Its not Alien, but it leaves The Cave(2005) in the dark

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2006)

The Descent really captures the true terror of being trapped and essentially being led into certain death. And not since Alien has this been so well presented. This time instead of a space craft, we find people fighting their way out of a cave, while fighting off cave predators that live on flesh and have evolved over the years, killing everyone that has attempted to go through the cave.
Unlike most horror movies, this movie provides us with great character development and what true terror goes along with being alone..in the dark. And from that we see them evolve and the movie becomes a fight for survival.
The story begins with a group of women who live for adventure that set out to explore an unknown cave. The first problems that arise have nothing to do with the gollum-like predators, but they slip, fall, and break legs in the cave that was not meant to be explored. When they first encounter the creatures, the creatures are relentless in their attack. Some of the girls fight and some of them run. As one is brutally eaten, one of them decides to fight back.
As the movie progresses they all figure out for themselves that they can't outrun the beasts, and that they only way the might survive is to fight back. It really takes a toll on one of the women, who had lost her daughter and husband only a year prior to this, the movie really shows her relentless struggle for survival as she transformers mentally from woman to beast. It is that very thing that allows her survive.
Like most horror movies there is only one survivor, and the movie basically comes a survival of the fittest as we see all the women turn into hunters in order to survive. As woman who survives fights off the creatures that separate her and freedom, she realizes she can trust no one and leaves her friend behind to die. A decision that will haunt her the rest of her life. The movie is great in the sense that it shows the will people will go through in order to survive, even if it means sacrificing another human, no matter how good of a friend, in order for yourself to survive. The movie is about decision making, and the outcomes that go with. The movie feels like Silence of the Lambs and Alien had a baby, the overall feeling was Alienish, but a few night vision scenes while being trapped in utter darkness while fighting for survival was very Silence of the Lambs-esk. Although it is not as great as either of the movies, it is a solid movie that should rank up there with the Ring as great modern horrors.