A group of cavers becomes trapped in an uncharted cave, and they're not the only ones down there... Enter screaming, violence, and blooood.

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2006)

One of the good things about The Descent is that it takes a little time to set up the relationships between the characters. A few small interactions and you know who these people are, are comfortable with them, and can get on with the story. What's best, however, is that this movie doesn't simply rely on creature-feature horror and gore to get you through the majority of the movie. In fact, this film relies on some of the horrors we can find in real life to create a lot of the tension in the first portion of the movie, before upping the ante by introducing creatures that are out for your tasty-tasty body.
It makes the absolute best of the setting; for the majority of the movie it's easy to believe that the only light that was filmed by were the sources of light that you get to see on-screen (headlamps, torches, flares, and glow sticks), similarly the camera angles and sound design do their best to recreate the dark, claustrophobic, and dangerous art of caving. It could be easy to forget that this horror move is meant to have creepy creatures in it, because the predicament the characters are in is bad enough.
Possibly trapped underground, injured, and with limited renewable light sources is the situation these girls find themselves when they encounter their first full-on Gollum/Orc love-child. (I'm being serious here; that is so exactly what they look like that it was uncanny.) This is where the movie gave up and became a little silly. The creatures were not particularly scary, the action was a bit mundane, and the only thing that lifted it from here on out were the moments where their original predicament (strange caves! trapped! injured! scared!) came back and made itself known. I enjoyed the ending and on the whole thought this movie lifted the genre. Certainly better than some of the other fare on offer out there.
Also, no acting prizes; the setting wins the award, here.
If you're looking at seeing this movie because you liked Dog Soldiers, be aware that this is a different beast altogether. There is much less humour, and more emotion. Possibly something to do with an almost all-male cast in Dog Soldiers, and an almost all-female one here?