The Descent

Finally, a horror movie worth getting excited about. Movie audiences have been waiting 6 longs years since they were scared shitless during The Blair Witch Project for another movie to come along and terrify them. But now we have The Descent, what is surely a classic in the making, and a nice resurge to a once-great, but now creatively-dying genre.

Right from the get-go, Neil Marshall (the director) wants you to know that this is one scary-ass movie. A group of friends' idyllic camping trip comes to a devastating finish when Sara (Shauna McDonald, who bears an eerie resemblance to Tilda Swinton), along with her husband and her daughter get into a startling car accident. Sara is the only survivor. But a year later, she's ready to have some fun again with all her girlfriends and they venture out on a caving expedition in the middle of nowhere.

All six of the characters are well-drawn and well-performed, and we actually get some group dynamics going and development with the characters' relationships as we go along. Imagine that! A horror movies with real characters - definitely not something you see on a regular basis. I know that may sound a little lame when reviewing a horror movie. "Who gives a fuck?! How much BLOOD is there?" the average scary-movie-lovin' citizen may want to know. And there's a whole lot of blood and guts in The Descent, don't worry. But what makes it truly great is the way it kind of transcends the boundaries of all the slasher-movies of late.

Almost as soon as the women enter the cave, we're given a sense of claustrophobia. It's enough to make anyone with a weak stomach feel a bit queasy. As the women go deeper and deeper into the cave and get themselves into trickier situations, the fear of being so enclosed and helpless really overhelms. And then, in a single moment of such pure terror that I literally almost started to cry, we're introduced to the abundant cave-dwelling species of "Crawlers", who then proceed in attacking and tearing apart a few of the lovely ladies - but not without a fight of course.



The tension and fright-meter just continues to build and build and build and refuses to let go until the bitter end. And I don't think enough movies are brave enough to have conclusions as ambiguous and haunting as The Descent's, but they should. It goes off on a high note, and the movie feels all that much more rewarding for not having a happy ending.

Grade: A-