One of the better horror films this year

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2006)

A group of friends go on a caving expedition in the Appalachian mountains. When they descend to and make their way through the caverns there is a collapse, which cuts them off from some of their gear. What's more is that they are in a section of the cave previously unexplored. And they are not alone.
Neil Marshall, writer and director of the brilliantly simple yet hugely entertaining horror/action film 'Dog Soldiers' returns with 'The Descent.' If 'Dog Soldiers' was "kinda like Aliens" then this film is "kinda like Alien... with more then one monster." Racking up a great and frighteningly claustrophobic atmosphere that few horror films successfully achieve. The 'descent' into the cave is played out both psychologically - as hope fades and trust among friends deteriorates - as well as viscerally - packing in some truly intense gore.
A strike that may be unfairly labeled about the film that it is a cave horror movie and 'The Cave' from roughly a year ago kind of sucked. Believe me when I say: this is nothing like the mediocre, glossily produced, poorly shot, stupidly plotted, and painfully generic "The Cave" which also lacked any sort of tense atmosphere. 'The Descent' is appropriately simple - no scientific explanations and reasoning that tries to explain the horror, because if you are being chased by monsters would you stop for a little science experiment? I should think not, even if you are a Nobel Prize winning scientist. The monster aspect of this movie is also played out better because of that since these are creatures hunting and no predator would take a convenient break to allow its prey to come to terms or rest for a bit. Well some do, as certain films demonstrate, but they make boring horror movie monsters!
Also, on a side note, Sam Raimi is looking to remake his classic 'The Evil Dead.' Not the greatest play in the book, but since he is on the look for a new director he should look no further then Neil Marshall, who is able to develop a simple plot very well and use small scale production values to a great effect.
This is a great horror film and ranks right up with 'Silent Hill' as one of the years best. 8/10
Rated R for intense horror violence/gore and profanity.