Film Review: The Descent

[diebitter]

The Descent



The Descent is a British horror movie, made by Neil Marshall, director of 'Dog Soldiers' (which I've previously reviewed here ), that involves a group of young(ish) ladies who like adventure breaks deciding to go caving in the Appalachians. One has suffered a personal tragedy and seems to be trying to forget it, whilst another seems to have something to prove, and takes them all, without their knowledge, into an entirely new and unexplored cave system. Once in the caves, their entrance is blocked so they must go on through the system, claustrophobic though it is, in an attempt to get out before their lights fade or they starve.

Bad though this is, it gets a whole lot worse once they realise something very, very nasty is in there with them...


This is a terrific little horror movie. The setting is inherently claustrophobic and scary, and given ladies wandering around in the dark in little groups, scared, with their lights barely penetrating the gloom, it's tense all the way. The women are sometimes hard to distinguish, but the director makes good unobtrusive use of different-coloured lights to help us realise what group we're watching as they move through the caves, and as the film goes, it makes excellent use of what Stephen King identified as the three elements that can go into horror; suspense (moving through dark, dark caves), terror (BAM! Something jumps out) and flat-out gore and brutality to make the whole thing proceed nicely. These women are scared and at times panicing, but you can't call them victims, as they fight back against the menace they face, whilst they are slowly picked off. It's like a Ripley-Fest!

The film also makes good use of mixing music/sound effects so they become intermingled. Very nice.


This is definitely worth seeing if you are a horror buff, an my only complaint is I really didn't like the final scene, it just wasn't necessary. But I won't spoil it...


I wouldn't watch this just before bedtime, BTW.


Neil Marshall is a director to watch, I'd say.



OVERALL: 3
REWATCHABILITY: Once or twice a year. Suitable for older teens up, but be aware lots of graphic violence and pretty scary stuff.

RATINGS (out of 5):
0 - This is a complete waste of time, and you will regret wasting it
1 - don't bother unless no other options at all
2 - okay for a single watch, if you've got time
3 - Definite watch if you get a chance
4 - See it very soon, at least once before you die
5 - See it immediately, no excuses

[Enrique]

I thought the movie was very good too.
When I saw the rating 3 out of 5 I thought it was harsh, but then I read what the 3 meant, and it certainly was under 4 status. I guess it is just the rating not being linear which makes it hard to grasp that 3 out of 5 does not mean mediocre.

[Dominic]

i meant to see this when it was released here but i never got around to it...i'll be waiting for it on cable...

[Buckmulligan]

my personal best filmgoing experience. not the best movie i have ever seen, but the most fun i've ever had at the cinema.

[Slow Play Ray]

Wow, I'm somewhat surprised you liked this movie so much - personally, I hated it. It was laughably bad, both acting and plot. A horror buff I am not, but I suppose I can see the appeal for those of you who are.

Anyway, I heard there are 2 different endings - one for the US and one for the UK, so I assume you are referring to the UK ending? See here for the difference (spoilers, obviously):

http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/descent.html

[diebitter]

I didn't know there were 2 endings!


Yes, I didn't like the UK ending. The US Ending is a little better, but an old horror cliche these days.

[Slow Play Ray]

[ QUOTE ]
I didn't know there were 2 endings!


Yes, I didn't like the UK ending. The US Ending is a little better, but an old horror cliche these days.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. I don't think I would have liked the UK ending either - at that point all I could think was "oh, come ON" every 30 seconds or so.

[Enrique]

[ QUOTE ]
I didn't know there were 2 endings!


Yes, I didn't like the UK ending. The US Ending is a little better, but an old horror cliche these days.

[/ QUOTE ]

After reading the UK ending it sounded much better in my opinion. The idea that her fear and madness led her to believe that she was outside when she wasn't sounds cool.

[Dominic]

okay, I finally saw this...it was on pay-per-view.

***some spoilers***

I liked it. It had some really creepy moments before the [censored] hits the fan. The first time Sarah sees a crawler and it scampers off really creeped me out - I think because I had no idea what kind of creature it was going to be, so the fact that it was humanoid was very surprising.

I liked how subtle all the foreshadowing was: Juno's flightiness in the face of real trouble, Sarah's descent into madness as shown by her dreams and her hearing children laughing in the cave, etc.

It was a little hard to distinguish who was who at times - I thought it was Sam who Juno killed for a while - but it all made sense.

Pretty brutal film; the violence - once it starts - doesn't stop and is nerve-wracking as hell.

And for the record, I saw the UK ending - if it had stopped where the US version did, I'd have been damn disappointed. It would've made no sense. Sarah waking up - just like she did a few other times in the film - made for a perfect, if bleak ending.

good flick.

[colgin]

I saw this movie on DVD last weekend while my wife was out of town. I had read that it was one of the better horror movies in recent years and I agree. I appreciated the long set-up and enjoyed the psychological tension (horror) that takes place pre-monsters a t least as much as what goes down after. I mean, at the end fo the day, I am not really scared by monsters I know do not exist (although I love seeing them in films nonetheless); but the idea of being trapped in a cave and lost (which is quite possible) is truly terrifying to me.

** Ending spoliers below **
The DVD has the U.K. ending. There is a DVD extra with Neil Marshall discussing the differences between the two and how he wanted this really bleak ending but thatthe shortened somewhat hopeful ending tested better in the U.S. and the studio went with that one. I can see his point on the one hand and there is a certain integrity to the darkness of it (as well as consistyency, I mean no way is anyone getting out of that cave with all the monsters). Notwithstanding that I kind of subscribe to the cliche of horror movies that someone should survive, even if the killer/monster/whatever isn't really totally vanquished. This is not so much to have a happy ending as to avi a "what was the point of watching and rooting for those people" if nobody makes it. For example, I would have hated the ending of "Cube" if at least ome person did not ostensibly make it out.

All in all though, a very good horror/mood piece.