A grisly and gripping horror movie, The Descent follows six friends on a
hellish trip underground. Arranged to help Sarah (Shona Macdonald) overcome
personal tragedy, the caving expedition goes awry when they're trapped in
the dark and realise they're not alone. What unfolds plays like Aliens meets
Deliverance, with the action bloody, brutal and relentless. Dog Soldiers
director Neil Marshall grabs the audience by the throat and just won't let go.
This movie plays on every primal fear: of darkness, claustrophobia, deformity,
drowning and, um, being ripped limb from bloody limb by creatures with very
pointy teeth. Dog Soldiers was playfully gory. This is a much darker, more
intense horror affair.
"AN AIR OF MENACE THAT NEVER LETS UP"
From early on, the film unsettles. The impactful opening proves anything can
happen. But where many
modern horror movies, afraid of
boring the audience, splurge their money shots straight away, The Descent takes its own sweet time, with an air of
menace that never lets up. Perhaps there are one too many "it's only a
cat"-style jumps, but this pays off brilliantly in the picture's most
horrifying scene, when Juno (Natalie Mendoza) is scrapping with the
‘crawlers'.
Scrambling around the dark caves and tunnels, the cast nails the atmosphere
of fear and panic. All impress, but Mendoza is a standout, giving her
ambiguous character nuance. Macdonald, tasked with giving the butchery
real-world emotion, is also excellent; like a young Sissy Spacek, with added sex
appeal. She provides genuine sorrow amid the scares of the horror film of
the year.
The Descent (2005)
