Caved In: Prehistoric Terror . . . at least that was what it was called on Sci-Fi when I saw it.
The biggest terror in this movie for me was thinking about just how high John Palmer's (Christopher Atkins) plastic surgery bill must be getting. It was frightening just looking at his face.
But I do hate bugs and there were some big ones in this film. Granted you could tell they were fake and that's a good thing in my book. I would hate to think that there are giant rhinoceros beetles that ate human flesh for real! Even if they were trapped inside a mine shaft where I most certainly would never venture. There is always the chance they could be let out by some idiots trying to go spelunking in some cave . . .
So the bugs in their own right were a positive in this film for me, however the acting, the story and just about everything else were negatives so I don't really think that evens out the score. The story went that John Palmer is supposed to be some sort of genius cave guide to the rich and whilst on his way to taking his family on vacation he is persuaded into one last expedition. Low and behold he is convinced because his family of bleach blonde buffoons (wife Samantha (Angela Featherstone), daughter Sophie (Monica Dean) and son Miles (Stevie Mitchell)) will be allowed to stay at a beautiful house on a lake above the site. All the while daughter Sophie complains but she gets a bit happier once she meets the Frenchman, Stephan (Cristian Popa) who is left topside to attend to their every need.
There is a catch though that the family is not aware of and that is that Dad is not really leading a group of spoiled rich expeditioners on their search for adventure. No he is really leading a group of very bad criminals in search of some fabled buried treasure. This all becomes quite apparent once Miles (who was supposed to remain topside) comes up missing and in their search for him the girls find the real owner of the house they are staying in. All I will say is it's a good thing that Mom paid attention in French class!
And the bugs - can't forget the giant man eating rhinoceros beetles, though one does wonder what these beetles have been surviving on all these years that they have been trapped underground with no men to eat? That was one of the many problems in this film for me. I couldn't even find a place to hang my suspended disbelief.
At any rate,
Caved In: Prehistoric Terror is truly a non-recommend. Unless of course you are a fan of plastic surgery and would like to see how butchered a face can really get. Maybe Christopher Atkins has grown into his "work" by now. I sure hope so because I had a hard time even focusing on the movie when he was in scenes. This movie was more like a PSA against bad plastic surgery than anything else if you ask me.
If you enjoyed Caved In: Prehistoric Terror, here are reviews of other recommended movies:
The CaveThe Descent
Caved In: Prehistoric Terror Movie Cast and Credits
Directed by
Richard Pepin
Writing credits
Michael Konyves
Neil Elman
Cast (in credits order)
Christopher Atkins ... John Palmer
Colm Meaney ... Vincent
Angela Featherstone ... Samantha Palmer
Monica Dean ... Sophie (as Monica Birladeanu)
David Palffy ... Marcel
Chelan Simmons ... Emily Palmer
Stevie Mitchell ... Miles Palmer
Marius Chivu ... Hanz
Cristian Popa ... Stephan
Vlad Jipa ... Carlo (as Tudor Vlad Jipa)
Razvan Popa ... Muller
Marius Capota ... Ion
Dan Sandulescu ... Luciano
Adrian Pintea ... Supervisor Frisch
More Caved In: Prehistoric Terror Movie Reviews
Review of Caved In: Prehistoric Terror at Dread CentralCaved In: Prehistoric Terror Movie Review and Information Page at The Internet Movie Database
