Review of Sanctum (2011) by Chris B — 16 Aug 2011

3: Yes, the acting and dialogue is fairly atrocious. Yes, the story is absolutely rife with clichà (C) and the filmmaking isn't terribly inspired. However, I couldn't help but be enthralled despite the many faults.

I tried to imagine is as a documentary-style reimagining of the actual events, which made the poor acting, dialogue, etc a bit more forgivable. One of the things I loved was that there was no evil monster lurking in the cave; they were simply fleeing the elements, which can be more than monstrous enough.

Just about everything in the film seemed fairly plausible, with the possible exception of some of the performances. It really did often seem as if these characters were really experiencing these horrors, which I'm sure meant the conditions in which the film were made were rather harsh.

The 3D effects definitely added to the immersive quality of the film, but what really engaged me most was the idea of being stuck in a cave and having to fight your way out, no matter how poorly some aspects of it were realized.

I would call this a guilty pleasure. What the film really needs now is D-Box, which would make it that much more viscerally rewarding. Additionally, I wish someone like Cameron, or Kubrick, had actually directed the film.