Product: The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 5.0
intense and brutal, subterranean gorefest . . .
In writer/director Neil Marshall's The Descent (2005), somewhere in the Appalachians, six female spelunkers looking for adventure, experience the terror of being stalked through underground caverns, by vicious, carnivorous, cave dwelling beings. Overcoming the initial panic, the women transition to survival mode, doing whatever they must to stay alive.It begins as just an ordinary excursion. After losing her husband and daughter in a tragic accident, Sarah (Shauna MacDonald), is together again with Juno (Natalie Mendoza), and Beth (Alex Reid), looking to rekindle their friendship, on a spelunking expedition. Also in the team, are sisters Rebecca (Saskia Mulder) and Sam (MyAnna Burning), along with newcomer Holly (Nora-Jane Noone). Entering the cavern, things are proceeding routinely, when a cave-in occurs. The women can't get out the way they came in, and while looking for some way out, suddenly find themselves under attack, by strange wall crawling creatures. With their number reduced to five, the group scatters into the darkness.There may be some issues with the backstory, as well as some technical issues related to cave exploration, but The Descent solidly delivers the thrills and scares, that most horror fans are seeking. With intense fights, and plenty of gore and graphic violence, the film scores high marks in the woman vs. monster department. The feeling of being driven to the extreme edge, is very real. The cave creatures move fast, their hissing and screeching, becoming a signal for terror. Hideous looking, and blind, the crawlers use some kind of internal radar for guidance, as they stalk their prey, and then attack relentlessly.The underground environment isn't pitch black as it should be, but the lighting is nicely done, giving the impression that the setting is reasonably realistic. The amount of gear that the women have seems a little light. Things like flashlights, eye protection, masks, gloves, and water seem to be in short supply or missing, but fortunately they do have their metal pickaxes along. The sea of bones that appear in several locations makes for a nice effect, but is not very realistic.Infidelity is made a highly significant matter, but is rather lost on an audience, who know almost nothing about the character's personal lives. Overall, Juno gets a something of a bad rap. In the initial attack, she's the only one fighting to defend a fallen comrade. The tragedy that happens to Beth is clearly an accident, but Beth makes it sound like it was deliberate. The ambiguous ending, leaves it unclear whether anyone has escaped. This intriguing question however, is answered in the sequel, The Descent Part 2 (2009), which features some members of the original film.All about facing a terrifying horror that comes out of the darkness, The Descent is highly effective at raising fear at a very base level. The all female cast, gives the creature feature an unusual spin, and the ladies acquit themselves, in a most skull-shattering fashion. The unrated edition, has some nice extras, including two commentary tracks. Neither is particularly informative from a purely technical standpoint, but there is some good information sprinkled among what is mostly chit chat.