LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Coventry 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.

elvis_dolan OK. First things first. When I watch a film I haven't seen before, I try to keep an open mind. Sometimes this doesn't work, but this time, against all odds, it did.I first saw the film on UK TV as a child under its alias, 'Secrets Of The Phantom Caverns', and it really stuck with me. A few years later I found it on video and still really enjoyed it, especially the lurid vid cover. Now I've managed to find it on DVD, titled 'What Waits Below' (its US title). I'm a very happy man. Its a cheapie, but it's great fun.To be honest it has one winning factor to start with; it stars Robert Powell, an excellent British actor who is great in anything he does. This lifts the film out of the bin already. His recognisable voice is put to good use from the start with an eerie, atmospheric monologue, teamed with a picture that is gradually revealed to be a gigantic stalagmite, Goliath. From this point I was sucked in.As the film continues we meet a few more recognisable faces from the horror genre such as Richard Johnson (The Haunting, Zombie Flesh Eaters) and Lisa Blount (Dead and Buried, John Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness), who, along with other established actors such as Timothy Bottoms, all try and do their very best with the material they have.This is the general motto with the film. Remember, it was done on the cheap, but I think that what's been done, has been done well. You could see it as a well-made, feature film version of Doctor Who, only without the Doctor if that makes any sense! I find the film very atmospheric and quite creepy. The only real mishap may be that when the things that 'wait below' are revealed, they are quite disappointing, but in context this doesn't matter for long.OK, I've done my bit for the film and I hope that this may inspire other people out there to hunt it down and give it a go. Suck in the pride and remember to have a very big pinch of salt at the ready. Enjoy!

Stoney I buy a lot of cheap movies, none of them are usually any good but this one surprised me. It is obvious that it had a low budget and the overall film making isn't very good but the ideas behind the story captured my interest. The thoughts of undiscovered caves deep within the earth containing life really excites me. If only this movie could be remade and altered a little on a much larger scale, it could be one of my favourites. This film was let down however by a low budget. The set wasn't bad but the costumes were terrible. The designs of the cavemen looked quite good, the dark eyes, pale skin and increased hearing are what you might imagine from a species who have evolved in a dark cave but I did not like those hairstyles (that's the 80s for you). The acting was poor and some of the characters were pointless. The opening scenes introduced two of the main characters well but other then that it should have been explained what had been going on exactly.Every now and then I'm inspired by a story and want to write something myself along the same lines, this had one of those inspiring stories. I highly recommend watching this if you don't mind B movies.

arrival I have never really given much thought to underground civilizations and the like, but this movie definitely gets you thinking!It's a bit slow to getting off the ground, but stick with it, it's well worth the wait!I didn't think the movie would be so good from the beginning, in fact to be honest, there's quite a poor start to it, and I suspect many would switch off before it gets going. I remained open-minded. I think that the idea was very imaginative indeed, and my only complaint was the movie was over too quickly. Would have made a two and half hour movie, no problem. Still, the idea of any great movie, like any great book, is to leave you wanting more.However, it had a very satisfactory end.Don't miss this if you get the opportunity - a gem worth watching.