More than it seems to be

Rating: 9/10 (9 July 2009)

What to say about The Descent? At first glance, it's all too easy to write it off as a run-of-the-mill horror flick, albeit one with a pretty cool premise. Six young women head into the Appalachians on a caving expedition, get trapped in an uncharted cave system, find themselves facing a horde of cannibalistic troglodytes, and are picked off and slaughtered one by one. Given that most of the promos I originally saw for the film were cheesy American TV spots (promoting it as one of those SHOCKING and TERRIFYING movies that had people FLEEING THE THEATRES because of all the GORE and TERROR) I barely gave it much thought when it first came out. It was only later on, when it arrived on DVD, that I decided to give it a look. Whereupon I discovered two important details.
One: it's a British film. A British horror film, mind you, in the vein of 28 Days Later and The Hole. This automatically elevates it above the usual Hollywood pap. Protest all you like, my American friends, it won't make it any less true.
Two: it was written and directed by Neil Marshall, who also wrote and directed Dog Soldiers - one of the coolest and most satisfying werewolf films of all time. If Neil Marshall made a film, you can guarantee it's going to be awesome. (Well... except for Doomsday, obviously.) So with that in mind, I donned my helmet and pickaxe and dove into the movie. And watched it twice, back to back. And of course I've watched it many times since, because this is one of those films that's so much more than it seems to be.
First of all, it avoids all the clichés. The core group are entirely female, and (with a couple of possible exceptions) none of them are stereotypes. In fact your two pivotal characters - Sarah and Juno - are about as multi-layered as movie characters can probably get. It takes almost half the film for the monsters to turn up, but you're so engrossed in what's going on that you hardly notice this. The claustrophobic feel of being trapped a mile underground is always there, helped along by the cinematography and the fact that (with a couple of exceptions) the only light sources used in the film are the torches, flares and flashlights carried by the actors. There's jumpy moments and death and gore aplenty, but there's also character development and plot twists and moments of genuine balls-out (or should that be tits-out?) human tragedy. The scary bits are genuinely scary. The fight scenes are messy and frantic and disturbingly brutal. The sad bits are honest-to-god heartbreaking. And although the flick is chock full of monsters, it's the underlying conflict between the humans that becomes the real threat when the dung hits the fan. A big part of all this comes from David Julyan's soundtrack, which goes from slithery and creepy to soaring and powerful, and everything in between. And finally, there's all those clever little homages - Deliverance, The Shining, The Howling, The Silence of the Lambs, and even Full Metal Jacket all get a little nod from Marshall in this flick, along with others I've probably forgotten to mention.
Flaws? Well, there's a couple. As I said, two of the characters are a bit on the stereotypical side (Holly the Reckless Adrenaline Junkie and Beth the Supportive Friend). There are also a couple of characters who could genuinely be referred to as Redshirts - they contribute while they're there, but not in a unique way, and they do seem to be there just as extra monster fodder.
But the thing that makes this film really stand out is the ending. There are two versions - the film was re-cut for American audiences, who like a bit more closure to their movies. The original (UK) ending is not only darker (literally) but also a lot more ambiguous. In fact Marshall states on the DVD commentary that everyone has their own interpretation of the ending - he has his, but he's keeping it to himself and he loves hearing other theories. Now that, folks, is a storyteller.
Final thought - there's a sequel coming out this year, starring two of the original cast. It's not directed by Marshall, although he was involved, and director Jon Harris worked on the original film as an editor. And the trailer looks pretty solid. So here's hoping.