I know the words gritty and real are bandied about far too often when it comes to movies, but The Descent earns them like honour badges. There is plenty of grit and also a fair amount of dust too. The killing cave is littered with an impressive emporium of animal pieces and the pool scene is downright filthy (you can't miss it). A seriously yukky injury is seen in gory realism and sees the audience clutching plaintitively at their own limbs. Very cool. Yeah, you see blood and other assorted bits of human/creature that are normally kept inside, but they're the condiments to the terror, not the main course like too many modern thrillers.
The pace of the film is a masterpiece - writer-director Neil Marshall absolutely nailed the slow-burn, punctuating the build up with enough satisfying jumps to justify staying for the absolute clusterfuck of the final act. I chose this film knowing that a) it had been well-reviewed b) Marshall's Dog Soldiers was another on the list for my portfolio and c) the poster (seen left) always freaked me out on my visits to the video store as a primary school age kid - like, totally freaked me out. It's a brilliant homage to Dali and totally evokes the raw feel of the movie.
When Shauna McDonald's Sarah loses her husband and young child in a freak 'pipe through the head combined with vehicular accident' accident, her and her thrill-seeking friends kind of drift away from each other socially. However Natalie Mendoza's Juno organises a get together in the glorious Appalachian Mountains and they begin the descent (see what I did there?) into a cave system. But shock horror - it's a different system... Silly Juno. When they get trapped and no one knows that they're there, they have to go deeper into the dark to have any chance of escape. But then they're not alone... who'd have seen that coming? Shit gets real. Quickly.
The sets are fantastic. Having recently seen that the production reused a limited number of caves sets with various added trimmings and angles to develop differences, I have developed the utmost respect for production designer Simon Bowles. The rock walls (actually a special polyurethane) glisten and seem to close in around our all female cast with ferocious intensity. Jagged edges and kind of phallic imagery abound with stalagmites and razor ridges around every corner. The cave is itself another character, and its arguably the scariest villain in this movie.
While on the subject of characters, this film is set apart from most others by its cast - a horror flick populated purely by women? What would the 1800's say? In a genre dominated by mixed sex teenage casts getting sliced up, Marshall's bold vision is brilliantly realised. They're all very different characters, and while their assorted accents seem like tacky differentiation, they are helpful in telling them apart (who invited the Swede?). Their motives are very genuine, their emotions are real and the tension that develops between them is catalysed by what we see and know - there's no need to suspend disbelief on that front. WARNING: SPOILERS IN THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH - SKIP IF YOU WANT TO CATCH THIS MOVIE LATER. The catharsis that occurs when - having found out Juno was slutting it up with her hubby before his untimely demise - Sarah severely wounds her and leaves her behind to appease the creatures' appetites is fucking amazing. A lesser film would have let Juno 'sacrifice' herself in recognition of the wrongs she has perpetrated against Sarah, but Marshall has none of it. He flips off any sense of honour and decency in favour for true human nature, the petty, primitive urge of self-preservation, revenge and fury. It's a mind-blowing cocktail, and the absolute mindfuck of an ending is a continuation of this take no prisoners approach to horror: when the lights come up, there is no hope left (make sure you get the UK version, not the edited US release).
The creature design (that's not a spoiler, you already guessed that there were cave beasts down there...) is an exercise in minimalism that works - you don't see much of them but when you do, their movement, look and sounds are super spooky. The first reveal with the light of a torch beam is 'blink and you'll miss it' but sends cascades of shivers up and down and around your back. The first full frontal shot is simply breathtaking - the green of a night vision camera layered with the plaintive pleas for help from one of the girls combine to produce possibly the must explosive expletives I've yet uttered e.g. 'holy fuck...' Carrying on from this point, the lighting is superb. The cinematographer does justice to the caves' design, and the inky blacks cloud the vision of the viewer almost constantly - you're in there with our protagonists and the reliance on the natural on-screen lighting induces so many suppressed emotions you haven't felt since you were a kid, primarily a consuming phobia of darkness.
The score surprised me. I expected a reliance on silence like Blair Witch, but I was gifted a classic orchestral backing that enhanced the thrills served up. But don't get me wrong, silence is used often and to great effect once a particular plot point concerning the creatures' evolution comes to light. The sweeping efforts of David Julyan add grandeur to the beautiful vistas lensed before heading underground, and continued to strike up awe in the impressive cave system.
My good friend and fellow horror viewer Esteban (an international student from Peru at my college...loose) will now be delivering his two cents, and DJ Cheeky Wingz will also be making his return.
Esteban's input:
Hello internet population!
My name is Esteban and I am at the same colleges as Callie! Excuse my not very good English, for I am still learning the language somewhat!
Now, whenever I am not drinking beers and hanging out with my cool friends, I like to join my new pal for some movie watching. Even though I like all types of film, Callie, that fun guy, always likes the scary films! I sometimes scare a lot! But, it’s all fun, hey guys?
When my friend started his B-LOG, I thought I’d give him helps, to improve my English and make some new fellows, why not? So here we go it!
The Descent
I was extremely scared in this film! It was very harrowing for the first part of the movie, and just got even better scary following. My favourite bit happened when the seedy man-figure stood behind the girl and made a face. I made much of a reaction, in fear. I also thought the caves were really life-like and dark. The men who built them should have been great at arts and crafts. My favourite character was the girl who climbed across the gap because she was very plucky and intrepid. It was not a mediocre movie.
I give it 4/5 thumbs up! Very good job guys at the studio!
DJ Cheeky Wingz's input:
This movie was really quite good. I had an urge to make love to this movie but my good friends did not let me, however sometimes in my dreams i still think about it. This movie would be really quite funny in places. Don't let the title scare you away. I would recommend this film to anyone who has recently been on holidays or if you have never kissed the lips of a dead animal. All in all, it's quite a good film but it does have the tendency to stray away from the main plot and in turn the palms of the directors hands consume the whole screen but for me I loved this part of the film. xo.
All up, this is a very effective production. To get this kind of product out of a relatively small budget is a job well done, and with its fresh take on the horror genre with the all-female cast and overwhelming darkness it's no surprise that it ended up well ahead at the box office. The Descent has earned itself a pretty solid $57,051,053 at the box office, and in from me it has earned a phenomenal 15 out of 17. While Marshall's recent two productions have left many disappointed, I firmly hope that the announced upcoming film Burst 3D (under Sam friggin' Raimi's production no less!) can pull his talents for horror back into the frame.
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