What Waits Below (1984)

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

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.

If you're patient enough to stick with this film, and you dig eerie nightmarish imagery, this film is quite a treat! Personally, I really miss the atmosphere of films such as this that relied solely on the characters, and things not so human, without the use of glitzy computerized graphics, something today, in my opinion that has been over glamorized and almost used as filler. As I mentioned if you're patient you'll appreciate this film, it builds and if you hang on and agree with my review thus far you'll most likely really appreciate this film. All in all check it out, it's not a masterpiece by any means, although it rather strikes my fancy!

Sure, this is a B Movie but it is moody and creepy and worth a look. Haunting. I haven't seen it since it was on TV nearly 20 years ago and I can't forget it. The Lemurians are really unsettling weirdos. Sure, Timothy Bottoms is always a little suspicious but pretend he's a young George W. Bush and your path to movie fun is free and clear. It'll be great. Plus, Lisa Blount, can't go wrong there. Generally I'm against so-called reviews which say 'for what it is it's whatever' but in this case, when something does manage to be genuinely unsettling, I give it a go. Not much upsets or disturbs me, but this got under my skin and I think that's worth praising. Write your local congressperson or entertainment conglomerate and demand a North American DVD release. Now!

The idea of making a film about the secrets and wonders of inside the Earth sounds like good idea for a movie but this movie just can't seem to deliver.The actors are bareable(well sort of)except for the main charecter who is just as way to smug.As far as special effects and set the crew did a okay job.And the plot would be better if there were more creatures and stuff and less of a boring,tedious buildup.