La Caverna

But by his high standards, I think he would want to forget he directed this film. Having seen his The Descent(2005) and the rave reviews it got, I was excited to see this new offering. But Neil Marshall himself payed homage to movies like Alien, Aliens and Resident Evil in this one. The music is also derived from these. I was chuckling as I heard those familiar tunes from movies seen ages ago...

This movie is about a crash landed Royal Air Force pilot Lt. Kate Sinclair(Charlotte Kirk), who steps into an underground facility when she is ambushed by rebels defending the area. Inside the underground facility she discovers the terrifying truth about a secret government experiment gone wrong. Afterward when she is rescued by an American task force she warns them about what she had seen but by then it is too late... Watch the film to see what happens next.

Only fans of Neil Marshall movies should see this. Other than that there is nothing worth mentioning about this one. Charlotte Kirk produced this film as well so I'm mystified as to how much was invested into the special-effects department. Obviously nothing went right for Neil. On top of this some lousy acting to boot from all involved. I won't be surprised if this movie ends up in public domain, free for all to watch. It's that bad.

Thanks for taking the time to read this review.

It is exactly what I expected. You know that a lot of the soldiers are fodder. And. That is okay. Good action sequences. Great creature effects. Not sure why there are so many negative reviews. It's a great time killer. And. As long as you know what your in for. You'll like it. Paced nicely. Good character development. If you like monster movies with practical effects. You'll enjoy this. Turn your brain off, to some extent. Has a few jump moments. Nothing major. The actors did a good job with the material they were given. Would love to see the material expanded upon. A sequel or prequel would be nice.

The movie opens with RAF pilot Kate Sinclair and her nameless WSO being shot down over Afghanistan somewhere. They are attacked by the Taliban (maybe). Her WSO is killed and she is forced to take refuge in a Soviet bunker that looks a lot like a buried cargo container. Once inside, she finds the plot of the movie.

This is a solidly middle of the road action horror movie. The creature costumes are pretty good for a low budget movie but the CGI blood is pretty bad. I will have to say that Jaimie Barber did a good job since I didn't even recognize him until about an hour into the movie. The rest is the cast is mostly pretty decent. The main exception is the female lead. She's very pretty but not much of an actor. I didn't believe for a second that she was an RAF pilot or even British for that matter. The action scenes are pretty well done and entertaining. The plot is mostly a pile of various tropes cliches but it's serviceable.

If you want an action horror movie where the characters fight monsters, this one is perfectly okay. It's not great but I have seen far worse.

Basic premise is something we've seen countless times. Secret military base with monsters. Bunch of soldiers fighting for their lives. Same old, same old.

Nothing really new here. Pretty much by the numbers.

The special effects are just as average as everything else. Nothing too special. Not terrible, just your usual rubber suits and squibs.

The acting is... alright. The characters are all very one note. Everyone has their role, the muscle, the ass, the doc, the heart, etc... again, all as expected. The acting is serviceable.

The writing... meh. Tons of stupid decisions being made. Lots of nonsensical stuff and contradictions. The monsters are both nigh invulnerable and able to be knocked out by a punch. They can take countless rounds from high powered rifles, but a hammer to the head takes them out.

There's also a lot of magically teleporting moments. Like when a monster is there to grab someone when they weren't there a second ago. Or how there's a ton of them everywhere, then suddenly the place is empty, then it's full again when they need more action. Just very badly directed.

If you turn your brain off, it makes an adequate action flick to waste time with. But not really worth bothering with if you're looking for something beyond made for TV trash.

The trailer was really misleading b/c a lot of the scenes went by too quickly. But when you actually watch this film, you realize it is really a low budget film. And that is a shame because it could've been a great blockbuster.

The story is pretty average and predictable, but that's alright as these type of films we're looking for action and scare. The lack of budget made it look a bit cheese feel which really ruined it right from the start. However, again if they could do it well in the trailer, I still think much of this is through the camera work.

What am I talking about? In some scenes of the monster close up, you can tell they spent a lot of money on the CGI and effects to make it look real, these are in the trailer. However, many scenes of the monster from afar, which are mostly action scenes, you can totally tell it is some guy in a cheap rubber suit. Yeah... it's that bad.

A lot of the explosion effects were really good, which again makes me wonder perhaps they spent the money in the wrong area of the film. Overall a good one time watch with friends but treat it like any other cheesy low budget B movie and you'll get a night of fun with your friends. Keep your expectations low.

5/10.