Tunnel Rats!

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2020)

Neil Marshall follows his equally good variant on the werewolf theme, Dog Soldiers, with The Descent. This all female lead cast movie, follows six women who, having entered a cave system, struggle to survive against the humanoid creatures living inside. The beauty of the film is that whilst attempting to survive the cannibalistic monsters, the women also find themselves hamstrung by the impetuous actions of one of their own. It's a good story, which Marshall chooses to primarily film through the perspective of Sarah (Shauna Macdonald), who a year previously, tragically lost her husband and daughter in a rather horrid car accident. Thus the ostensible premise behind the spelunking expedition in the Appalachin Mountains; to assist the damaged Sarah to regain at least part of her adventurous mojo, which we see on display in an exciting white-water rafting sequence in the opening scenes.
Marshall assembles a cosmopolitan cast of women which assists identification purposes later during the cave scenes, though it might be considered a little unusual, in that not one of the women is American, seeing the vast majority of the film is set in the U.S.A., (with Scotland and England locations subbing in well). The purpose stage-built "cave system" works outstandingly well conjuring up a sea of subterranean terror with its terrifying, underground inhabitants.
Both Macdonald and Natalie Mendoza who plays the other key role of Juno, the tough, but manipulative leader of the expedition are excellent in their parts. The interrelationship of their characters is only revealed towards the end and it is fascinating watching the metamorphosis of Sarah's character, as she rises to both the challenges of "the crawlers" and the woman she once thought of and trusted as a friend.
The Descent is an exhilarating, gut-wrenching, thrill-ride of a horror story and serves once again to demonstrate Neil Marshall is a talented director, who lucky for us, is not satisfied working with established tropes of the horror genre.