Product: The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 5.0
A wholly different film from the asinine US cut
I honestly don't understand the ending in the US version versus the original. Not only does it defeat the purpose of the *ENTIRE* movie and Sarah's character (much like I Am Legend, whose film adaptation made the title insensible), it's not scary, it's not interesting, it's not profound, and it's in no way an improvement over the original. It degrades the film into nothing more than a gorefest because it leaves out the absolutely critical final shots that explain everything. One has to wonder who got the idea to leave out the final minute in the original, which was nothing more than a single shot that explained literally everything about Sarah and her motives throughout the entire film. It was the conclusion to a long series of strange happenings, and it made perfect sense. The US version doesn't make sense. At all. The last minute defines the point of the film, but when it's taken out, it makes the entire premise insensible. The loose ends aren't tied up, Sarah's motivations aren't revealed, and we get what amounts to a useless and cheap screamer ending that makes no sense whatsoever. Ending changes are very rarely this senseless, as if the director or studio must have thought it was a good idea for some reason none of us understands.Having said that, this is a truly excellent flick about the psychological aspects of real horror among normal people caught in a bad situation out of good motives. It particularly focuses around Sarah, who we see as the only survivor in a gruesome car crash that kills her husband and daughter, but she survives. The rest of the film happens a year later, when everyone just wants, basically, to get Sarah out of the house and back into life, and out of her unrelenting despair. Before they actually enter the cave, we get a feel for the characters and their own reactions to Sarah's tragedy. The awkwardness that permeates everything is always there, as it would be in real life, and Sarah is just trying to make the most of it. The rest of the film can be summed up as Sarah being placed in a situation in which there is seemingly no escape for her or any of her friends as they're killed one after another.The film is pretty keen with its use of gore. None of it is pointless. It's meant to shock, but to shock for a reason. It's well-placed and directly relates to each character in their own reactions. Without the gore, it wouldn't look as natural to see their respective sanities begin to slip. When we ultimately get down to how Sarah handles it, we see the result of everything that's happened since the accident that left her without any family, nearly all her friends dead, and a transformation in her that culminates in the excellent final couple of shots in the UK ending. Now, you won't get that in the US version, which chooses instead to be a pointless horror flick without all that awful depth that the film is designed to have about people in utter despair and desperation.Really, this is such a totally different film from the one we got in US theaters that it becomes a completely different being. Practically everything is different, especially its tone and purpose. The US version was intentionally shallow and designed for cheap thrills. The original wasn't nearly so asinine in its approach, and is definitely worth several watches. There are little details that can be noticed that make it stand out as a truly well-designed character study and horror film in one.Very highly recommended, especially if you haven't seen the original and have only seen the very severely cut US version. It's definitely up high as one of my favorite films of all time for its original portrayal of Sarah and her transformation throughout the film, as well as the interactions between the characters, which is surprisingly convincing, the way people would normally react to such events happening around them. Just excellent.