There seems to have been some money behind this film, but it would be impossible to imagine a film this badly planned and executed if I hadn't actually started watching it.

To begin with, once we are in the cavern with the characters (the usual young adult stereotypes we've been meeting in horror films since the early '80s),the film is shot almost entirely in close-up. Since the actors are wearing helmet lights, this means all we see are glaring lights alternating with utter darkness - we never get to see what the characters see; so when they shout out "Look there!" we are left to beg "What?! Where?!". Ultimately the film has a nauseating, confusing strobe-light effect, with no sense to it until we get to the end.

And I won't tell you what 'the end' means - but you will recognize it if you've ever seen the old early '60s Arch Hall laugh fest"Eegah!" with Richard Kiel.

But what crazy person would ever want to make a variation on a theme like "Eegah!"'s, long remembered as one of the worst films ever made?! But that's what we have here, folks. Except that, unlike "Eegah!", "The Cavern" is not anyone's idea of goofy fun. It is unwatchable. (I ran it at x2 the normal speed, just to get it over with, hoping I would actually be able to see something by the end of the film; but when I did, it was just stupid.) This film did provide me with one satisfying moment, though; since it only cost a couple bucks, after I got it out of the DVD player, I was able to smash it with my own hands - what a relief!

Heading out to a remote mountain range, a team of spelunkers venturing into a dark, unexplored Russian cave are forced to defend themselves from a terrifying evil haunting the area intent on killing anyone who comes there.

This here was a really disappointing and highly underwhelming effort without a whole lot to really like about it. Among the biggest drawbacks here is the fact that there's just nothing interesting at all here in the first half here with this one filled with some of the most utterly bland efforts ever to get a movie more involved in itself. Despite it telling the story of the group coming together and how they're in this particular situation, none of this is in the slightest bit interesting as it goes more for their lame back-story that gets brought up every time out and none of it really offers any kind of enjoyment not only for it being brought up all the time but really just dragging out the first half here to excruciating extremes waiting for something to happen, then it keeps getting brought up once they're in the tunnel anyway which is just an utter bore and makes this so infuriating rather than letting it get more of a hold on who they are. Once they're in the cave itself, this one isn't any better with the absolutely infuriating technique of shooting everything with such extreme close-ups in the already- darkened environment that there's just no way to tell what's going on since we can't see anything going on at all. On top of the darkness, with the entire film covered in fluorescent lighting that gives off the look of dizzying claustrophobia by simply making for an overall disjointed affair not getting anything remotely into this one to tell what's happening as the flashing strobe lights alongside the close-quarter camera-shots further hold this one to a nigh- impossible-to-view series of action scenes that can't tell what's going on. The fact that they don't have even show off the creature at all until the finale is a huge mistake as well since we can't tell what we're supposed to be afraid of while what's supposedly chasing and killing them as the film keeps it as well as the actual gory kills all off-screen to the point of not being able to really get the kind of effectiveness out of them it really should've. This all here holds this one back as the few bright spots here are completely drowned out in this overwhelming sea of negatives as the fact that the cave itself is claustrophobic and chilling makes for a superb setting here to tell this kind of story as the fact that there's constant confrontations with the still-unseen creature makes for a fun time overall here in this kind of setting. As well, the film does get some fun out of the graphic kills when we get to see them, but even with these few positives the flaws are just so much more impactful that they end up overwhelming this one.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Violence, a clothed sex scene and a shadowy Rape Scene.

A motley group of eight people venture deep into a cave located in Central Asia. They find themselves trapped within the caverns and are hunted by a vicious predatory monster. Writer/director Olatunde Osunsanmi takes his time developing the well-drawn and genuinely likable characters, effectively creates and sustains plenty of sweat-inducing suspense, and offers a generous sprinkling of graphic gore during the ferocious attack scenes. The game no-name cast all give appealingly natural performances: Special kudos are in order for Mustafa Shakir as stalwart, rationale leader Gannon, Andrew Caple-Shaw as the macho, take-charge Ori, Danny Jacobs as nerdy aspiring writer Ambrose, Andres Saenz-Hudson as the spiritual Domingo, and Neno Pervan as jocular Russian Slava. Yasu Tanida's shaky, shadowy cinematography, a fascinatingly detailed depiction of cave exploring, Bryan Galvez's spooky'n'shuddery score, the dark, misty, claustrophobic atmosphere, the tight 81 minute running time, and the jarringly brutal and downbeat ending all further enhance the overall sound quality of this strong and startling low-budget indie shocker.