Good, but best horror-suspense movie since Alien? Hmmm

Rating: 7/10 (5 August 2006)

After seeing the reviews on Rotton Tomatoes for The Descent, I was pretty excited to check it out. After all, any movie touted as the best horror/suspense movie since Alien will definitely get my attention. I can't remember the last time I was so excited for a horror movie.
So was it that good? Well it wasn't bad, but I was a little disappointed. The first hour relies on typical, cookie-cutter formulas to extract jumps out of the audience. The character development, however, was pretty good. Once in the cave, things got better, but still, what was all the hype about? The action sequences were edited too quickly, but the feeling of claustrophobia was superb. It was hard to tell who was attacking who at times. That alone was the biggest disappointment on The Descent. If the camera kept a little more still on the sequence at hand, it may have faired better in my eyes. The actresses were pretty good, especially for unknowns, but was I scared? No, not really. And the ending left a lot to be desired. I hear the original British ending was better. I guess I need to wait until the DVD to see that. Not a bad movie by any sense of the word, but an excellent horror/suspense movie? Well.....