The Cave

New DVD review from Nick at Nite:

The Cave

I like bad science fiction. Star Trek, Quantum Leap, Sense & Sensibility, Starman, Superman, Christine, Kramer v. Kramer, Tron, all science fiction, all bad, all awesome. In the 1980s, there were two awesomely bad science fiction movies involving mutated creatures killing underwater explorers: Leviathan and Deep Star Six. They play like episodes of Jacques Cousteau meets Dr. Who meets Land of the Lost meets H.R. Puff-n-Stuff, except they are not French and there are no giant sea turtles. Leviathan starred Peter Weller and was made after his best work in Robocop (they shouldn't have made any sequels) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai (whatever happened to the sequel promised at the end of the first film). Deep Star Six starred one of the dads from the TV show My Two Dads and a bunch of B movie castoffs (it was really, really bad). The Cave is a reworking of these original movies. It involves some underwater explorers who explore caves with underwater passageways. It has Piper Perabo, that guy from the television show Invasion and another guy I recognize from some other show (great descriptions, eh??). Funny, but while watching the movie I kept thinking, I think these actors think this is going to be a big hit. They were so wrong. Unless, of course, I am the target audience. Well because this is a science fiction movie there is a parasite in the water that attacks its host, a human, and grows into a creature or creatures that attack the underwater crew or rather the parasite infects those who enter the cave and then they turn into creatures that attack the underwater crew. It is just crazy. To make the movie all the more eerie and strange it all happens in the Carpathian mountains and it involves a flashback to when it was all under Soviet control. It is a little sad, but this is exactly my kind of movie. I give it a "C" for everyone else and for me I give it an "A."