A symbolic Descent into madness

Rating: 9/10 (13 May 2006)

EDIT: There are no real "spoilers" in this review, but apparently someone reported me for it, so I hang my head in shame... and contempt.
British director Neil Marshall delivers a fantastic, chilling and symbolic horror movie that was critically acclaimed when it hit cinemas in the UK. The Descent (2005) can be seen as the reinvention of his 2002 werewolf horror movie Dog Soldiers. As opposed to the six male protagonists in that film, here Marshall lets us follow a group of six 20-something women. He has also changed setting to something that never ceases being frightening or unpleasant: a cave. In short, he has updated, amended and reinvented his last work and the outcome is something magnificent.
There's a tense and distinctly uncomfortable build-up in The Descent that culminates in something not-so-typical for a horror movie which throws us off-guard, namely a brutal car-crash that sets the tone for what is to come. The accident also destroys a family. In order to try to get past this tragedy, and overcome the death of her daughter, Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) agrees to reunite with her girlfriends on a cave-diving adventure in the wilderness.
The climbing goes well until it turns out that the pragmatic "tough-chick" leader of the cave expedition, Juno (Natalie Jackson Mendoza), has taken the girls to an unexplored cave system to satisfy her own adrenaline needs. The trouble is, the system caves in and the six girls become trapped with each other in a place that no one even knows about. Well, almost no one.
While the observant viewer can find foreshadowing devices in The Descent, it is never clear just what faces the girls down in the caves until we see it up-front and, when we do, it's a harsh slap in the face. The lurking threat is chilling to the point of setting an almost unbearably creepy atmosphere and eerie mood.
Conflicts inevitably arise between the girls as they're left to try to escape and we quickly anticipate a clash between the pragmatic June who brought them there in the first place and the fragile Sarah. What I love about this is that the characters do not fall prey to predictable petty arguments like in most horror films, but instead we see an unavoidable clash between the natures of the main characters that was just bubbling to come up. Their histories and personalities just wouldn't allowed them to get along. The other characters are compelling and easy to follow.
The Descent is not only about descending down caves and battling something ominous, although this part was of course extremely well-crafted and takes care of our primal fear. But it also refers to a descent into madness as the main character Sarah struggles to overcome tragedies in her life, but seems only to descend further into desperation as her situation worsens. The dire circumstances lead to some interesting and surprisingly advanced character development on her part, but also in the other girls.
I found the environment of The Descent to be completely flawless. I genuinely can't think of anything scarier or more effective for this movie. The gloomy, damp, maze-like caves play host to some truly frightening things, both physically and psychologically. To top it all off, rest assured that Marshall never shies away from giving us some good splatter-action.
Survive if you can.