1 year on and it is still terrific

Rating: 9/10 (27 June 2006)

I'm not a horror movie fan. I don't particularly enjoy them, usually find them far-fetched, overly nasty, and basically an excuse to do lots of expensive special effects. I was bored on a Tuesday afternoon when a friend phoned up and suggested we went to see "The Descent".
My friend, a lovable if shallow type, sold it to me as "a thriller with fit women underground by the bloke who did Dog Soldiers". I'd seen Dog Soldiers, and really enjoyed it. I also didn't find it excessively gory and is was bloody (sorry) funny. Combine that with a few girls in tight tops and covered in mud and yeah - sounds like a good way to see off a dull evening. Boy, was I wrong.
The dictionary definition of trauma is:"An emotional wound or shock that creates substantial, lasting damage to the psychological development of a person, often leading to neurosis." I am writing this nearly a year after seeing the film and I'm still thinking about it. When I left the cinema I felt deeply scarred; as battered and bruised emotionally as the characters in the film were visually. My friend and I were both, by our own admission, traumatized.
All this from a FILM? Yes - The Descent is utterly, utterly terrifying. That is a word that should not be used lightly, but frequently is. Terror is when your breath comes in small gasps, your heart is racing, and your mind is pleading for the tension to ease. The Descent will put you in this place and then, without any mercy, keep you there for at least an hour.
What is even more astonishing is the speed and skill with which this film draws its audience in and puts you in such a state of fear. This movie should be held up in class to show how a genuinely talented director and writer can setup characters and situations with such little fuss but such effect.
Marshall's 'chicks with picks' are a likable bunch, but we don't really get to know them. There is a rudimentary 'meet and greet' the day before they go to the cave, but it doesn't reveal their true characters. Instead, as we follow them through the cave, their flaws and strengths are revealed piece by piece, and each time they have a direct effect on their situation.
And what a situation. Filmed entirely on cleverly constructed studio sets, with minimal lighting (much of it 'dynamic' from flares and helmet lights as opposed to static studio lighting) and realistic camera positions, the film puts us in amongst the girls; we squirm through narrow passageways, gaze around rugged chambers and crawl through fetid pools. If I'm honest, the creatures (who appear at about the halfway point), were not really necessary. The feelings of claustrophobia and insecurity are already at high levels. All the creatures do is tip it over the edge.
The creatures are nicely worked out, with a logical development back story and sensible origins. Yes they are fantasy, yes they are hardly believable, but it works in this kind of a film. They are also sufficiently nasty to give real impetus to the panic and terror that afflicts our heroines.
After the initial assault of the crawlers it would be correct to say that we are in familiar 'stalk and slash' territory, but that isn't being fair to the film. The tension, locations, characterizations and acting all combine with savage action and gruesome effects to produce a truly shocking effect. This is a film that will have you despairing, not for what is happening on screen, but for what is happening to the characters on screen. This is a long way from the 'horror porn' of "Hostel" or "The Hills have Eyes" where the point of the film is the suffering of the characters. Marshall's characters suffer, and suffer horribly in some cases, but it isn't suffering for suffering's sake. They make an understandable error and pay for it, or they get caught out by a creature, or they put up a good fight and eventually succumb to force of numbers. Marshall doesn't shrink from showing us the gore and viscera (though as a non-horror I think it would have been better to have shown a little restraint in places - sometimes it is better to not see something), but it is an expected result of an action.
Finally there is that ending. An ending that is sadly removed from the US release. A genuine WTF that leaves the audience reeling. It is a masterpiece ending that does not betray everything that has gone before as many films are wont to do. it is a staggering, breathless, bold, dark, twisted ending that slaps you in the face. It will probably be copied mercilessly by lesser films in the future, and more's the pity, because this truly one of the great movie endings. I hope the US will get the option to see it on DVD.
Oh enough - see it will you. Even if you don't like horror movies. This is a superior thriller that doesn't waver from its purpose to scare the sh** out of you. Very good films come along too rarely, and when they do their stories, characters and standout moments remain with you for long afterward. Last year only one other film had the same level of emotional impact that "The Descent" did, and its name was 'Million Dollar Baby" (different set of emotions though, I'll grant you). It doesn't get 10 as there are flaws including one character moment that just didn't ring true for me, and the odd clunky line. However this is that very rare thing - a horror movie that is frightening rather than repelling, that is intelligent rather than patronizing, and the end result is genuinely terrifying.