Top Notch Horror film is one of the best of the past 15 years

Rating: 10/10 (23 February 2014)

The intense and shocking opening scene of "The Descent" Shows the bloody demise of main character Sarah's (Macdonald) Husband and young daughter in a tragic car accident. A year later, Sarah's all girl friends group reunite in hopes of bringing Sarah out of her shell. The thrill seeking group adventures into an underground cave and tunnel system that Juno (Mendoza) has set up to explore. Juno doesn't tell the group that she changed sites on them and didn't bring a map for the greater thrill. After a slight cave in the group is lost and stranded with only themselves and their rock climbing equipment to find a way out of the caves. The group start seeing unsettling sings that others have been in the cave and have never come back out along with human bones sprayed everywhere. A few of them keep hearing sounds of things moving in the dark around them until they are confronted by a human form creature that looks like a bat. White, blind and hideous the creature shockingly pounces on one of the members and the nightmare has begun. Writer/Director Neil Marshall unleashes his version of hell on both his characters and the audience. The truly horrifying Crawlers begin to pursue the girls and it turns out there are many of them. This disorienting movie consistently keeps you off balance and engaged throughout. Once the crawlers are brought in and revealed, Marshall uses every classic and stylish trick in the book to get as many hair raising moments, jump scares and bloody mayhem as can and boy does he deliver. This is an unrelenting thrill and scare show that forces you to travel its nightmarish road. Never becoming exploitative or cruel, 'The Descent' maintains a highly entertaining path while dragging you through the terror. Bloody, nasty and downright scary on every level, this is Neil Marshall's masterpiece and should be considered a classic for years to come.