Maybe the only good horror movie since 2000...

Rating: 8/10 (9 October 2005)

...so that's enough for a little praise, isn't it? Don't get me wrong, this movie is not a masterpiece, but I'm pretty sure it'll be a tiny little classic 10 years after now. It has a lot of the elements that make a movie memorable, and a couple of shots that stick with you. The reason it is a step above the awfully mediocre horror films from the last years is the same reason that "Dog Soldiers" (Neil Marshall previous film) got a similar response: both films have a heart. They're not products ready for consumption. They are the vision of somebody. Let me explain its virtues and its failures.
For the first hour, the film is sort of atmospheric. it's cleverly claustrophobic, dark when needed and has the edge few other horror movies have. To cut it short: it is what "The Blair Witch Project" should have been instead 3 guys arguing in the daylight for 70 minutes. The characters, despite some corny dialogue and with the exception of the angry-rebel-youngster-by-the-numbers, and maybe Juno, are not paper thin. Nobody is free of guilt and nobody is a straight bad girl. They are human. Maybe they share teen conversations, but they're human. Maybe their choices are dumb at times, but most of them are even credible.
So this is how the movie goes in its first 60 minutes: well developed tension, some reasonable gore, and a feeling of abandon and menace. Then its little failures flourish: cannibals are shown too clearly, making their sight a lot less shocking, even familiar, towards the end of the film; action kills the atmosphere (just re-watch "Alien" in order to learn how not to do that) and the movie takes a turn to blood & action which would have nearly spoiled the movie hadn't it been for the highly stylistic shots and the gorgeous use of color. Both aspects do not only redeem the film last 30 minutes, but add something different. Despite being cinematically less compelling than the first hour.
One more thing. 'The Descent' has the highest jump-in-the-seat rating in recent memory.
RATING: 8.2