The Cave falls flat as horror thriller

If you are looking for something that will put you to sleep or bore you to tears, The Cave is the perfect film for you. Mind numbingly predictable and cursed with a talentless cast, I lost interest after 10 minutes and spent the remaining 87 waiting anxiously for it to end.

Starring Cole Hauser (Paparazzi), Eddie Cibrian (Baywatch Nights) and Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly), the story revolves around a group of divers and scientists chosen to explore an underground cave.

But of course, this is no ordinary cave. Legend has it that it is inhabited by a mythical half-goblin/half-human creature.

What happens to these characters after they choose to ignore this ancient story is exactly what you would expect.

After a few seemingly successful findings, the divers' luck takes a turn for the worse as they find themselves trapped in the cave with no contact to the outside world and thus no hope of a rescue. What follows is a series of events meant to portray the abject fear felt by these divers as they are stalked by a horrible and unknown threat.

The plot is predictable, moments meant to be dramatic are so ridiculous they end up humorous, and the acting is dry at its best. The story lacks much needed character development, which would have involved the viewer more in the emotions of the characters.

Therefore instead of moving through the caves with the actors and experiencing their fear first hand, it feels more like watching lab mice trying to find their way out of a maze.

If the names of the cast members and their other respective movies do not sound familiar, it would not come as a surprise. This should have been the first red flag foreboding the dreadful quality of the film. Even though the script was clichéd and predictable, decent acting may have saved the film from drowning amongst other third-class horror movies. However, the acting effort put forth by the cast is rather bland, thus sending the movie to its impending box-office doom.

The only positive element worth mentioning involves the sets. The majority of the movie takes place in shadowy caves that house underground rivers, lakes, unknown ominous creatures, etc. The darkness and mystery created via the sets produces a sense of anxiety in the viewer, just where the plot and acting fail to.

The caves appear as realistic as they could have been. In some scenes I actually caught myself marveling at the aesthetic quality of the set design more so than following the story.

With an increasing amount of violence in films, moviegoers are becoming more and more desensitized to gore, thus making it increasingly difficult to scare viewers.

But sometimes it is possible to leave your brain at the door and simply enjoy the experience of the film.

However with movies like The Cave, stopping all brain processes does not make the film any easier to sit through.