I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Boring

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

In all honesty, I was not expecting much from this movie, seeing as it was SyFy, but there are some decent actors here so I went ahead. I found Caved In to be a lame movie in most respects, but nowhere near the worst SyFy's done. The only reasons why I didn't rate it any lower are three quite good performances from Angela Featherstone(the best of the cast in my opinion), Christopher Atkins and Marius Chivros. The rest of the cast are bad, Colm Meaney doesn't have much to do and spends the whole movie looking lost or bored and Chelan Simmons is incredibly annoying, doing little more than screaming and other shrill antics. The actors aren't helped by the underdeveloped and stereotypical way their characters are written, or by the clichéd script and the formulaic story that further suffers from lack of tension and suspense and too many scenes to list that were unbelievable. Add to that lighting that distracted from the atmosphere and the setting's authenticity, with scenes being lit too brightly where it should have a dark, claustrophobic feel, and (even for SyFy) terrible artificial-looking effects, and you have a pretty poor movie. Overall, other than three performances, Caved In is not worth bothering with. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Years ago, when he was one of the heads of PM Entertainment, Richard Pepin directed and produced memorable direct-to-video action movies like EPICENTER. However, his return to directing here is not very good. His strength seems to be with action, not sci-fi and horror, which is what this movie is. He seems to have distanced himself from this movie, with his credit being "Rick Pepin" instead of his normal name. In fairness, the sets and locations don't look too bad, there are some memorable gory moments, and the CGI effects are okay for what must have been a very low budget, as is the case for movies made for the Sci-Fi network. But there's not much more to give praise to. Atkins looks very worn out and does not seem to be very enthusiastic. There are stupid turns in the script, like when the party's first encounter with the bugs not being discussed right after they escape... or the party having *laser rifles* handy... the movie jumping between three plot threads since there's not much excitement in the main thread... and taking forever before the cave party realize they are in serious danger. Pepin, if you're reading this, reunite with your old partner Joseph Merhi and get back to making the kind of movies that made a name for yourself.

"Caved In: Prehistoric Terror" is a semi-decent Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.**SPOILERS**Years after a mine collapsed in Switzerland, expert spelunker John Palmer, (Christopher Atkins) is approached by business agents Vincent, (Colm Meaney) and Sophia, (Monica Dean) to lead a team into it. Traveling with his family, Samantha, (Angela Featherstone) Emily, (Chelan Simmons) and Miles, (Stevie Mitchell) he leads the team, Marcel, (David Palffy) Hanz, (Marius Chivu) Carlo, (Vlad Jipa) and Ion, (Marius Capota) into the mine. When it becomes apparent that the real reason for the trek was for a cache of emeralds found in the mine. Descending into the mine to find it results in a swarm of giant beetles in the mine. Forced together to get out alive, they have to survive an endless series of attacks from the creatures.The Good News: This wasn't as bad as it could've been. As another one of the creature features on the Sci-Fi Channel, this one has several of the main benefits of these films. The film hardly ever gets too deep in discussion as to what's going on, as there's really no explanation given to the creatures or where they came from. It's all sort of taken that they've been around before, just never to the characters in the film and this is their first meeting with them. That is a really nice change, as this means that there isn't a long-winded explanation from a character that would've killed the movie in it's tracks. There's also some really great gore in here, which is quite striking and really nicely done as well. We get an impalement through the back and out the chest, a hand chopped off, some torn open stomachs with guts spilling out, an arm snapped off, a decapitation, and the highlight, where a victim is chopped in half. While not being overtly realistic all the time, this is far more than what was expected in this kind of film and is greatly appreciated. It also had a really well-placed and filmed last half, which really never ended and kept up the fast pace right up through the ending. From the cavern escape to the battle in the emerald room and the final means of escape are all well done action set-pieces that simply contribute to a rousing and exciting concluding half. Even outside the cave is full of action during this time, with a really suspenseful gunfight outside the entrance to the cave providing some more action to the fold. There's even a novel idea that manages to wring some suspense where a radio beacon is attached to one of the creatures, and an unsuspecting character hears this and is lured into a trap. It also works on the cavers, where it manages to work out an early warning, and it always manages to come around. These all work into it and make it a better film than it could've been.The Bad News: As befits a film of this type, there's some problems with it. It's only common place to label the creatures as unrealistic, and here the trend continues. It's really a crime, though, how bad the creatures here look, especially in the climax where not even a viewer glued to the movie can figure out that it's not real creatures. It even falls prey to the traditional manner where it needlessly introduces characters into suspenseful moments only through sheer stupidity. The biggest example is the escape over the rope bridge. Knowing that there's a full squadron of creature right after them, it still takes a full minute before deciding to move forward, and it's grating when the other characters have all yelled to get moving a couple times each. Having one of the characters follow the group after a warning only to have a series of encounters with the creatures is unnecessary and doesn't really do much to the film. Arguably the biggest one of the whole film is the cave. In a rather smart move, we find out that the power to the mine still works so everything is lit up. This helpfully eliminates a key problem, where it's too dark to see what's going on. However the cave is too well lit and it's like walking in the daylight sun at times. You never get the feeling they're trapped underground. If you're going to have your film set in an old mine, at least make it look and sound like an old mine. There are a few rickety wooden boards but this looks like it was only closed yesterday, not for several years. Besides these, the only main problems are the ones that plagues the rest of these similar types of films, and will be nothing new to most.The Final Verdict: While being a big ball of clichés, there's a lot of fun to be had with this one, most in the guise of it's action-packed conclusion. It's not the one film that will convert the non-fans into the ranks of the Sci-Fi Channel originals, but for fans of them, this will be a rather comfortable experience and will be a fun watch.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language

"Caved In" features several 'name' actors who are unfortunately reduced to acting in such a by-the-books film. Christopher Atkins and Angela Featherstone play husband and wife John and Samantha Palmer who, along with their 2 children work as guides of some sort (I don't recall is being specifically stated what they do other than take people around strange places).Instead of going on a family vacation, John Palmer accepts on offer of a lot of money to take some less-than-respectable people into some ancient caverns to hunt for a tomb full of emeralds. So he does, while his family are left to explore above-ground. Naturally, things get out of hand in the old tunnels when giant (CGI) beetles begin attacking, and one-by-one the bad guys all begin to get killed off, or double crossed. The bugs begin making their way to the surface, putting Palmer's family in even more danger.The acting is not too bad, well, it shouldn't be considering who some of the cast are. Christopher Atkins and Angela Featherstone both give decent performances, but poor Colm Meany, formerly of "Star Trek" fame is reduced to little in his role here. Monica Dean and David Palffy are fairly good in their roles as criminals, though one of them has a heart. Chelan Simmons spends the entire movie being unlivable annoying and / or running around screaming. It's a good thing her acting ability also improves for her next film "Final Destination 3".Sci-Fi and Horror are combined often for films ("Event Horizon", "Alien") but do not always work well together. This is one of those cases where it's really personal preference, as the film lacks a lot of things, but it is not without trying.