Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver

I kept reading how terrifying it was, more so than the movie Descent, but whoever thought so, obviously never watched Descent, or any other scary cave movie. A colossal waste of time in my book, and whatever creatures they created to try to look scary, could have been done better with half the budget. It had potential is all the good I can say.

Two brothers stumble across a hidden cave. Intrigued by a small opening from the entrance they manage to go further into the cave. Initially this is all a thrilling adventure but things turn sinister when they realise there's something down there, something that may have been responsible for their father's death.

Incredibly bad. The basic plot had potential, reminding me of 'The Descent' but from the start things fall apart: plot is incredibly flimsy, acting is atrocious, production values are poor.

There is some intrigue about what is waiting for the cave but once that is encountered, horror clichés abound. Just about every cheesy plot device and piece of dialogue is used in an very predictable and dull ending.

There's even a segment of the one brother just yelling "Charlie!" for several minutes. Beyond dull, it was irritating.

2 of the dumbest brothers you will ever see go caving. Despite no caving experience or any form of a motive, they risk their lives in the dumbest way possible. If you have a fear of tight spaces, you will be horrified by the stupidity of the brothers and the situations they get themselves into. Again, all for no reason.

IN SHORT, and without spoilers, I think this might've worked as a VERY LOW budget and low-key "horror" flick, IF only they didn't drop the ball at the end.

I found it mildly interesting and even "promising" for the first half, so I was kind of expecting something "good" going forward, despite the obvious slow burn pace, but IMO things got totally messed up, and became confusing and underwhelming after that.

Not even talking about production value, acting and visuals, here, as it's clear this is low budget (and scenography is minimal but OK), but the main issue lies in how the story evolves into an unbelievable nothing, basically.

A low budget film that really worked with the budget. The acting and the practical effects were good. Combined with compelling story telling, it was a pleasant surprise. It's rare to see films about creepy pastas done well, so it was nice.