Deep in the Romanian forests a group of attractive, young American explorers, searching for an undiscovered ecosystem far inside an ancient cave, uncover . . . EEK!
Well, one could only hope that, this being Romania, it would maybe be, say . . . Dracula! After all, that cave had been covered over by a church, its entrance hidden under a creepy mosaic of skeletons on the church floor. Outside, there are even creepier looking grave markers in the churchyard.
Sadly, Dracula is nowhere to be seen in The Cave, a low-rent entry in the end-of-summer box office sweepstakes.
Yes, there is a monster in the cave . . . several, in fact. They emerge from the dark at regular intervals to snatch up one of the cast, whose number keeps shrinking.
Unfortunately, director Bruce Hunt, making his feature film debut, doesn't have a clue about building suspense. Most often the attacks come fast and seem anticlimactic. Worse, there are so many quick edits of film snippets in these attacks that it's hard to focus and figure out just exactly what is going on.
Eventually, one does figure out the dread secret of the cave and actually sees the monsters -- slimy, bat-like, gargoyle-type creatures. But the explanation for their existence and survival in the dank recesses of this endless cave are outlandish.
There is some menace when one of the young explorers (Cole Hauser), the erstwhile group leader, gets bitten by a creature and his personality begins to change -- for the worse, of course. He grows coolly snakelike and there's a nice special effects touch as he develops prismed eyes. When he insists on leading half the survivors deeper into the cave, one wonders whether he's bringing them to the exit or to some horrible end.
Not trusting him, the other half of the survivors trail off on their own. The Cave is one of those horror movies where members of the cast take it upon themselves to drift away and explore dark corners. Not a good idea.
Where's Dracula when you need him?
*1/2
The Cave
Starring: Cole Hauser, Eddie Cibrian, Rick Ravanello, Piper Perabo, Morris Chestnut.
Rated: PG-13, contains frightening images, violence.
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