Avid fans of horror movies featuring deadly creatures that attack humans who invade their territory will probably enjoy The Cave. Although not my favorite type of film, this one contained enough unusual scenery and frightening sequences to keep my mind off the farfetched plot most of the time. It follows a group of biologists and underwater explorers who become trapped and lost in a huge labyrinth of caves underneath the Carpathian mountains -- and, naturally, the people involved must face conflicts among themselves as well as the bloodthirsty monsters they encounter while trying to find a way back to the outside world.    

What brought these people to such an eerie place? Curiosity, of course. Scientists believe it’s been undisturbed for so long that its eco-system may have produced a new species. Led by their usually competent leader Jack (Cole Hauser), team members take pleasure in the enormous vistas of their new environment at first. Before long, however, disagreements ensue over who should do what -- and later, about the best escape route. When one of the winged cave inhabitants bites Jack, he begins to change. His senses are enhanced and he becomes paranoid. Shades of Hollywood vampires! But, hey, all this takes place -- as I mentioned before -- under the Carpathian mountains, and isn’t Transylvania close by? Think Dracula meets Mimic in The Abyss and you’ll get the picture.

Because of Jack’s strange behavior, others in the group start losing their trust in him. But not his brother (Eddie Cibrian) nor another important member of the team, played by Morris Chestnut (who must be used to this kind of action after appearing in Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid). As various characters become victims of the terrifying creatures, we begin to wonder if anyone will survive.

In addition to Hauser (Paparazzi ), Cibrian (Say It Isn’t So), and Chestnut, the following actors deliver respectable performances in rather one-dimensional roles: Piper Perabo (Cheaper by the Dozen); Lena Headey (The Brothers Grimm); and Marcel Iures (Hart’s War). Perabo has the best action sequence, and it’s quite spectacular. She climbs up a steep rock wall, goes eyeball-to-eyeball with one of the creatures, then swings precariously from her rope all around the cavern. My heart was in my throat during this suspenseful part of the movie.

The film’s underwater cinematography also impressed me -- even though I didn’t always know what was happening and to whom. Maybe my fear of the water kicked in here and made everything seem more frightening than it would be to other viewers. But the most amazing part of The Cave comes when huge caverns are displayed in all their glory on the big screen. Those immense areas awed me -- I felt like someone from a little prairie town admiring the Empire State Building on a first visit to the Big Apple.

Although offering some entertaining B-movie moments, The Cave is far from the best creature feature ever made (that’s Alien in my book). The film’s creatures needed more work to make them stand out as really scary, and the characters should have been more clearly defined. Perhaps these things will be taken care of in The Cave 2.  From the way this one ends, you can bet there’ll definitely be a sequel.    

(Released by Screen Gems Inc. and rated “PG-13” for intense creature violence.)