Product: The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 5.0
It DOES live up to the hype...and then some!
Too many mainstream american horror films, I've discovered over the last few years, seem to suffer from a severe lack of character development and by-the-numbers predictability. It truly amazes me to therefore read so many negative reviews that accuse Neil Marshall of the same pratfalls when, in all honesty, he has crafted a film that so very clearly goes against the shopworn grain.When I initially caught "The Descent" two years ago in Los Angeles, I was immediately enamored by the straightforwardly grim approach to the material. There was, much to my immediate relief, no unnecessary humor, cheesy one-liners, or MTV Top-40 soundtrack to be found anywhere. And the characters, contrary to some rather recent and incredibly erroneous claims, were not underdeveloped. Marshall fleshed each of these six women out just well enough to make me want to invest in their fates. I bought into their interpersonal relationships and I think that, along with the admittedly unapologetic bloodshed that was called for within the screenplay, actually helped elevate this film to a higher echelon.When I consider the watered-down PG-13 dreck, such as the fairly new "Prom Night" remake, that Hollywood lately seems to revel in cranking out assembly-line style, it makes savoring rare diamonds-in-the-rough like "The Descent" all the more enjoyable. This is a horror film that truly deserves to be called horror. It's easily light years ahead of "The Cave" and every other similarly themed rip-off that found its way to a movie screen that year.