Product: The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 4.0
Exceeded expectations...and had me on the edge of my seat
I was leery about seeing this film. I like a good scare and gore doesn't bother me. But what I don't like is cheap exploitation. Lion's Gate has previously released stuff like SAW, HOSTEL and WOLF CREEK, which are all graphic, but more to the point, very unpleasant to watch. Unpleasant in a way that makes you feel like you just watched something very unseemly and need to take a shower.So I heard some good buzz about THE DESCENT, but still felt trepidation. I'm glad I ignored my instinct in this case. THE DESCENT is in many ways the best film of the summer. It is promising to deliver something, and it delivers and then some!! Most other summer films (much larger) either promised and fell short (such as POSEIDON or MI:3) or promised and came close to achieving (X-MEN 3 or PIRATES 2). THE DESCENT, while modest in scale, budget and ambition was a stunner.You probably know the basic story, but quickly...it is about 6 British women who come to America to explore a cave in the Appalachians. Only what 5 of them don't know is that their 6th friend has purposely led them to a scarcely known, totally unexplored, off-the-map cave with the goal of getting to name the place after themselves.Surprise, surprise...the plan doesn't go so well. They get into a great deal of trouble, and in many ways, the scariest part of the film is when you are actually able to get a sense of what it would be like to be about a mile underground, in an unmarked cave, with your only known way out hopelessly blocked, and no idea of what lies ahead. It literally made me shudder. Through much of the film, nothing "supernatural" happens, and frankly, it was a pretty darn exciting bit of work even then. But finally, the cave-dwelling mutants who will apparently eat anything they hear are introduced...and all hell breaks loose.The confrontations with the mutants are horrific, noisy, sometimes graphic and yet somehow shot with a just a bit of taste and restraint. That's not to say that blood and bone doesn't spray, that horrible disembowlings don't ensue, etc...but the dark of the cave leaves most of it somewhat to our imaginations. We see glimpes of the grotesque, but not all of it. The camera doesn't linger over the gore...there's too much else going on.The best thing about the film, in my opinion, is that all 6 of these women (all very different characters) are intelligent, witty, smart and atheletic. They don't make too many stupid mistakes. There are moments when their athleticism is brought to bear, and it is refreshing convincing. These actresses, who no doubt trained and buffed up some for the film, don't LOOK like actresses who just trained and got buff for a film. They look like people who know what they're doing. And while the director and writer don't take a lot of time to establish deep characters (there is a cliched scene early on when they all get together at the cabin, get drunk and laugh when we get to sort of see each of them in the daylight and know who they are), we still emphasize with all of them...even the "villian" of the piece. I liked all the performances, and all these women should feel proud to have been in a "slasher" movie where they give back nearly as good as they got.The dynamics between the women are pretty interesting as well, and it's remarkable just how cold-blooded they are allowed to be towards each other. This isn't a film where the survivors get together, despite their bickering, and find the way out through the monsters. They separate, they turn on each other, they form loose groups and unform them as well. It's a great way to add richness to what is afterall a genre film we all know pretty well.I HIGHLY recommend this film. Why no 5th star? Well, the very end of the film is not so great (although I'm sure the original ending will be restored for DVD) and the cabin scene was less than stellar on the part of the director. But the other 80 out of 85 minutes are true edge-of-your-seat stuff. I was pretty well drained by the end, and so was my wife...who also enjoyed it a great deal.