Watch What Waits Below For Free

Powerful

Overrated and overhyped

Excellent but underrated film

A Masterpiece!

In terms of plot, mid '80s subterranean horror/adventure What Waits Below is a lot like Neil Marshall's The Descent (2005), both films revolving around a group of speleologists running into trouble when the cavern that they are exploring turns out to be home to a race of savage underground humanoids. In execution, however, the two films couldn't be more different...Where The Descent is an expertly crafted white-knuckle thrill ride that delivers cool cannibalistic creatures guaranteed to scare the bejeezuz out of the viewer, What Waits Below is a plodding cheeze-fest that offers up slimy hand-puppet snake monsters and laughable albinos with silly haircuts.Robert Powell, who is most renowned for his titular role in Jesus of Nazareth, makes for an extremely lacklustre hero (could this guy really find work as a mercenary? He looks more like a hairdresser to me) and Lisa Blount is bland as the token babe with a brain. The real stars of the film are the stunning underground locations, but as awe inspiring as the spectacular caverns and colourful rock formations undoubtedly are, they cannot possibly adequately compensate for the stodgy direction, weak acting, cruddy props and terrible dialogue ("In a cave, the only predictable element is the unpredictable").3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for the surprisingly gory shot of a dead soldier with his face all messed up.

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!

I just finished watching this movie and I must admit I didn't have high hopes. To my pleasant surprise this turned out to be a quite good movie. It wasn't a great movie, but I am very glad I got to watch it! During a test of a low frequency transmitter two men and the transmitter disappear. A team is gathered to search the caves where the test took place. Caves that never before have been explored by man. But, what waits them below they could never imagine.This story turns out quite original and I think that is maybe what makes the movie so good. The script is far from perfect, but it works. The acting is probably the best with the whole movie. It is generally good. The cinematography could, however, been better. I find it too boring. It's too straight. Though they did a pretty good job in creating the atmosphere and the mood. There were some pretty chilling sequences.When it comes to effects what can you expect from a 1984 B-movie? Well, they did OK on most of it, except for the monster. It was actually pretty bad and in fact personally I think they should have cut the whole monster. They way I see it, it rather took then give anything to the movie.I can recommend this movie because of it's story. There are few cliché there. As for the rest of this movie it is OK, but nothing out of the ordinary. However, well worth to watch.

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.