo political message in the ending.

I found the basic story incredible. However, when it comes to horror, stories generally are incredible; and I can think of many horror plots that are worse than this.

The plot to begin with is a bit muddled. It is not clear why these soldiers are in the jungle, and who the enemy at the beginning is, and it might have been a better idea to have the two factions slugging it out in the caves as well as having to deal with the rockman.

Nevertheless, the cast overcome the script, and Robert Powell shows that if you can play Jesus Christ you can play anything.

I am glad that the rockmen never got to talk. It would have been too much if they started speaking American English like the extra-terrestrials do on Star Trek.

All in all, this film is watchable.

Well this has been hiding under the surface, as it took a friend to mention about it for me pay notice. The copy I just watched happened to be there's too. 'What Waits Below' is a minor, but completely distinctive and enjoyable horror/adventure trek in some underground caverns. Neil Marshall's 2005 feature 'The Descent' might shoot to mind, but other than featuring albinos' (known as Lemurians') living the caves, the tone is much different. The adventure aspect easily beats out the horror elements that are looming. I found it to lose its way in the last 20 minutes, as the story shows up its lack of ideas and the script's thin base. Still after a slow beginning it keeps you watching and manages some effective shocks, interesting atmospherics and sprinkles of moody suspense with Denny Jaeger and Michel Rubini's edgily wounding score perfectly streamlining (if at times overshadowing) the presentation. Eerie locations and pastel set-designs within the cave system make it like you've entered another world and the make-up/costumes for the Lemurians' are quite standard. Director Don Sharp's tight and compact handling doesn't let its budget restraints entirely bog it down and the performances are mostly good. Robert Powell is an undervalued actor and makes light work of his performance by presenting an easy-going charm and class. Timothy Bottoms is efficient and the gorgeously fixating Lisa Blount gives a hardy turn. Modest low-budget horror/adventure item that goes on to promise more than it actually delivers.

In terms of plot, mid '80s subterranean horror/adventure What Waits Below is a lot like Neil Marshall's The Descent (2005), both films revolving around a group of speleologists running into trouble when the cavern that they are exploring turns out to be home to a race of savage underground humanoids. In execution, however, the two films couldn't be more different...

Where The Descent is an expertly crafted white-knuckle thrill ride that delivers cool cannibalistic creatures guaranteed to scare the bejeezuz out of the viewer, What Waits Below is a plodding cheeze-fest that offers up slimy hand-puppet snake monsters and laughable albinos with silly haircuts.

Robert Powell, who is most renowned for his titular role in Jesus of Nazareth, makes for an extremely lacklustre hero (could this guy really find work as a mercenary? He looks more like a hairdresser to me) and Lisa Blount is bland as the token babe with a brain. The real stars of the film are the stunning underground locations, but as awe inspiring as the spectacular caverns and colourful rock formations undoubtedly are, they cannot possibly adequately compensate for the stodgy direction, weak acting, cruddy props and terrible dialogue ("In a cave, the only predictable element is the unpredictable").

3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for the surprisingly gory shot of a dead soldier with his face all messed up.