One Out Of Ten

Rating: Null/10 (9 February 2006)

Horror movies are a difficult genre. A brief look at the latest 100 will discover no more than 10 good ones. Even action movies have a higher quality rate. Maybe the reason is that horror movies can be boring very quickly. You may prefer the subtle creepy psycho approach or the bloody slasher style, you may go for some absurd over-the-top excitement or the dead serious close-up mess. Either way, you will agree that a good horror movie must be scary. Anything else is comedy, satire, trash - or a bad horror movie.
In The Descent, six sporty spice girlfriends meet for some exciting caving adventure, only to encounter weired opponents in a bloody fight for survival. The choice of claustrophobic dark grottoes and tunnels may help, but the big screen is merciless when it comes to clumsy lights and plastered rock. Harder screaming or faster editing can't save it. In "The Descent", however, production design, sound department and direction succeed in transforming a big bunch of very similar studio takes into a credible outdoor expedition. It looks like the real thing and that's a big achievement. You are also treated to a fair amount of gore, decent acting and there are references to film history classics like Deliverance, Alien, Predator or Apocalypse Now. On top of that, there is an intelligent twist to Sarah's descent into madness.
It's a pity that Neil Marshall was not able to build some more interesting conflict development between the main characters. Some inventive problem solving skills or fighting sequences would have been nice as well but it is all quiet on this front . There is nothing really interesting about the crawlers either and the weak explanation of their existence is quite stupid. But then again  logic sucks, there was just no gear to go MacGyver and who has time for psychological drama when you got some ugly flesh eating demons on your back.
Neil Marshall sticks to pumping the dark and sinister setting iron to the very end and that is an acceptable decision. So you can invite yourself for a well made, good looking horror movie with a scary tone and a good sound. Not easy to find, these days.