It Doesn't Get Much Better Than This.

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2006)

I went in seeing "The Descent" with high expectations, mainly from all of the great things I've heard about this film. And this one definitely delivered, on many different levels than one, which was refreshing to see among all of the cheap Hollywood horror that is carted out lately. The film begins in the UK with a woman named Sarah, who is river rafting with two friends, all whom seem to be pure thrill seekers. On Sarah's drive back from the river expedition with her husband, a horrible car accident takes place, taking the life of Sarah's young daughter. A year later, Sarah and a group of her friends meet in the US Appalachian mountains to prepare for a cave exploration. After spending the night in a cabin, the group of girls (lead by Juno, the thrill-seeking aficionado) head to a cave at the mouth of a river. After descending into the cavern, they are fascinated by it. But their fascination soon turns into fear, after a tunnel leading into another area of the cavern collapses, nearly killing Sarah and cutting the girls off from the exit. As the minutes tick by and their sources of light begin to lose power, the girls begin to lose hope, desperately searching for a way out. Their hopes are heightened slightly when they find evidence of previous explorers and cave markings, but it is revealed that the cave they're in isn't the cave they thought they were in. Turns out Juno took them to an unexplored cave that is unknown to anyone, so they could "explore it for themselves", not telling her friends.
After one of the girls, Holly, falls and severely injures her leg, Sarah spots a strange human-looking creature hiding in the darkness. Of course her friends don't believe her, telling her it's just the dark playing tricks. But they believe her soon enough, because the strange breed of pale, human-like creatures close in on the girls, and they are thirsty for blood. After killing one of the creatures, an examination of it leads to the conclusion that the species are completely blind, hunting their prey by only sound. Now, with limited light source, can the girls escape the cave? Or will they become another meal for the flesh-eating species?
This film is a pure work of terror, probably one of the best I've seen in a very long time, managing to be extremely spooky and dodging the majority of clichés that are so prominent in horror films. The cave sequences (which most of the film consists of) are dark, damp, and extremely claustrophobic. I felt uncomfortable watching them, almost as if I was actually there. The acting was excellent, each of the women gave perfect performances. The caves themselves were very convincing, which has me wondering whether or not they used actual caverns to film the movie in. The creatures in this movie were disgusting, and their orchestrated movements and strange howl/screaming sounds were very creepy. They weren't too over the top, nothing like the giant monsters you see in films like "The Cave". On the contrary, they are actually very human-like, but their skin and eyes are pure white and they seem to have excellent climbing skills. Unlike in most horror films, I actually felt bad for the characters as they met grisly fates at the hands of the creatures, and I felt even worse when someone was killed accidentally by one of her friends. I won't go into the details, but it was actually quite tragic the way the whole film played out. From what I know, there are two versions of the ending, and the U.S. version is a tad bit shorter, but from what I read about the two versions it really isn't major. Let's just say that we Americans seem to enjoy "happy endings". I really didn't think it was a huge deal though.
All in all, "The Descent" is one scary good time. It was claustrophobic, intense, and had you not knowing what to expect next, holding your attention the whole time. It isn't your over the top, corny monster movie, so don't anticipate anything like the mediocre creature-feature "The Cave", "The Descent" is miles above it. Horror films don't get much better than this. 9/10.