What Waits Below

I had to principal reasons to check out the relatively obscure 80's cave-horror movie. First of all because I read in several reviews that the film can be considered as an antecedent of Neil Marshall's acclaimed 2005 hit "The Descent", in which a bunch of extreme sport chicks encounter a strange breed of predators in a previously unexplored cave. The second reason is because this was the last meaningful film of Don Sharp. This underrated Australian-born director made a few very cool movies for Hammer studios, like "Kiss of the Vampire" and "Rasputin: The Mad Monk", as well as a few other sadly overlooked genre gems like "Dark Places" and "Psychomania" (about a gang of zombie bikers!). "What Waits Below" has a peculiar but potentially interesting premise, and dark ominous caves have always been effective settings for horror flicks. Whenever a group of teenagers, scientists or speleologists plummets down a cavern, there's always some type of monster or estranged civilization to knock them off. The problem here, however, is that takes an enormous long time before something happens and when the menace does eventually gets personified, you'll only feel underwhelmed and maybe even tempted to chuckle. Robert Powell, who starred in some bizarre horror films before like "The Survivor" and "Harlequin", plays a caving expert hired by the army to install a radio transmitter inside a Central American cave. I think it was to remain in contact with submarines, or something… I didn't quite understand that part. Anyway, not important, because the radio as well as the soldiers on guard mysteriously vanish during the first night and Powell leads an expedition deeper down into the cavern. Plentiful of dull conversations and false scares later, the group stumbles upon a whole community of albino dorks. The cave people seriously don't look the least bit scary. Earlier in the film, there' a confusing sequence with some sort of snake monster that peeps out of a hole in the stone wall and kills off one of the soldiers. Even though that creature is a lot more horrific – albeit also a bit cheesy and typically 80's – it would have been a better idea to revolve the film on. Don Sharp generates a bit of morbid atmosphere in the beginning of the descent, but it quickly becomes tedious and too enticing to fast forward. Still, good performances by Lisa Blount and Timothy Bottoms as the despicable army superior.

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.

My review was written in June 1986 after watching the film on Lightning video cassette.

"What Waits Below" is a dull rendering of a lost race fantasy yarn. Filmed in 1983 under the title "Secrets of the Phantom Caverns", picture received only a test release in November 1984, subsequently appearing in video stores.

Robert Powell to;ines as Wolfson ("call me Wolf"), a soldier of fortune, first encountered being chased around Nicaragua by enemy troops. He's recruited by military pal George (A. D. Weary) to go to Belize and help U. S. Army Major Stevens (Timothy Bottoms) make the Omega Station there operational (transmitting signals to aid submarines in navigation).

Near the Omega base, a team of anthropologists is exploring caves and being bossed around by Major Stevens. Seismic tests by the army force an opening in the rocks and soon thereafter, army guards are killed and the Omega transmitter is stolen.

Stevens, Wolfson and the scientists search the new cave and find a lost race of fabled Lemurians, styled here as albinos. The Lemurains stole the transmitter because its high frequencey signal was bothering their sensitive hearing. In warring with this lost race, many casualties occur until Wolfson finally escapes and orders the caves sealed off permanently, to leave the Lemurians in peace.

Extremely tame, "What Waits Below" meanders around below ground without the expected action-adventure excitement. Except for a huge snake head that attacks in one scene, it is minus the monsters that could have made this a fun picture for kids.

An impressive cast is wasted, with most of the attention resting on vast caverns (filmed in Alabama and Tennessee locations), augmented by okay mattework and miniatures.

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.

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.