I liked it and understood the ending!!!! ****CONTAINS SPOILERS****

Rating: 8/10 (11 August 2005)

****CONTAINS SPOILERS**** What can you say about Mr Marshall second time at the cinema?...
Went to see the descent last night with my long suffering Mrs in tow. I'm not into horror movies as a rule, I'll watch them on DVD but never at the cinema, it's just not my genre. I sat down and snored my way through the bombardment of advertising we get on the big screen these days (which is the biggest gripe i have with the cinema today) raised an eye brow through the trailers (at some for films that look like having promise and others that clearly don't!) then the film began.
Off to a great start, straight into the character work and a brilliantly unexpected car crash (I knew there was a car crash in it and didn't see this one coming the way it did) then came the trauma, the recovery begins and then bang we're into act 2.
The group assembles for the adventure and forms it social dynamic, they head off into the cave and their in, no messing, great! I know on a few minutes I'm gonna see them ripped apart, flesh torn, blood everywhere etc and I CAN'T WAIT.
Then the story seemed to take a slight turn, I found myself in the middle of quite a complicated character piece, which is good, but as this was, at the beginning, a fast paced 'action/slasher' movie the intro/development work on these characters wasn't there to. One girl died and I actually didn't care because i didn't know enough about her to care. Still the film moved forward and then the fun really began!
The monsters appeared and I tell you what an entrance, this is where Marshall does the business, the first one is shown in possibly the most original piece of filming/scripting I've ever seen and the whole audience jumped eight feet in the air. I was sitting in front of 3 girls in their early twenties and one screamed, half stood up and politely kicked me in the back of the head (the seats were tiered), I didn't care though (I was too busy checking I hadn't just touched cloth to care!)
Then I got what i came for, the blood spilled, the flesh tore, the bones broke and everyone loved it. The scares came thick and fast, young 'kicky' behind me screamed several more times and her friends filled in for her when she left for ten minutes.
By the end I was exhausted but then came this whole character thing again, we get drawn in to this journey of emotion from the lead girl...I WANT MORE BLOOD i thought, alas the screams from behind stopped for a bit.
Then came the end and it was so worth it, rather than opting for a traditional horror ending (supposedly dead monster jumps at camera etc) Marshall has wisely chosen a 'think about it people!' ending. It scary as hell but not a cliché, which is too often the case in this genre.
Some on here say the ending was a let down, it wasn't. In fact it was very clever and here's why...
The character had been haunted by the memory of her dead daughter throughout the film, traumatised if you will. Imagining getting out only to see the ghost of her now dead friend was a sign that if she did survive she would be forever haunted by the memories of the friends that died that day, five times the trauma and who wants to live like that. Better to accept your fate, make peace with the daughter trauma (hense her appearance) and die with dignity than live without it.
So there you go all you 'i didn't get it' people. A fine horror movie, not the best but certainly worthy of a DVD purchase and a convo with your film friends. What does Mr Marshall have for us next, I don't know but i'll be going to see it.