Product: The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 5.0
I Am NOT Claustrophobic, I Am NOT Claustrophobic, I Am NOT. . .
How far down will you allow yourself to go in order to survive? That is what the title of this excellent film refers to.I'll try to be brief. This is the most intensely scary movie I have ever seen. I did not see it in theater; I had to pause the DVD three times while watching to get up, leave the room and try to scrape up the courage (shouldn't use the word 'guts' here!) to finish this film. I'm talking intense on the level of the 'last supper' scene in Ridley Scott's "Alien", only fleshed out to full feature-length. Aside from the film itself, what I find truly amazing - from the 'Making Of' documentary - is that, aside from a few exteriors, the entire thing was filmed on a soundstage. This movie has the most realistic cave settings I've ever seen in a movie, and there weren't very many elements actually used to put them together. That, and the fact that although it's set in West Virginia - which has, of course, the world's highest concentration of inbred, subterranean human mutants - it was filmed entirely in Great Britain. Make sure to get the uncut version with the extended ending, which was cut for the U.S. theatrical release. After nearly two hours of near-ridiculous suspense and horror, the end of this film will break your heart.Later Note: Hmmm, maybe it WAS North Carolina. I still think my comment about West Virginia is correct!Slightly Earlier Later Note: The scariest moment in the film for me had nothing to do with blood, guts or the crawlers. Sarah is squeezing through the tightest of tight passages, gets stuck and suffers a moment of claustrophobia, accompanied by a memory of her daughter (I hope I'm remembering this correctly). Juno(?) comes back to help her and it's all VERY intense and then the roof shifts! I was so drawn in to the moment - by a very talented director - that it was as if I were down there with them watching it all happen.So much for being brief. I can't say enough good about this film, but, one more time, be warned: this is an intensely (have I used that word enough yet?) frightening movie and it is definitely not for everyone. Your girlfriend may not like you any more if you make her watch it! (My wife refuses to see it.)