The Descent

Plot synopsis:
A whitewater rafting trip is underway, with 3 long-time friends on board. Leading the trip is the bold adventurer, Juno (Natalie Mendoza). Also there is wife and mother Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) and her closest friend, Beth (Alex Reid), both British. Awaiting at the end of the raft adventure is Sarah's husband, Paul (Oliver Milburn) and daughter, Jessica (Molly Kayll). Paul and Juno share a strange moment before he drives to go back home with Sarah and Jessica. While Sarah and Paul are seemingly on the cusp of an argument, a small truck plows head-on to their car, sending a metal rod right through Paul's skull.Sarah has the first in a series of dreams where Jessica appears in a party dress and seems to offer Sarah a birthday cake. Awakening from her injuries in the accident in the hospital, Sarah panics and runs down the hallway, imagining the hospital getting dark around her. Beth embraces her and they both weep. Juno, standing in the distance and also crying, turns and leaves them.A year later, Juno has organized a spelunking (caving-diving) trip in the Appalachian Mountains. The three women from the raft trip gather at a cabin the day before this adventure. An additional 3 adventurers join them, including Juno's butch friend Holly (Nora-Jane Noone), who even Juno considers too reckless. The other two are a pair of European-rooted sisters, the safety-cautious, older sister, Rebecca (Saskia Mulder) and medical student Sam (MyAnna Buring), who, though competent, is the least experienced adventurer of the group.Tension remains between Juno and Beth and Sarah over Juno's abandonment of them last year. Holly laments the the cave they are to explore is just a tourist trap and offers no challenges. That night, Sarah has a nightmare that a steel rod hits her face just as it did Paul's.Waking her five companions the following morning, Juno leads them on a long drive over rough country road. When leaving the cars, Juno seems to intentionally leave behind the cave map. Hiking to the cave entrance, they encounter the huge carcass of a bull elk, with his throat seemingly having been torn open. All the women except Juno and Holly become hesitant when they see the cavernous entrance to the cave. They all rappel down into the first pocket in the cave. Descending still further, all daylight is vanished. Juno lights a series of flares, illuminating the huge cavern of the cave system that they've entered. Even Holly is impressed, recording her surroundings with her high-tech night-vision digital camera. As the women temporarily further prepare, Juno indicates they are looking for a tunnel to bring them further into the cave system. Juno apologizes to Sarah for leaving the previous year and grows tearful when recalling Paul. Seemingly trying to avoid this conversation, Sarah goes off on her own and finds a small tunnel entrance.One by one, the women go into the tunnel, which grows even smaller midway before coming out in another large space of the caves. Sarah is the last to come through and gets stuck on a rock. Sarah turns to claustrophobic panic. Beth, at first, tries to calm Sarah and then climbs back down the tunnel to help her out. As Beth pulls Sarah out, the tunnel roof begins to tremble and, just as the two pull out, totally collapses behind them. The whole group is distraught at the tunnel collapse, since it is obviously their return route out of the caves. Juno then reveals to the others that she not only didn't bring the cave map, but she has intentionally taken them to an unexplored cave rather than the cave to which she claimed she was taking them. Juno desired to be the first to explore these caves and have the caves named after her. The others are angered, but Juno informs them that they must keep moving and look for another exit to the cave lest they die in there.The group comes to an enormous precipice in the cave. In order to get across to a hopeful exit, they must set up a pulley system on the roof of the precipice. Rebecca painfully climbs along the roof using only her arms, hooking the rope to the cave roof. Finally arriving to the opposite side of the precipice, Rebecca sees a hook obviously left by a previous explorer of the cave. Each of the women cross the precipice using the pulley system and Juno goes last. Claiming they will need all the equipment they can get, Juno pulls down the rope pulley as she crosses the roof. Near the end, Juno loses her grip and falls. Rebecca must grab the rope to get keep Juno from falling and her hands nearly tear in half supporting Juno's weight. Juno finally climbs up the precipice wall to join the others.As the six women move on, a drooling mouth is seen in the foreground but is not detected by the women. When walking through the caves, they encounter an ancient-looking mural, resembling a community drawn by early Native Americans. Beth notices that a second exit from the cave is shown on the mural.When it's time to continue, Holly runs in the front. She sees what appears to be daylight (but is actually just phosphorescent rock) and rushes even more, despite Juno telling her to slow down. Suddenly Holly falls down a huge pit in the cave. Her leg is snapped in the fall, her bone painfully protruding from her skin. All the others rappel down into the pit and tend to Holly. Sam pulls Holly's leg back into place and makes a makeshift tourniquet for her. Meanwhile, Sarah has wandered away from the group. She finds an old, rusty miner's helmet. Looking up she is shocked to see a grotesque creature in the distance. The creature appears humanoid, but is hairless and deformed-looking with sharp claws and small eye sockets. In a moment, the creature disappears as Juno comes to find Sarah. Juno and the group don't believe Sarah about the creature and they all, including the limping Holly, go on to find a way out of the cave.They come to a part of the cave with three tunnels and even Juno is vexed as to which one to go down. A blood-curdling noise is heard, frightening the women. Suddenly the grotesque creature Sarah had seen is standing next to the women. Within seconds, the creature climbs with startling speed up the cave wall and out of sight. The creature then jumps on top of Holly. The group is frightened and Sam and Rebecca run down one of the tunnels and Sarah another. Sarah shortly loses her footing while running and falls down another pit, knocking her unconscious.The creature bites Holly in the throat, killing her. Juno begins to get into a tug-of-war with the hideous beast over Holly's body. When the creature confronts Juno she slashes its face with her pick-axe. Another similar creature jumps onto Juno. The injured creature drags off Holly's body as the second creature struggles with Juno. Juno finally kills the second creature with her pick-axe. Seconds after killing the creature, Juno hears something coming up behind her and swings the pick-axe. It is actually Beth and Juno has stabbed her through the throat. Grabbing Juno's bracelet, Beth collapses in a pool of her own blood and pleads with Juno to help her. A shocked Juno backs away into one of the tunnels, leaving Beth to die.Sarah has another dream about her daughter and the cake, but her daughter now has the face of a creature. She awakes and realizes she's in a dark pit of fresh kills, practically flooded with the blood and entrails of various animals. Suddenly, the body of Holly is dropped into the pit. Using Holly's night vision camera to see, Sarah watches in horror as several of the creatures, yelping like hyenas and making clicking noises like the echolocation of bats, ravenously devour Holly. Gagging at the sight, Sarah causes one of the creatures to become aware of her presence. Coming to within inches of Sarah's face, it seems unable to detect her presence as she doesn't move a muscle. Juno is soon heard above calling from the others. The creatures all descend from the feeding pit to go after the other prey. Sarah makes a torch so she can find her way out of the pitch-black feeding pit.One of the creatures happens into Sam and Rebecca, who are embracing and remaining as still as possible. This creature roars in their general direction, but fails to see them, confirming that the creatures are totally blind and instead rely on sound to hunt. Juno again calls out for the others and the creature leaves Sam and Rebecca's vicinity. Sam and Rebecca move on to hopefully find a way out of the caves. Turning a corner, they are attacked by one of the creatures. The creature tries to maul Rebecca while Sam is frozen with fear. However, Juno appears and stabs this creature through the skull with her pick-axe, killing it.Meanwhile, Sarah is also trying to escape, returning to where they came in and finds Beth. Beth has lost a lot of blood and explains to Sarah that Juno had stabbed her and left her. Beth shows Sarah Juno's bracelet as proof. Beth pleads with Sarah to mercy-kill her, which a mournful Sarah does with a nearby rock. Moments later, a small, child-like creature appears and attacks Sarah, jumping on her back. Sarah smashes the small creature into the cave roof and flips it onto the floor, killing it.Within moments, another creature appears, this one apparently a female with long hair and distinct breasts and also apparently the small creature's mother. When the female creature attacks her, Sarah knocks her back and then she falls back into another pit. This time she falls into what appears to be a pond of blood. As she tries to climb out of the blood pond, Sarah is again attacked by the female creature. Though the creature has her pinned down, Sarah manages to reach a nearby jagged bone and stabs the female creature through the face, killing her. A male creature then arrives, failing to detect Sarah's presence as she lies motionless beneath his feet. Sarah assaults the creature, managing to kill him also with the jagged bone. Traumatized and bloodied, Sarah lets out a blood-curdling scream.Juno, Rebecca, and Sam hear Sarah's scream. Juno vows not to leave the caves without Sarah, but changes her tune when she turns to see about a dozen of the creatures crawling in pursuit of them. The three of them run off down the tunnel. Sam takes the lead and comes to another precipice. Though she knows she is too short on rope, she tries to establish another rope-pulley system to get across. When Juno and Rebecca run up behind, they plead with Sam to be careful. A creature jumps out, clings to the cave roof, and attacks Sam. It manages to rip out Sam's throat, but Sam, with her last ounce of strength, stabs the creature, which falls into the water at the bottom. The pursuing creatures arrive and pull down Rebecca. They rip open the screaming Rebecca's stomach and throat, killing her. Cornered at the edge of the precipice, Juno jumps down.Juno lands in a large pool of water at the bottom. Underwater, the creature awaits Juno, but she uses Rebecca's knife to kill it. Juno climbs up the slippery walls, but she loses her grip and begins to fall again. Suddenly, a hand grabs her, pulling her up. It turns out to be Sarah. Sarah is now bloodied and nearly silent, looking upon Juno with poorly-disguised scorn for harming Beth. Juno and Sarah run off, still looking for an escape. Coming into a cavern, they realized they are surrounded by four of the creatures. When the creatures close in, a violent struggle ensues. Juno and Sarah each kill a creature with their pick-axes, but are disarmed by a second wave of attacking creatures. Sarah kills her attacker by gouging out his eyes, while Juno kills the other by stabbing him through the throat with Sarah's flaming torch.After the fight, a tense stand-off with the pick-axes occurs between Juno and Sarah. Momentarily distracted by the sound of more creatures coming near, Juno is stabbed through the leg by Sarah's pick-axe. Just as Juno left Beth to die, Sarah leaves Juno to die. As she runs off, Sarah hears the sounds of the creatures attacking Juno and Juno screaming.Sarah runs into a side cavern and finds it full of bones. At the top of the cavern, daylight peeks through. Sarah frantically climbs to the light and pulls herself up into the woods above, blinded by the daylight. Now maniacal, Sarah runs back to the cars and takes off in one of them. Driving off back down the country roads they had come in on, Sarah is startled by the bloodied figure of Juno appearing in the passenger seat. Shifting her head, Sarah realizes that she's still in the cavern and that her escape was a fantasy. The cavern actually is a dead-end. To comfort herself, Sarah fantasizes about her daughter Jessica giving her the birthday cake again. As Sarah drifts off in her own mind, the sounds of the creatures draw nearer.

Tags: dark, suspenseful, murder, violence, cult, horror, claustrophobic, revenge, entertaining

Review:
Geordie writer-director Neil Marshall has delivered an accomplished, well acted, out and out horror movie that comes as much of a pleasant surprise as his first major feature Dog Soldiers did back in 2002.
Shot in a mere 7 weeks The Descent sees a sextet of undeniably attractive action women leaping headfirst into an Appalachian potholing adventure that goes wrong so quickly you are left wondering if any one of them will survive, let alone ever see daylight again.There are comparisons to be drawn to Marshall's 'Soldiers of course - again the story is stark and wonderfully economic.
Events escalate quickly and the whole ride becomes what can only be described as a non-stop relentless assault on the senses that will demand repeated viewing.The only thing that will ruin this movie for you is word of mouth, which ironically is exactly what this film will need to become commercially viable.
With Dog Soldiers, Neil Marshall created a tight and claustrophobic atmosphere then added the scares to create a very good horror film.
At no point in The Descent are you allowed to relax as Marshall grabs your attention within the first few minutes and doesn't let go until the credits roll at the end.With the film set almost entirely underground, the lack of light is used to wonderful effect and Marshall keeps you on edge for 100 minutes; if you liked Dog Soldiers, 28 Days Later and/or Haute Tension and are sick of the formulaic rubbish being pumped out of Hollywood then The Descent is likely to be right up your street..
So often these days horror movies just aren't scary, they make you jump they have a little bit of atmosphere and that's it, well this film was scary.
The film, like it's big brother 'Dog Soldiers', takes British horror to  it's deserved glory.
Unlike such films as 'Creep', which was a complete  mess, The Descent is a chilling experience that places believable  characters into a situation that is strangely real, despite the obvious  fiction.
I didn't expect anything from this film before I walked into the  theatre it, yet it is the greatest horror I have ever seen, and am  likely to for a very long time..
I just wanted to state that at the start of this review, because it is easy to dismiss a film like The Descent as having some good gore scenes, but little else to commend it from a directorial or cinematographic point of view.
I actually wanted to go see Mr and Mrs Smith but it was showing too late in the evening so we chose this one, not having a clue what it was about.I read the synopsis, a team of women exploring some cave and finding they were not alone...Well, just prepare yourself for your worst nightmare, because once it starts, it doesn't stop until the end.Just brilliant!!!
The 'negative' character is built in a very realistic way to scare your spirit off.To me, this was a FLAWLESS horror movie that couldn't have been done better!
The Descent is by no means a classic or even a good horror movie, but it is better than most of the schlock horror films we see today.Preposterous Scenario, Horrible Creatures, No Scares, Little Tension, and Weak Characters.
I don't personally know the authors of this movie, but they couldn't be my friends, not anymore, not from tonight on, since I've seen this horrifically bad horror.
Considering how laborious the set-up is, it's a miracle that an ounce of character development couldn't work its way into this flashy mess.Somebody seemed to think that a handful of taut female bodies with a slathering of attitude would be empathetic enough to involve the viewer, but the characters in this film are so blank and uninteresting that neither I nor the group of folks I watched this with could have cared less what happened to any of them.There have been worse "horror" films made.
Spike of things to come, seeing the creature.etc etc.after this movie i think i came to the conclusion that i'm worn out on these mundane single sided movies where there is a preset method to scare the viewer.1) when you're not on the screen you make no noise what so ever, person on screen turns around and BOO, a friend of yours is now 2 inches from your face "you coming?" 2) people lose about 50 IQ points when faced with danger and add to that an insurmountable curiosity to find out what the source is of every little noise they hear, mind you, without telling anyone about it first.
3) the "villain" is willing to wait in the dark, 2 feet away from it's next potential victim and not make a sound or move, until said victim swings it's light source directly at the villains face, followed by a monster scream from both villain and victim.there are better ways to make a thriller, something that makes you squirm in your seat, but doesn't take use of the cheap tricks to startle you.good example : Red eye..
The one problem I had with DOG SOLDIERS is that it took a long time to get into its stride and it's possibly the only thing it shares with this film , though to be honest it's worse in that respect because we have to wait almost a whole hour before the monsters turn up and until then we have to endure a girls get together in the remote American wilderness .
Compare this narrative structure to something like 28 DAYS LATER which instantly draws the audience into the story , or even better 28 WEEKS LATER which has an absolutely awesome opening ten minutes Right away you can see the difference between the two movies .
Seeing as we have a horror director who can make very different genre films I can't help thinking that if the rumoured 28 MONTHS LATER makes it into production then Neil Marshall would be a strong contender for director .
One common criticism of the first two films in the franchise is that the second halves have a problem sustaining the momentum which is not a problem I've seen with this director's previous work and a grim , downbeat ending would be more in keeping with the 28 franchise than with this type of horror movie.
Other then the cheap pop out scares the only thing this movie has going for it is a slight tension because of the claustrophobic cave atmosphere.
Although this film has not yet been released theatrically in the U.S., I hear it's coming (although I'm sure it will be chopped to death...) and this is one that I would recommend to any real horror fan.Sarah and her friends are extreme sports enthusiasts who enjoy activities like rafting and caving.
Unlike most horror movies where I jolt in my seat with fright because of a sudden blare of music and not because of what happens, this film delivers genuine scares, even without music.
What's remarkable about this low-budget British horror film is just how much tension and, frankly, sheer terror it's able to eke out of the central situation before we're even given but a glimpse of the carnivorous creatures that dwell in the dark.
Once upon a time, the benchmark trapped-in-the-wilderness movies were films like 2,000 Maniacs, The Hills Have Eyes, Cannibal Ferox and Deliverance.
One of em covertly changes the plans and takes the girls to an unmarked cave n like a true horror film they r trapped in it n under attack from forces ......
Unfortunately for them, this cave has yet to be thoroughly explored and an unknown threat lurks in the darkness, ready to attack and threaten their solidarity and sanity.Writer/director Neil Marshall spends ample time building up the characters to the point where they feel real, but also wastes no time in getting to the point.
A claustrophobic's nightmare come true, the film makes sure you're in the cave with the characters as they fight for their lives with a careful balance of character development and spooky atmosphere, achieved by its stunning cinematography and authentic location.
By the time you get to the gore and the creature effects, the movie has already done its job and the rest is just icing on the cake.In fact, that's pretty much what sets "The Descent" apart from most modern horror stories.
With this film, Neil Marshall has certainly earned himself a spot in the echelon of iconic horror movie directors, and is truly a visionary to keep an eye on.A sequel is currently on the horizon, although what would possess Sarah to enter that cave again remains to be seen, especially if you are to go by the original ending -- found in the "Original Unrated Cut" (the true version of the film) -- which leaves nowhere for a sequel to go.
When this decade is looked back upon in future years, "The Descent" will no doubt sit at the top of the pile of films that helped define horror movie cinema in the new millennium..
Director Neil Marshall (who gave us the smashing werewolf movie Dog Soldiers in 2002) returns to the horror scene with an even more intense and horrific adventure.In the North Carolina mountains a band of girlfriends are exploring underground caverns and learn that they are not alone in the black depths of the unknown.The Descent is a fine horror film that has quite a lot of good things going for it, but one thing above all makes this an excellent horror outing - it delivers genuine fear!
Unfortunately, I can't say the same for most horror movies I watch in the theaters.Marshall's story is one that builds extreme tension, even from its opening scenes.
The Descent will undoubtedly go down as one of the best horror films of the year!**** out of ****.
I kept anticipating something scary to happen, but when the "scary" parts did occur, I realized I'd seen them all before.Please, please see this movie only if you feel like wasting a couple of hours of your life..
Each character is beautiful, beautifully developed, and beautifully played - and each in her very own way.The Descent borrows a bit from films such as Alien, Pitch Black and even Lord of the Rings (you will understand this when you see the film), but still, it is several steps above the average horror film.Highly recommended..
In this film you fill find - no plot, no thrill, no plausible character development, no real scary monsters (just some Gollums being thin and rather vulnerable), no real common sense (dares anyone, at least a female, go into unknown caves?), no logical sequence (what on earth was the car accident scene for??), no real performance (all female characters played unbelievably poorly), no medical truth (how can one speak with an ice pick lacerating their throat??), no logic in explaining how those monsters ate and where they got their plentiful amount of food (since bones are numerous), no explanation why the seemingly US vehicle was moving on a British side of the road, no real suspense and no real fright, no humor and no irony.
This terrifying movie packs a certain similarity to 'The cave (2005)' (by Bruce Hunt with Piper Perabo , Lena Headley , Eddie Cibrian) ; both films have virtually the same features , women being trapped in a dark cave , a half dozen of adventurers with peculiar characters and ultimately ominous human-alike that look relatives from bats determined to prey them .
This isn't great, but it has some competence and lessons.If you don't know this little film, it has a long setup period where we have a group of young women  not girls, surely  who arrange to be stranded in a cavern with a threat.There are monsters but the threat is the dark.
this "twist" at the end was a complete anti climax because you're more disappointed that the film hasn't finished then shocked at the outcome.until i saw this film my most excoriating cinema moment was having to listen to the Architect talking to Neo in the 2nd matrix film, i would now gladly watch that scene back to back for 2 hours than have to sit through this again.please somebody stop these people making films, dog soldiers was bad and this was even worse.
This follow up to that film works on the same terms; with tension and atmosphere being more important than characters and substance, and I'm pleased to say that Marshall has created another worthy modern horror flick.
It's clear that he wanted to be more original this time round, as the monsters here are of his own creation rather than being classic horror icons, like the werewolves in Dog Soldiers.
Marshall obviously knows what makes horror movies work too, as he spends much of the film building a foreboding atmosphere, which is complimented by the isolated setting of the cave, which is two miles underground.
For some reason, Marshall has opted to fast edit the sequences, and while this succeeds in being disorientating and true to dark surroundings of the film's environment; it also makes it very difficult to see what's going on - which is never a good thing.The Descent isn't a great film, or even a great genre film, but it's style, effects and fair amount of gore will ensure that horror fans will be pleased; and if that doesn't grab you, the vast amount of tension in the film certainly will.
I think this movie is rated to be scary, because probably only women watch it and women are scared of the dark...
This not only makes for better film-making, but the forces the viewer experience the film on a more intimate level; invoking more uncertainty, tension and terror.Also, Marshall uses the penultimate tactic that makes any horror movie good.
If yo want to watch some girls screaming more than twenty times in one movie then it's the film for you.
e.g. the excellent Alien, Leviathan, Deep Blue Sea, Jurassic Park, Deep Rising, Ghost Ship to name but a few.) In The Descent, the group of people get trapped in a cave and the predators soon arrive.The problem I had with this movie is that I didn't particularly care about the "good guys" and actually started to feel sorry for the "bad guys" whose lives in the cave had been so rudely intruded upon.Having said all that, it was probably worth the admission price, I've seen a lot worse.If you do go to see it, keep an eve on the body count on both sides..
Half the time I cannot see what's going on, and the fact that most of the characters look and sound the same it's hard to tell what is happening to whom.You don't really expect great acting or character development in a horror, so I won't even comment about that.
The tension build up was quite good although when it got to the d-r-a-w-n out horror part, I'd lost any 'caring' for the characters and couldn't wait until the end.
Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to call it a bad film I can't bring myself to say it was good either.It certainly has some good moments, but sadly it has a lot of dull moments as well, some people will prefer the pace of the first half of the movie, others like me will prefer it when it picks up a bit in the second half.I think one problem was having too many characters, none of which we really get to know and therefore care about, I found it hard to care about the fate of these complete strangers.
As i sat down to watch another horror movie on my list, I wasn't to impressed with the beginning, but after the scene were her husband and daughter died i sat up in my chair.This movie is so real-life intense, the characters especially Juno,Sarah and Holly did an amazing job playing their role.This film will take you out of your seat almost breathless with the ending.Two thumbs up to the creators.I finally lived to see a captivating horror movie,you just cant find any good ones these days.
The Descent is as close to a masterpiece as they come, and in my humble opinion it certainly qualifies among the top ten finest horror film of the past twenty years or so.
But apart from all this the Descent contains something that every horror film should utilize- a good screenplay and characters one can relate to/side with.
But apart from all this the Descent contains something that every horror film should utilize- a good screenplay and characters one can relate to/side with.
possibly the most effective and scary horror movie of the year.
Neil Marshall is not a name I was familiar with before seeing his latest film, The Descent; he's made movies released in the UK, which got limited to no release in the US, to which it would be rightful to say that this is the best kind of calling card he could have made.
It's a horror movie that's made with the eye of a professional, one who realizes that the best way to get an audience involved in what comes in the second to third acts of the picture is to make an equally compelling set-up act with the characters.
Unlike a recent horror movie like Saw which induces lots of fancy shmancy photography and editing to try to draw a viewer in, the director knows the best way is to not show what's going on.
This is not to say the film isn't one of the most gory of the year, with enough blood to probably go through two of these newer remakes.The set-up to the film with the girls is quite good (including a beginning involving a certain child that is one of the great modern horror movie beginnings by being realistically horrific), leading one to want to see these girls make it through to the end.