Tense, nihilistic, grim and engaging horror with strong delivery from director, cast and cinematographer (SPOILERS)

Rating: Null/10 (12 December 2007)

Sarah and her friends Beth and Juno have always enjoyed adventure holidays together, despite Sarah now having a family and a more settled life. A road accident after a white water rafting holiday sees Sarah's family snatched away from her and leaves her in a hospital. A year later Sarah and Beth travel to the US to meet up with Juno and her friends for some caving. Unbeknownst to them, Juno takes them to a series of caves off the beaten track. A rock slide sees the group cut off from their entry point and forced to go deeper into the system to try and find a way out.
I have said it many times that I am not a big fan of gore and, that if you get the tone and atmosphere right, I do frighten quite easily. The Descent got good reviews in the UK (perhaps this is to be expected) but I decided to ignore it at the cinema and then again on video. When it was on the selection on a plane journey I decided against it, even though my girlfriend went for it; she spent the majority of the film tensed up and I felt I had made the right decision. When it came on television recently though I decided that enough was enough and went for it (well, I taped it  I mean it was on late at night for goodness sake). Having finally watched it I am glad I did as it is a really strong thriller that delivers atmosphere and tension in spades.
Some have said that it is very grim stuff but to me that is part of the appeal. Long-time IMDb reviewer Theo Robertson comments that the lack of charm, humour or warmth is a problem but I have to disagree. On the contrary the nihilistic tone increases the tensions within the narrative and draws the audience into it further  there are no witty one-liners, there are no comedy-relief characters, nothing to allow the audience a space that is safe to breathe. Theo is bang on the money though when he says that those that loved Dog Soldiers will probably prefer it to this (and vice versa) because it does include "fun" and comedy  making it more of a multiplex horror movie, one that is enjoyable even though it delivers jumps. He is right because I loved The Descent where I only thought Dog Soldiers was OK.
When this was released, Neil Marshall appeared unlucky to have made this at the same time as America's The Cave, but in reality his film stands up on its own. Although he needs to light his scenes and not just rely on torches, he embraces the darkness of the caves with relish. The first hour is tense, even though the crawlers do not show up until late into it. This is because Marshall is working on character issues in the background but mostly because he is introducing us to this world of darkness, falls and tunnels. We are already there once the real danger comes and because he has got this tension already working, it doesn't matter whether or not we see the creatures or not  it is the fear of the darkness and the unknown that does it (two very base fears that he plays on expertly). The creatures are really well done as well, the noise and the speed of movement making them scary more than what they do (which is more about the gore). The grim air continues unto the ending, which I consider to be perfectly in keeping with what has gone before. I refer of course to the ending of the "proper" version and not the "upbeat" one forced upon some audiences where we close with Sarah having made it out but confronted with a vision(?) of a bloody Juno in the car with her. Instead the proper version sees Sarah mentally collapsed, everyone dead and the sounds all around surely meaning it is a matter of "when" and not "if" in regards Sarah going the same way. It is not cheerful of course but if a suitably grim ending and much better than ending it on the car scene.
The cast are at times difficult to tell apart and some of them are just random people. Buring has a distinctive character but I did struggle to tell Reid, Mulder and No one apart from the others in the dark. At the head of the cast though are two great performances from Macdonald and Mendoza that are full of fear, fire and hurt. The car accident and the implied infidelity is not pushed to the fore but it is kept around and used to enrich some of the interactions. Macdonald loses it convincingly while Mendoza is a strong counter to her emotion (as well as being stunning). I was engaged by the way the film didn't give us a "bad guy" in the group and indeed I felt sympathy and dislike for both characters. Of course the main thing the cast have to do is convince within the world of the film and they do this effectively throughout, whether it is a simple rock fall or being hunted for food. Aside from them the majority of the credit belongs to Marshall and cinematographer McCurdy (and you can understand why the latter was sought out for Hills Have Eyes 2) as they deliver a tense atmosphere that really draws the audience in so that you do share the characters fear and urgency.
Overall a grim but superior horror film that benefits from the dark style and content. The gore is there if you want it but for me it is the constant sense of fear and nothingness that engaged me, from the first entry into the caves right through to the nihilistic (proper) ending.