What Waits Below
| What Waits Below | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster using film's original title | |
| Directed by | Don Sharp |
| Produced by |
Robert D. Bailey Sandy Howard Don Levin Mel Pearl Jeffrey M. Sneller |
| Written by |
Ken Barnett Christy Marx Robert Vincent O'Neill |
| Starring |
Robert Powell Timothy Bottoms Lisa Blount Richard Johnson Anne Heywood |
| Music by |
Denny Jaeger Michel Rubini |
| Cinematography | Virgil L. Harper |
| Edited by | John R. Bowey |
Release dates | 1985 |
Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
What Waits Below is a science-fiction adventure film (initially released under the title Secrets of the Phantom Caverns) released in 1985. Directed by Don Sharp, produced by the Adams Apple Film Company, the film runs for 88 minutes and starred Robert Powell, Timothy Bottoms, and Lisa Blount.[1] The tagline for the video release of the film was "Underground, no-one can hear you die".
Plot summary
The US military is running a test for a special type of radio transmitter, to be used to communicate with submarines, in a deep system of underground caves in Central America. When the signal from one of the transmitters suddenly disappears, a team of soldiers led by Major Elbert Stevens (Bottoms) and cave specialists led by Rupert 'Wolf' Wolfsen (Powell) including scientist Leslie Peterson (Blount) are sent in to find out what happened.
Exploring deep underground, they stumble upon a tribe of albino cave-dwellers who have apparently been isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years. The cave-dwellers are hurt by radio frequencies and are able to see in infra-red frequencies, tracking the explorers by their body heat.
Cast
- Robert Powell - Rupert 'Wolf' Wolfsen
- Timothy Bottoms - Major Elbert Stevens
- Lisa Blount - Leslie Peterson
- Richard Johnson - Ben Gannon
- Anne Heywood - Frieda Shelley
Production
Principal photography for the movie took place in a former limestone quarry and in natural caves in Alabama and Cumberland Caverns in Tennessee starting in August 1983.[2][3] Production was briefly halted in late August when carbon monoxide produced by generators in the Cathedral Caverns location sent at least 17 people to the hospital.[3] Production wrapped in late October 1983.[4]
Release
The film was released on VHS in the United States in November 1985.[1]
References
- 1 2 "The Latest Hoopla". Daily News of Los Angeles. November 8, 1985. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
What Waits Below: Timothy Bottoms, Robert Powell and Lisa Blount star in this science-fiction film about an unexplainable horror that waits below [...]
- ↑ "TV series not as profitable as concert dates". The Spokesman-Review. July 31, 1983. p. 13. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
The SANDY HOWARD feature, which goes into production Aug. 8, be filming in Tennessee and Alabama locations.
- 1 2 "Gas blame for illness, panic of set; Caves are being used to shoot sci-fi flick". Miami Herald. August 23, 1983. p. 3B. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
Early indications were that generators used to power lights inside Cathedral Caverns were the source of the gas that touched off the panic late Saturday night. At least 17 people, many of them actors in the movie Secrets of the Phantom Caverns, were taken to area hospitals.
- ↑ Mann, Roderick (October 27, 1983). "Man who played 'Jesus' to make U.S. film debut". Los Angeles Times. p. E1. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
Six years after making his initial impact on American audiences as the star of Franco Zeffirelli's 1977 TV film "Jesus of Nazareth," British actor Robert Powell has just finished his first American-made film.
External links
- What Waits Below at the Internet Movie Database
- "Movies: Secrets of the Phantom Caverns (1985)". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
- "Interview with Cast Members of "What Waits Below"". BadMovies.org. January 13, 2007.
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