Caved In: Prehistoric Terror (2006)

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Caved In is set in Switzerland where expert spelunker for hire John Palmer (Christopher Atkins) has been hired by wealthy businessman Vincent (Colm Meaney) to guide himself & his team into some salt mines that no-one has set foot in for fifty odd years after a huge cave in. John prepares the group for the potentially dangerous expedition, one member Marcel (David Palffy) has an old map of the mines he claims his Grandfather gave him & John uses that as the basis of the expedition. What John doesn't know is that Vincent & his team are after millions in emeralds that are supposed to be down there but there is great danger down in the mines lurking in the shadows a giant mutant beetles guard the emeralds & kill anyone who goes down there...This American Canadian co-production was directed by Richard Pepin& is yet another Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' that I actually didn't think was too bad, sure it wasn't exactly great but considering the usual Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' standard I liked this more than I thought I would. I am not saying it's a masterpiece but compared with a lot of other Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' tripe I thought Caved In was one of the better ones although that in itself really isn't saying much. I think one reason I liked Caved IN more than I expected was that it had a fairly decent story, setting & I got the impression that there was a fun film here somewhere even if it never quite manages to break free of it's low budget limitations. I liked the idea of a group of bad guy's trapped in dark underground mines having to fight off giant beetles with laser guns & their own wits even if not enough is made of it & the attack scenes are all pretty identical. I thought the character's were alright & the pace is certainly good with barely any slow moving parts. Unfortunately the plots isn't very deep (it's never explained where the beetles came from or why they are so big or what they ate to survive or why they didn't attack & kill the original miners right away but instead let them build the mine first), neither are the character's or dialogue & the action scenes are a little dull. Caved In could have been great with a bigger budget & better effects buts as it is I thought it was a reasonable way to pass 90 odd minutes & one of the Sci-Fi Cahnnel's better 'Creature Feature' pick ups.Virtually every Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' has awful CGI computer effects & Cave In is no different although mixed in with the terrible there are a few half decent effects shots, nothing that impressive but a few shots that look alright. There's a bit of gore, a couple of people are ripped in half, there's a ripped off arm, a ripped off head, an impaled & sliced off hand & some dead mutilated bodies. The film isn't scary & those mines sure are brightly lit considering they are thousands of feet underground & there's more of an adventure film vibe to it than a horror one.With a budget of less than $100,000 Caved In was shot in Romania & the production values are alright, it looks OK without being spectacular. The acting is alright from an OK cast.Caved In is a decent enough 'Creature Feature' with just enough about it to make it worthwhile, sure the effects are bad & it's lacking in plot but it moves along like a rocket & is fairly fun if your in the right mood.

Why did I vote this Five? Well I am a generous soul and I am glad to see that Christopher Atkins is still working. As well as the fact that I fancied the head bad guy. Also Colm, did he really need the money? Now the script fluctuated between plausible and repetitive. Almost like two people wrote it in two separate towns/states. But hey the bugs where interesting and although they didn't click (I think because bug clicking amplified would not only have drowned out the other actors but sent those in the theatre running holding their ears) Anyway how do we know whether bugs would not roar if they could lol. What fascinated me was the funny mechanical way that these bugs ambulated. Do bugs really walk like that? Reminded me a wind-up toys I had as a child. As far as bug movies goes though I thought it did okay. I didn't expect much so I wasn't too disappointed although as a woman I must say I am really fed-up with the piercing screams of the females in any story/horror flick. I would sooner have listened to amplified bug clicks. Why didn't her mum give her a gun? Another interesting thing was how come they (the mother and daughter) could outrun these bugs but those in the mines couldn't? Huh! So if you want to watch this and you like your bugs on the rather large side, and you are for watching the baddies get what they deserve, and you don't mind wasting an hour and a half (maybe you have the washing on or the cat is drying) watch it you can spend the time with your friends pulling it to pieces over a glass of wine or three. At least it was better than another cave movie I watched quite recently.

This movie is pretty formulaic. In fact, you can probably tell what's going to happen and who's going to live and die as soon as you figure out who the main characters are. Nothing else really happens. I rate it average because it wasn't reprehensibly bad (makes you cringe with dislike), like some bad movies are.The story involves the search for emeralds located in an old, abandoned mine. There is a map and a warning of bad creatures that are also located where the emeralds are. The bad guys have the map and hire an unsuspecting American guide (Atkins) to help them get it - and the story progresses from there.If you can figure out what's going to happen according to standard formulaic sci-fi/horror plots, you need not see this movie.

This movie by far was the worst movie i saw. The graphics are very awful and are 1995 graphics (exaggerating). The movie is an obvious script, meaning that it's kinda obvious that its about being in a cave. The whole movie was a complete copy of The Cave. The Cave was good this one struck beans. The actors are not familiar and they did not do very well in makeup, the actors did not act very well to be honest. About two characters actually knew how to act. And the rest did not. I would not recommend this movie. I wanted to stop watching it right at the beginning, but i thought it would get better. I was wrong, it was very dumb. the sets were used a lot over and over making it look dumb. It was definitely not realistic. They did have correct facts but not computer animations. It looks like a computer game. See at your own risk, this was my opinion. Go with whatever you want to do. See ya!