The Descent
Directed by Neil Marshall
Rated R: for strong violence/gore and language
By Erik McClanahan
Neil Marshall’s The Descent is the most pleasant surprise amongst a summer laden with been there, done that blockbusters. It also serves as yet another low-budget counterpoint from maverick film studio Lionsgate in the horror film department.
Moviegoers sick and tired of being spoon-fed uninspired remakes of past horror films—everything from the classic shockers of the seventies (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Omen, The Hills Have Eyes) to the not-so-good horror titles of the same decade (The Amityville Horror and When a Stranger Calls), and let us not forget Hollywood’s current predilection with remaking every good Asian horror film of the last decade (The Ring, The Ring 2, The Grudge and Pulse)—will be frightened and overjoyed with The Descent as it is the most original, visceral horror film of the year.
Ok, it’s not entirely original. Writer/director Marshall borrows from Ridley Scott’s Alien, the low-budget, handheld video look of Blair Witch Project and from Danny Boyle’s apocalyptic 28 Days Later, but that’s fine as he takes ideas from those films and makes them entirely his own. The British-born Marshall (whose other credit includes 2002’s werewolf movie Dog Soldiers) shows a genuine passion for the genre as he packs a lot of scares, and a lot of gore, into The Descent’s brisk 99 minute running time.
The film starts out with a seemingly harmless prologue as we open on a river where a father and his daughter are watching three women partake in some white water rafting. As they finish their run, we find out this is Sarah’s (Shauna Macdonald) family watching them. Sarah’s two friends are thrill-seeker Juno (Natalie Mendoza) and her best mate Beth (Alex Reid). A few minutes into the movie Marshall drops a subtle, but noticeable hint to the nature of Sarah’s marriage and her friend Juno.
From there we see Sarah, her husband Paul and their daughter Jessica riding in their comfortable SUV. Nothing prepares you for what happens next, suffice to say a tragedy ensues, and it is at this moment in the film—not even five minutes in to the story—where the audience will realize they are in for a nasty ride.
A year passes by, and Sarah meets her friends in the Appalachians for some spelunking and soul-healing. Juno has planned a cave-diving expedition for Sarah, Beth and three other unfortunate women. Marshall’s use of an all-female cast marks a truly original horror concept (All these women are badass, extreme sport-loving, and they can defend themselves as we find out throughout the film).
Once the six women descend into the depths, the horror gets turned up to eleven and the audience rarely has a chance to breath. Anyone with claustrophobia issues may find some sections of the story too hard too watch as the protagonists burrow through narrow, dank, and pitch black crawl spaces. Anyone with a fear of the dark may also be troubled by Marshall’s use of low lighting and dark caves that had me looking for the next scare in every inch of the screen.
Then the real terror shows up. That’s right; these women are not alone down there. The crawlers (as they are called) are a breed of humanoid, flesh-eating, cave-dwelling monsters that have evolved to live in the dark depths of the earth. The first appearance of the crawlers is extremely frightening (even if you’ve seen the trailer) and the intensity never lets up as the women are trapped, stalked, and eaten by the predators.
The Descent has a minor flaw in this American release (the film was released in the summer of 2005 in the UK). The ending was tweaked to make for a happier conclusion here. It doesn’t ruin the film by any means, but it does make Sarah’s haunting dream sequences feel out of place and illogical. Do yourself a favor and go to this link to see the UK ending as Marshall intended: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3xJgAj8HbVs after seeing the film. Judge for yourself, but this ending would have made the movie much better and more complete.
It is great to see Lionsgate putting so much effort into making original, low-budget horror. Within the genre, a small budget usually makes for a better horror film—as has been the case with the recent Lionsgate releases Saw, Hostel and Rob Zombie’s fantastic film The Devil’s Rejects. The same goes for The Descent, even with some shoddy special effects and somewhat lifeless acting, this film is far and away better than the average horror film put out by Hollywood.
The Descent is the second best film to come out this summer, next to Richard Linklater’s drug-induced, rotoscoping masterpiece A Scanner Darkly. If horror films are not your cup of tea then this might not be for you, but if you are sick of the boring onslaught of run-of-the-mill blockbusters this summer has provided, check it out. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though.
HDFEST grading scale
-The Descent-
Story B+
Acting C+
Visuals B+
Originality B
Enjoyability A
Overall Grade B+
|
