The Cave (2005 film)
The Cave is a 2005 American action horror film, directed by Bruce Hunt and distributed by Screen Gems. It was written by Michael Steinberg and Tegan West. Its story follows a group of cave-divers and scientists who become trapped while exploring a cave system in Romania, and encounter a pack of deadly creatures. It stars Cole Hauser, Eddie Cibrian, Morris Chestnut, Marcel Iureș, Lena Headey, Rick Ravanello, Piper Perabo and Daniel Dae Kim.

The film was produced by Lakeshore Entertainment and Cinerenta and was released on August 26, 2005. It grossed $6.1 million during its opening weekend and $33.3 million worldwide, against a budget of $30 million. It received negative reviews and has a 12% approval rating based on 111 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot
During the Cold War, a group of Soviet and British plunderers begin to excavate an abandoned 13th-century abbey in the Carpathian Mountains. As they set up a dynamite charge, the floor splits beneath them and they fall through to the bottom of a vast cave system. They descend further into the cave in the hope of finding a way out, and hear strange rattling sounds in the darkness.

In the present, a team led by Dr. Nicolai, with his associate Dr. Kathryn Jennings and cameraman Alex Kim, are excavating the site of the former abbey. They discover mysterious mosaics and a river that stretches for miles inside the cave system. Local biologists believe the cave could contain an undiscovered ecosystem, so he hires a group of professional American divers led by brothers Jack and Tyler McAllister. The team includes rock-climbing professional Charlie, first scout Briggs, sonar expert Strode, and survival expert Top Buchanan.

After descending to the base of the cave, Briggs is chosen to scout ahead. While he contacts the team, he sees something in the distance and the video crashes. Thinking the problem is an equipment malfunction, the team continues on and eventually finds Briggs downriver. However, Strode is suddenly attacked and dragged away by a large creature. This causes his water scooter to speed off and crash into the cave wall causing a rock fall, leaving them forced to follow the river and search for a new way out.

With no way out and a rescue team not scheduled to retrieve them for 12 days, Jack and Top follow the river together along the line left by Strode. Jack is then seized and scratched by one of the creatures that attacked Strode, but is able to sever its claw. Kathryn studies its cells and notices a parasitic mutation, which Nicolai has discovered in all of the caves lifeforms. She explains that all known cave species originated above ground but have adapted over generations to life underground. Kathryn theorizes this new parasite originated in the cave environment and has never been exposed to the outside world.

The team eventually stumble across the equipment and remains of previous explorers, while continuing to descend through a series of rapids. Tyler sees Nicolai hanging on to the side of the cave, but he is sucked down into the current before he can help. As everyone starts to surface, they hear Nicolai screaming. Jack tries to save him, but he is dragged underwater. He swims deeper and watches the creature pulling Nicolai to his death, noticing tattooed letters on the creature's hands. As he regroups with the team, Jack's body begins changing as the scratches he received have infected him with the parasite. While climbing back up the cave wall to escape, Charlie is attacked and killed by a winged creature.

As Jack continues to mutate, Kathryn theorizes that the previous explorers and all the ecosystem's creatures mutated due to the parasite. Some of the survivors question Jack's judgement and the team splits up. Alex, Briggs and Kathryn go their own way, while Top and Tyler stay with Jack. Jack, Top and Tyler discover a cavern littered with human skeletons as well as a passageway out of the cave. As Tyler goes back to find the others, one of the creature kills Briggs. Tyler regroups with Kathryn and Alex as they all run to rejoin Jack and Top. However, the creatures have entered the cavern and stolen the rebreathers necessary to navigate the passage. Top, Kathryn, Tyler and Alex run into the river toward the passageway, but Alex is killed before he can get in the water, a creature grabbing him from above. Jack sacrifices himself by causing a cave-in, allowing the others to escape.

Sometime later, Tyler and Kathryn meet up at a cafe. He asks if the mutated Jack could have survived on the surface. Kathryn says she had originally thought the parasite could only survive underground, but now believes the parasite wanted to get out. As she leaves, Tyler notices that Kathryn's eyes have mutated just like Jack's. He runs after her, but she disappears in the crowd.

Cast
 Cole Hauser as Jack McAllister, one of two thrill-seeking professional cave explorers, along with his brother Tyler
 Eddie Cibrian as Tyler McAllister, Jack's fellow thrill-seeking professional cave explorer and brother
 Morris Chestnut as Top Buchanan, a survival expert
 Lena Headey as Dr. Kathryn Jennings, a scientist
 Piper Perabo as Charlie, a rock-climbing professional
 Rick Ravanello as Briggs, a member of the dive team
 Daniel Dae Kim as Alex Kim, a cameraman
 Kieran Darcy-Smith as Strode, a sonar expert
 Marcel Iureș as Dr. Nicolai, a scientist and leader of the expedition
 Vlad Rădescu as Dr. Bacovia

Brian Steele portrays the creatures in the cave.

Reception
The Cave received mostly negative reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 12% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The critics consensus reads, "Despite its stylized and impressive sets, this horror-monster movie mish-mash suffers from endless cliches and wildly implausible plotlines." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "C−" on an A+ to F scale.

The main complaint was the lack of character building and overly familiar cliches, with Neil Smith of BBC Online calling it "a generic duffer that is as exciting as a hole in the ground". Robert Koehler made the same observation in Variety, writing, "The Cave feels familiar as it goes through the rote edicts of the scientific crew vs. beastie formula". In her review for the New York Times, Laura Kern praised the film’s sets and visual style, but denounced the script, writing "Having worked as second- and third-unit director on the Matrix trilogy and Dark City, Bruce Hunt is no stranger to inspired and stylish productions. But whereas those films managed to inject new life into tired territory, The Cave, his first effort as director, fails to generate anything resembling innovation." Judy Chia Hui Hsu wrote in The Seattle Times, "the serenity of the largely aquatic underground world framed by majestic stalagmites and serpentine corridors succeeds in capturing the moviegoer’s attention," but added, "The insipid dialog lacks even a hint of comic relief, so the audience is grateful when the action quickly kicks into gear," and "one of the film’s biggest letdowns is that the vicious beast, seen in the full light of the final scenes, is not such a surprise after all. The creature is simply an amalgamation of monsters we’ve seen before".

Box office
In the US, the film opened ranked #5 grossing $6,147,294 at 2,195 sites, averaging $2,800. It went on to have a final US gross of $15,007,991. In Australia, it opened at 89 sites, averaging A$3,204 grossing A$285,121. It had a second-weekend decrease by 74%, and had a finishing gross of A$570,131. Worldwide, the film has grossed $33,296,457.

Soundtrack

Two soundtrack CDs were released on August 26, 2005 by Lakeshore Records, one with the score by the film's composers Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek and the other one which features tracks by heavy metal bands including Atreyu, Lacuna Coil, Diecast, Burning Brides, Ill Niño, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, It Dies Today, Trivium and more. Also, the single Nemo by Nightwish is featured during the end credits of the film.

See also
 The Descent, a 2005 British film with the same premise
 The Cavern, a third similar film released in 2005

References

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2005 films
American science fiction action films
2005 horror films
2000s science fiction horror films
Lakeshore Entertainment films
2000s monster movies
Films set in Romania
Films shot in Bucharest
Films shot in Mexico
Films shot in Romania
Screen Gems films
Adventure horror films
American body horror films
American action horror films
American science fiction horror films
American survival films
Films produced by Tom Rosenberg
Films produced by Gary Lucchesi
Films scored by Reinhold Heil
Films scored by Johnny Klimek
American monster movies
2000s action horror films
2005 directorial debut films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films