A cult horror/thriller that lives up to its hype

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2015)

It is excruciatingly hard to be original when making films but its even harder to be original when you're trying to settle into a tried and true genre. As a fan, the horror genre is especially crowded and hard to fit into. You have good, bad, really bad and really really bad. People of every walk are making horror films for $10 and their phone or sinking millions into bid budget ghost flicks. Every once in awhile you find a horror flick that really stands out because of smart, cutting edge film making/writing and The Descent is exactly that. It isn't easy to truly get under a horror fan's skin and genuinely creep you out. The Descent's pacing is brilliant because you've got a group of girls, going exploring, almost feels like a survival "127 Days" type film and then horror, horror, horror! Not zombie, not monster, not slasher...and yet somehow all of that and more. Screaming and terror and isolation and dark, damp setting that just leaves you wide eyed and breathless. The Descent is one of those movies that I kept hearing about and seem to grow in reputation and when I sat down to watch it, I was expecting it not to live up to the hype but it does. It isn't quite what you'd consider a "big budget" Hollywood flick and yet it definitely has no indication of being low budget.
The best thing about this cast of girls is that they're all as good as each other. There really isn't one "stand-out" performance to me and for this film in particular it works because you feel like you're part of their group. We still have a "main" heroine, a scream queen so to speak played by Shauna Macdonald. She gets more story as we are shown what has traumatized her to end up on this trip. She is very good and very down to earth and all of these girls you just feel like they could be anyone and I mean that in the best of ways. Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Myanna Buring and Nora Jean No one are the other cave hunters and they have great chemistry with each other and they all have their purpose even if its to be fodder, they have distinctive personalities and you really believe their performances even if its just believing they are regular girls in a terrible situation.
I've actually seen quite a bit of Neil Marshall's work and it doesn't surprise me that he's now helming a big budget Hollywood blockbuster (Skull Island.) He has a great story telling ability and makes you feel things no matter how implausible. He sets this film up like a nature survival story and then suddenly they're being picked up by mysterious cave monsters in bloody horrible ways. Its shocking, twisted, disturbing and really well made on what was probably a low budget. If you're looking for something that will genuinely creep you out this Halloween, give this one a try. You won't be disappointed. 8/10