One of the Best Horror Films of the Past Decade That Will Make You Never Want To Go in a Cave Again

Rating: 7/10 (14 November 2010)

The horror film The Descent is written and directed by Neil Marshall and stars Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, and Alex Reid. The film takes place in modern day and mostly in a cavern.
Sarah's (Macdonald) husband and daughter died tragically in a car accident on the way home from a river kayaking trip with some other friends. A year later when Sarah is more stable her group of friends decide to go on an adventure like they used to so she could feel better and pretend things are back to normal. The group decides to go on a caving decision and Juno (Mendoza) does not tell anyone that the cave that they are going to had never been explored. Juno did this so that they can name the cave after Sarah. While exploring the cave it begins to fall in and the group becomes trapped inside. If that isn't scary enough they are being tracked by murderous monsters...
Neil Marshall's screenplay is solid even though I have a few problems with it. What makes most horror movies great is the characterization in them. In this though all the characters are one dimensional, even Sarah. All I really know about Sarah is that her family was killed in a car accident and that makes her sad. But that is more than I know about the other characters. I did like though the idea of being isolated in a cave, that can be a horror movie on its own. But to be followed by monsters who try to kill you? That is just another layer of horror. The end of this film is brilliant as well and Neil Marshall should be proud of writing one of the best horror films of the past decade. Make sure if you watch this you watch the original uncut version though not the American one.
The direction of this film by Neil Marshall was perfect for a horror film as well. Those shots in the cave where Holly was squeezing through the walls were just perfect to let the viewer know just how isolated they were. Marshall I guess got good performances out of his actors even though I never really knew them. The scares in the film were all basically jump scares nothing to keep you unable to sleep that night, even though there is a lot of psychological things you could be scared of during this film.
The acting in this film was mediocre, nothing to write home about. It wasn't really that any of the actors gave bad performances it was just that there was not enough character for them to act off of. No one was by any means bad and everyone was believable when they were scared it was just no sense of character, so I cannot really judge it.
Overall I give this film a 7/10 because it is a very effective horror film. If there was thirty minutes of the girls all in the cabin talking so the audience could get more of a sense of who they are I would probably have given this an 8/10. But my major complaint with this film is the lack of characterization so that is why I give it what I give it. If you like horror films you should definitely see this, especially ones when people are trapped in dark places with monsters lurching around all over the place.