In The Descent Every
Imaginable Fear Associated with Caving is Addressed.
The
Descent also makes sure that any fears you have of
enclosed spaces (or vicious monsters for that matter) are exploited and
shoved down your throat.
Watching
this horror movie frees me to never (thankfully) need to
personally go into a cave.
Directed
by: Neil Marshall Written by: Neil Marshall
Starring:
Shauna Macdonald as Sarah Natalie Jackson
Mendoza as Juno Alex Reid as Beth Saskia Mulder
as Rebecca MyAnna Buring as Sam Nora-Jane Noone as Holly
I have a friend, Matt,
that is a self-proclaimed
“caver”. An adventure junkie to
the extreme, Matt never passes up an opportunity to don his adventure
gear and enter into impossibly small spaces, where he then must crawl
on his hands and knees for miles (literally) so that he can look at the
rock formations before emerging from the other side of the cave with a sense
of victory and accomplishment. Matt says that caving is one
of the most incredible experiences a person can have.
Well, he can have it.
The very thought of climbing
down into a passage almost too narrow for my body, crawling with my face
in the mud hoping that I won’t get stuck and
spending the entire outing worrying that either the cave will collapse
or that there is some kind of man eating animal
down there that won’t enjoy my intrusion is just,
let’s say, not appealing.
So, instead, I went to
see the horror movie The Descent at the sneak
preview hosted by Fangoria magazine. Typically Best-Horror-Movies.com
focuses on movies already out on DVD in the United States, but the hype
around this one got the best of me.
The Descent begins by introducing the main
characters, a group of longtime female friends that are all highly
athletic and adventurous. Every year this group gets together for an
“adventure vacation”.
Caving is on the menu for this particular trip, and
the expedition begins well enough. Then, one disaster after another
strikes and our heroines are left fighting for a way out of the cavernous
tomb, and later for their lives against the indigenous life
that dwells two miles beneath the earth.
The
Descent does an amazing job as a horror movie on a number of
levels. First is in the characters that lower themselves into the
earthly menace. With six characters to keep track of the chances for
ultra-poor character development is high – but The
Descenttreats us to characters that are
believable and complex. The acting is good and there isn’t a weak
link in the bunch.
The caving sequences are extremely well done, and while watching the laborious
climb the sense of claustrophobia is strong. It completely creeped
me out just to watch the trek, worrying the entire time that
the worst might happen – and when it does it is even more
unsettling than I thought it would be. I was squirming in my chair and
moaning out loud (resulting in laughter from the row behind me) and
couldn’t wait for it to be over – while at the same
time relishing the racing of my heart.
The monsters in The Descent are great – horrible
and menacing without being over the top. It is very
believable that such creatures could indeed dwell in the dank
underworld of our National forests.
Finally, The
Descent contains storyline twists and turns, gratuitous
scares and jump factors of sudden and unexpected happenings (several of
which earned a “yell out loud”
from me) and the surfacing of hidden secrets and agendas as the
adventurers sink deeper and deeper into the earth. Elements of justice
and revenge play well here also, but as we have learned
through so many horror flicks before, revenge has its price.
The Descent is not for the horror movie beginner.
If, however, you ARE a beginner and you want to prove to your friends
that you can tough it out, then go ahead and jump right in where the
big boys (and girls) play and see this movie. For the Horror Freaks out
there,The Descent will bring you to a gleeful
fright-space. The Descent is not as good
as the classic Alien (to which this movie has been
compared), but if you loved that one then you’ll likely enjoy
this one too.
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