Should Be Damned By The National Speleological Society!

Rating: 7/10 (15 April 2009)

I've had some minor problems in the past with horror films in which the bulk of the action transpires mainly in the dark, or in which the monsters go largely unseen (even in such classic entertainments as "Alien" and "It's Alive"), and so sat down to watch 2005's "The Descent" with some degree of trepidation, despite its great rep. And it turns out that my qualms were justified, but not enough to matter. In the film, a sextet of sexy and spunky spelunkers--significantly, all semisuperwomen--explores an undiscovered cave system in North Carolina's Appalachians, becomes trapped after a cave-in, and encounters some truly ferocious underground dwellers. Though not a sufferer of claustrophobia, I have had many nightmares in which I am crawling through a very tight space underground (Freudians, make of this what you will!), and this film really does capture the frightfulness of those dreams. The monsters themselves ("Crawlers," the filmmakers call them, in one of this DVD's many extras)--though perforce only seen dimly and in flashes, for the most part, as I suspected--are a truly horrifying bunch. Humanoid, albino and vaguely batlike, they make a catastrophic situation enter the realm of the surreal. As it turned out, my only real problem with "The Descent" was the fact that it's very hard to differentiate between the six gals once they strap on helmets and start crawling around in the dark, although a repeat viewing did admittedly clarify things a good deal for me. I felt as if I'd been put through a wringer by the film's end, actually, which I suppose is high praise for even the murkiest of horror films. And I would imagine that this picture would be as welcomed by feminists for its depiction of sisters sticking together as it would be damned by the National Speleological Society! "The Descent" will certainly not be drawing in new converts to the sport of caving, that's for sure; another indication of its power and effectiveness!