"Respect the cave," is the telling piece of advice proferred by Morris Chestnut before he plunges into the icy waters beneath the site of an old Romanian monastery.

He's part of a team including former Special Forces divers who have been flown to Romania to help local biologists explore an undiscovered cave system.

Along for the ride are extreme sports chick Charlie (Piper Perabo), brothers Jack (Hauser) and Tyler (Eddie Cibrian) and marine biologist Lena Headey.

After a rock fall cuts off their only exit, the team have to press further into the ancient cave system, slowly becoming aware that they're not alone.

It's a shame this follows so hot on the heels of the superior The Descent because - taken on its own merits - it's a thoroughly workmanlike horror yarn.

Good-looking - particularly the claustrophobic submarine shots - and well staged, there's the requisite heartstopping shocks for fans of the genre.

However, where The Descent - which essentially used the same premise of monsters lurking in underground caverns - deployed a darkly British humour this goes for the all-American, clean-cut approach.

Unlike The Descent's "chicks with picks" this bunch are a super-equipped troop of adventurers, unfazed (to begin with) at their appalling predicament.

OK, so comparisons are odious…but you really have to wonder at the timing of two films with almost identical plotlines.

The distributor must have been living in a cave.

Tim Evans