Neil Marshall kicks major butt

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2006)

I had already seen Dog Soldiers, and though it has its mistakes and lowdowns, it still manages to be a pretty decent horror/action flick. Way better than a lot of stuff out of the American and Japanese market. With The Descent, Neil Marshall is on my Top 5 Horror Movie Directors list. This one is claustrophobic, has strong female characters, the scary parts are truly scary, and you actually feel so into the film you can't escape its grip. People are always looking for a frightening horror film, and this one delivers on that department. It's almost like you're inside the caverns with all those girls. You've got the resulting tension from being trapped inside the cave. You've got the drama from Sarah's tragedy. You've got that awesome use of light where you can clearly see what's going on but still feel you're surrounded by complete darkness. And you've got the intense mutant sequences, with lots of blood and clever camera movement. The way Marshall portrays the mutants is incredible. The first time you get a glimpse of one them reminded me of the moment when you first see the aliens in Signs at the children party. Truly frightening. Another added value is that the copies showing in Mexico City are the UK copies, with the complete ending, and not the happy thing they're showing in the States. That was a clever move from the distribution company.
This movie is not as gory as everyone has made it out to be. It's gory, but not unbearable or anything. At least is way gorier than Hostel.
See this one at the theater. The use of light is impressive, and it adds so much to the whole experience.