Product: The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 4.0
Even less likely to go cave exploring now than I was before.
When I realized this was done by the same director who did "Dog Soldiers," I was not surprised. However, unlike "Dog Soldiers," which is more creepy than scary, "The Descent" had me nearly climbing the walls in squirmy terror.Because I am a dunce, I first watched this by myself at night several years ago. (I have no idea what I was thinking.) I didn't realize how truly frightening it would be, and, by the time I did, I HAD to finish it because I needed to know what happened! I watched most of it from inside a blanket, viewing it from a hole in my protective cocoon. I think I held my breath through most of it.It manages to build characters and situations that are believable and real (even exploring the depths of female friendship and loyalty), making you care about these women. When you watch it, it doesn't feel like a soulless Hollywood film that's just gratuitously gory and bloody with a plot thrown in because there needs to be one. It's raw, engaging, and real--you can believe it really is a vacation for six women that went horribly wrong.True to what seems to be the nature of Neil Marshall's brilliance when it comes to suspenseful horror, this movie manages to not actually show you what's terrifying until more than halfway through the movie, yet keeps you engaged and on the edge of your seat by merely... suggesting... what might be terrifying.My husband, an avid horror connoisseur, actually jumped at The Scene (I'm sure everyone knows what scene this is without me having to describe it!) and squirmed through the rest of it, and I have never seen him jump or squirm at any movie before.All that said, and I hate to say it, this movie was not perfect to me. I docked a star for the ending, which was the only part that disappointed me--it was lame. This is because I am not a fan of endings that aren't endings. It's one thing to leave a movie open for a sequel, which is annoying but forgivable; it's another to just leave it to interpretation, as if you got tired of it all by then, so you quickly finished it without actually ending the story.