''Sanctum'' is a 2011 3D

action-thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Alister Grierson Alister Grierson (born 1969) is an Australian film director and scriptwriter. Early life and education Born in Canberra, he completed his secondary schooling at Canberra Grammar, graduated in Economics and Arts from the Australian National U ...

and written by John Garvin and

Andrew Wight Andrew Wight (14 November 1959 – 4 February 2012) was an Australian screenwriter and producer best known for his 2011 film ''Sanctum''. He produced over 45 films including television documentaries, live television specials and 3D IMAX films. ...

. It stars

Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including three AACTA Awards (including AFI), three Logie Awards, ...

Rhys Wakefield Rhys Wakefield is an Australian actor and director, known for his roles in Australian TV series ''Home and Away'', the feature film ''The Black Balloon'' (2008) and in season 3 of HBO's ''True Detective'' in 2019. Wakefield's debut feature f ...

, Alice Parkinson,

Dan Wyllie Daniel Wyllie (born 1970) is an Australian stage, film and television actor. Wyllie began acting in theatre. Early life Wyllie grew up on Sydney's North Shore. He attended North Sydney Boys High School and the University of New South Wales, whe ...

, and

Ioan Gruffudd Ioan Gruffudd (; (born 6 October 1973) is a Welsh actor. He first came to public attention as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in ''Titanic'' (1997), and then for his portrayal of Horatio Hornblower in the '' Hornblower'' series of television films ...

. Wight also produced the film, with

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

as executive producer. The film was released in the United States on 4 February 2011 by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

to predominantly mixed reviews from critics and grossed $108 million on a $30 million budget. It also received an

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nomination for Best Visual Effects.

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released ''Sanctum'' on

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Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

Disc, and Blu-ray 3D on 7 June 2011.

Plot

Seventeen-year-old Joshua "Josh" McGuire (

), expedition bank-roller Carl Hurley (

) and his girlfriend, Victoria "Vic" Elaine (Alice Parkinson), travel to the Esa'ala Cave, an underwater

cave exploration Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is ...

site in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Josh's father, Frank (

), a master diver, has already established a forward base camp at a lower level inside the cave, where the team has been exploring for weeks. As Josh voices his disdain for his father and his opinions about cave exploration, the team below prepares to dive into an unexplored area of the system. While exploring the entrance to the new system, Judes ( Allison Cratchley) experiences a problem with her air tank hose. She loses use of her air mask forcing Frank to buddy breathe. After a few exchanges, Judes panics and tries to keep the mask on, but Frank forces the mask off of her knowing he will not have enough air otherwise to make it back to the team. As Judes drowns, Josh watches on a monitor at "forward camp" and presumes the worst of his father. In a struggle to determine who truly was responsible for her death, it is revealed by Frank that Judes had dived in an exhausted state since they previously had to retrieve the extra bailout tanks, a task Josh did not do. Meanwhile, their above-ground crew realises that a very big storm is preparing to hit their location sooner than anticipated. They attempt to warn the team below, but are unsuccessful. Josh expresses his desire to return to the surface and with communications down and an uncertain expedition in front of them, team leader Frank agrees to have his son return to the surface with a buddy climber ahead of them. While Josh climbs back towards the surface with Luko, Liz, and J.D, water begins rushing in from their exit. The storm they were trying to avoid had turned into a

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

, causing flash floods that begin to fill the cave. As J.D. and Liz make their way up through "the elevator" (an area leading up to the main entrance of the cave), Josh is unable to leave his father and the dive team behind to their doom and turns back, accompanied by Luko. As they are making their way back to "forward camp" they discover that Frank and the team have already evacuated their camp and are assisting Victoria as she climbs her way up and out of the cavern. Josh leaps in to help, strapping a rope around a nearby boulder and forming a belay for the team to escape. Unfortunately, the boulder begins to give way leaving Josh to hold Victoria's line and Luko to hold back the boulder. The water rushes through and forces Victoria and Josh to fall back down into the now flooded base camp. Luko is severely injured when the boulder breaks loose, sealing the shaft and throwing him back down into the cavern. He is swept into an underwater tunnel before the team can reach him. The team decides to use the unexplored tunnel as an escape route from the rapidly flooding cavern. Victoria, panicked and anxious, refuses to wear Jude's old wetsuit and is given a quick tutorial on how to dive. Before the team can leave, a severely injured and mutilated Luko surfaces in the cavern. Seeing that his friend is in great pain and near death, Frank mercifully drowns him. The team presses on and makes it through to the other side of the system. Without a wetsuit, Victoria suffers severely from the cold water. Meanwhile, George—an experienced, veteran diver—has become

ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

due to the dive and is dying unbeknownst to the rest of the team. After a short rest, the team continues through the system following the flow of water out towards the sea. George realises that he cannot continue and after sharing a few words with Josh relieves himself of his pack and hides himself so as not to burden the rest of the team. As the team marches on they arrive at a seemingly dead end. A great hole in the bottom of the cave separates them from the other side of their path. Josh uses his climbing expertise to fish a line across and begins to transfer their gear and each other. As Victoria begins to make her way across she catches her hair in her rope gear she is hung on and loses her grip, leaving her hair as the only thing holding her weight. Using her knife, she attempts to cut away the hair, but severs her rope and falls to her death. At the sight of Victoria's death, Carl becomes emotionally unstable. In a fit of panic, he steals the last remaining rebreather and disappears into the tunnel. Josh and Frank, however, find another way out through a crevasse in the cavern. The tunnel leads them to a sunlit cavern where an unidentified WWII Japanese tank collapsed through the surface years ago. Unfortunately, the hole in the middle of the roof where the tank fell is the only opening and they are unable to climb out. They spend the rest of the day there and proceed back into the cave by night. A little later they discover Carl whose state of mind has worsened considerably, having found Victoria's corpse. Carl attempts to murder Frank for Victoria's death but Josh separates the two and temporarily disables Carl. Frank, however, has been gravely injured having fallen on a

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...

which punctured his back. When Carl wakes, the gravity of his actions is realised and he solemnly disappears into the tunnel. In immense pain, Frank requests that Josh drown him. Josh reluctantly does so, and swims into the tunnel. A short distance in, he encounters Carl, who has already drowned looking for the exit. Just as he begins to lose hope, Josh discovers a way out through the cave to open ocean. He emerges from the water and crawls onto the beach, where he is discovered by fishermen.

Cast

as Frank McGuire *

as Carl Hurley *

as Joshua "Josh" McGuire * Alice Parkinson as Victoria "Vic" Elaine *

as George * Christopher James Baker as J.D. * Nicole Downs as Liz * Allison Cratchley as Judes * Cramer Cain as Luko *

Andrew Hansen Andrew John Hansen (born 18 September 1974) is an Australian comedian, musician and author, best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser. As a member of The Chaser, Hansen's television work includes co-writing and starring in ABC ...

as Dex * John Garvin as Jim Sergeant

Production

''Sanctum'' was inspired by the film's co-writer

's experience with a 1988

cave diving Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers or, as in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, other ...

expedition in Australia that resulted in 13 cavers becoming trapped in one of the world's largest underwater cave systems in

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

after a freak storm collapsed the entrance. That incident was documented in the film ''Nullarbor Dreaming''.

served as executive producer for ''Sanctum''. Even though the film's plot takes place in Esa'ala Cave, most of the film was shot in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

(

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

). ''Sanctum'' employs 3D photography techniques Cameron developed to film ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

''. All of the underwater sequences took place in a large water tank at the

Village Roadshow Studios Village Roadshow Studios are a set of film studios located in Oxenford, Queensland, Oxenford, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The studios are owned by Village Roadshow and consist of nine sound stages as well as a rang ...

in Queensland. Real caves were also filmed in South Australia's cave-diving region around

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

. Stunt diver Agnes Milowka, who appears as a double in the already-released film, drowned in one of these caves on 27 February 2011 when she reportedly ran out of air. In striking similarities to the movie script, she also left her spare tank behind, to force the way through the tight restriction, and it is actually her playing Judes' drowning scene.

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

and

Relativity Media Relativity Media is an American media company founded in 2004 by Lynwood Spinks and Ryan Kavanaugh. The company brokered film finance deals and later branched into film production and other entertainment ventures. The company was commercially s ...

paid $12 million for rights to distribute the film in the United States and Canada, and in several foreign countries.

Soundtrack

*"Rabaul Taun" – performed by Junior Kokoratts *"Maipope" – performed by Tusiti Roots *"Ride of the Valkyries" – performed by

Reception

Box office

''Sanctum'' opened with $9.2 million in its first weekend, coming in second behind ''

The Roommate ''The Roommate'' is a 2011 American psychological thriller film directed by Christian E. Christiansen and written by Sonny Mallhi. The film stars Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly, Cam Gigandet, Danneel Harris, Matt Lanter, and Aly Michalka. ''The ...

.'' As of March 2011, ''Sanctum'' was the tenth-highest-grossing Australian film at the international box office. The film also made $3.8 million at the Australian box office.

Critical response

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reports that 30% of 171 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "''Sanctum'' is beautifully photographed, and it makes better use of 3-D technology than most, but that doesn't make up for its ham-handed script and lifeless cast."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of C+ on an A+ to F scale. ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' Jim Schembri gave it 3½ stars out of 5 and said "the drama might be shallow but the visuals are great". The UK's ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' gave it 3 out of 5, writing: "The action doesn't quite conjure up the claustrophobic intensity you expect but the father-son-storyline is sufficiently muscular".

Awards

;Australian Cinematographers Society 2011 ;Australian Film Institute 2012

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