Product: The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 5.0
The Scariest Movie I've Ever Seen
There are two main problems with most horror movies: (1) they're not truly, deeply, get-in-your-guts-and-twist scary; (2) the characters/victims are portrayed so shallowly and/or unsympathetically you don't really care what happens to them. Neither of those shortcomings afflicts The Descent. Boy, don't they.The Descent tells the story of six friends, female adrenaline junkies all, who get together once a year for a different extreme sports adventure, always a different sport, always a different country. This year it's cave exploring in the United States' Appalachian mountains. When they're well underground a cave-in cuts them off, they must find a new way out. Eventually they discover there's....something else down there with them.That bare description of plot sounds like it could make a really cheesy horror film. Add that the six women are all played by relatively unknown actresses and the possibility of a groaner just gets better and better. However The Descent doesn't even stop at "bad" and goes straight for "excellent." Script, direction, cinematography, acting, in this film are all top notch.This is easily the most truly frightening horror movie I've ever seen - and much of the scariest stuff occurs even before the monsters show up. (Not to give it away, but you **did** know that eventually there'd be monsters, right?) If you have any hint of claustrophobia in your system, some of the scenes of these terrified, lost women worming their way through pinprick, dead dark tunnels will literally make it hard for you to breathe. They did me.This movie does so many things right. For one thing, you ever notice how many horror films suffer from what I call the Idiot Syndrome, i.e. the people on-screen die because they do things only an idiot would? (I believe this is one of the primary appeals of a certain type of horror movie: we look at the idiots on-screen and feel good about ourselves by comparison. "**I'd** never be that stupid.") I'm not saying that none of these characters ever makes a bad decision, or that cumulative stress doesn't eventually start to wear. But the women in The Descent are, by and large, smart, tough individuals who, once the horror starts, all, to a greater or lesser extent, stay smart, tough individuals. Call it Post-Feminist Horror if you like, all I know is that I find a movie about hard, competent people in trouble infinitely more appealing than a movie about weak, incompetent morons in trouble. (Okay, there is one character who's reckless to the point of stupidity, but "rush in where angels fear to tread" is a well-established trait of hers long before it turns around and bites her in the butt.)In addition to its nicely done horror, The Descent is an amazingly well-drawn psychological drama. All the women come across as believable, distinct personalities, all in some way likable and admirable, at least to start. You **care** what happens to these people. The Descent is, along with a very different movie, Phone Booth, probably the ultimate example of what I call an "elevator movie" (a term based on a series of movies all appearing within a short time period in the Seventies, about people trapped in elevators) where you put a bunch of people in an enclosed space so they can't get away from each other, ratchet up the stress level, then sit back to watch what happens. And, as is the case so many times in real life, in even the best of us we find that the monsters inside are even more frightening than the monsters without.Watch this movie. If you appreciate a truly fine horror film, you will adore The Descent. And if you have nightmares afterward, don't say I didn't warn you.