What Waits Below (1984) on Netflix
PG19841h 28mAdventureHorrorSci-Fi
A military radio transmitter is tested in a deep Central American cave system, and a signal vanishes. Major Elbert Stevens and cave explorer Rupert 'Wolf' Wolfsen lead the search.
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- Netflix2.4/5
- IMDb4.8/10858 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
The U.S. military is testing a radio transmitter designed to communicate with submarines in a deep cave system in Central America. Nearby, Dr. Ben Gannon leads a scientific team gathering ancient relics from the caves and cenotes; he places the culture before the Maya and wants to explore farther in. Major Elbert Stevens and Major Castillo, the Belizean representative, want the scientists out once the deep caverns are confirmed as suitable for the equipment. Two men go down to run the first tests, and the signal from one transmitter stops. Stevens asks Rupert 'Wolf' Wolfsen, a British spelunker working in the region, to take charge of a small group of soldiers. Wolfsen urges him to bring the scientists along, including Leslie Peterson, and Santos Arias, a local who knows the caves, to guide them.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about What Waits Below (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Seventeen people, including director Don Sharp, were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning on what was meant to be the final day of filming in the Cathedral Caverns, after a downdraft blew an electric generator's fumes back into the cave.
- Director Don Sharp told the producers the footage did not look good and that little could be done about it; they agreed, paid him the rest of his fee and sent him home without taking part in post-production.
- Cinematographer Claude Agostini was let go and is uncredited in the finished film after his French crew could only muster about 1½ to 2 minutes of footage per day, which was too slow for the producers.
- Filming in Alabama was disrupted by unknown forces, suspected to be angry neighbors or disgruntled union members; an impersonator invited local press to the set at inopportune times, and air conditioning and generators were tampered with.
- To simulate the cave's fictional lighting by glowworms, cinematographer Claude Agostini had the idea of floating up large helium balloons to act as reflectors.
- At Alabama's Cathedral Caverns, filming took place a mile into the tunnels; hauling nearly 8 tons of equipment required 50 crew members, and in the first week a temporary bridge threatened to break under the weight of a Jeep.
- Actor Jackson Bostwick got eye sores when he wore special "Lemurian" contact lenses at a press conference, after which it was decided the lenses should only be worn two hours at a time.
- Eighty percent of the film was shot inside caves, with Lisa Blount recalling that the cast never saw sunlight except on Sundays, and Don Sharp saying the crew spent as much as 14 hours straight in the cave.
