a fantastic horror film!

Rating: 10/10 (6 November 2014)

The Descent follows a group of women who go spelunking in an uncharted cave system in the Appalachian Mountains. As they are crawling through the tunnels, the cave collapses leaving them trapped and soon to realize that they are not alone down there. The Descent is not particularly groundbreaking or original in regards to the plot, but it is executed with such perfection and contains all the elements essential to creating tension, suspense, and scariness.
The Descent does an amazing job creating a pervasive feeling of dread, terror, and hopelessness that lingers through the entire movie's run-time, and giving you no time to catch your breath or relax. It is a non-stop thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat with your eyes glued to the screen.
In addition to a substantial amount of violence, blood, gore, and disturbing imagery, there is also a great amount of psychological tension including but not limited to: claustrophobia, nyctophilia, the feeling of being lost, isolation, hopelessness and internal conflict between characters.The characters are well-developed and interesting. They are not the disposable slasher movie teen idiots put on the screen simply to die; they are actually deeply crafted with varying personalities and the audience wants them to survive. The tension and chemistry between them helps to build an element of deep human drama that usually is not present in a movie such as this. This is all heavily supported by the great performances by the entire cast.
The Descent uses so many great techniques to make it as intense and scary as possible.For example, the reveal of the monsters is from a shaky found footage perspective that puts you in the moment. Now a days there are entire movies that are found footage, but the Descent only made that one particular scene found footage and it was executed to perfection. The camera-work, lighting, music, sound effects, and special/practical effects all combine to create an effectively creepy atmosphere.
In conclusion, the Descent is a horror-masterpiece that does everything right and is a must-see for any and all horror fans.
It should also be noted that this movie has two endings, the unrated and the US cut version. I HIGHLY prefer the unrated version and I would strongly suggest watching that instead of the US cut.