The Descent

I haven’t seen this one since it was in theaters and it’s way more interesting than I remembered.  I mean I liked it but the ratio of horror movie to non-horror movie was less than memory served and also after watching Neil Marshall’s previous picture (Dog Soldiers) I have a newfound appreciation for the guy.

Now I’m gonna assume that you’ve seen this already because even if you haven’t someone told you all about this fuckin’ thing.  Am I right or am I right?

So the traditional horror part is only the last half hour while the cave and intro parts make up roughly an hour.  I remember it being more like 50/50.  And because of that this movie caught me off guard again.  Well first of all I think the spelunking part can work as horror for some people and I’ll admit that I’m one of them.  It’s not the claustrophobia aspect but the fear of going into a fucking hole in the ground with your only exit being tiny tubes that just lead to other rooms made of fucking rock and there’s no way you can call for help or for people to come and get you and it’s pitch black down there and fuck man.  Not to mention on top of all of this is the possibility of a cave in at any moment.  Between the tight spaces, the darkness, remoteness, danger factor and idea of venturing into the unknown there’s a lot of creepy shit that this cave exploring premise has built into it.

Then the creature part is your payoff.  The spelunking-gone-wrong section goes on for so long and you get caught up in it that either you forget that there are supposed to be monsters in this or you begin to wonder what the fuck your friends were talking about when they told you about these cave crawlers.  It’s a risky way to do a horror film but it works here.  I’m glad there wasn’t a rash of pictures after this came out with the first two thirds about one thing that’s maybe a little creepy and the last third filled with typical scary movie shit.  That trend would’ve been a fucking bore. 

You see I knew how the monsters were revealed and it got me pretty good the first time.  But even this time around this fuckin’ film got me again.  I mean I literally said out loud to no one “fuck, they got me again” and I had to rewind the movie so I could pay more attention to the reveal.  I can’t believe Marshall fuckin’ set the trap, lulled me in and caught me sleeping twice.  And having the *bam* horror stab happen a second after the creature appears on the camera is more effective than if they had the appearance and the stab occur at the same time.  Because when the video camera pans over the first thing you see is one of our characters and when you finally notice the monster it’s synced to the horror stab.  It’s almost like the stab plays just for you.

That ending is pretty fucking good too.  I love that Marshall put that (sort of) happy ending in there for everyone and then said “This is how you expect this to end right?  Well fuck you.  I’m gonna end this motherfucker the way I want to.”  It would’ve been ballsy enough to have a bleak ending but to dangle a fake hopeful conclusion in front of your face only to take it away immediately is goddamn crazy.  Good for him for sticking to his guns and putting in the ending that he thought was best.

I don’t even really need to go on about the creature battle do I?  On a scale, the trapped-in-a-cave part is probably about a 4 but Jesus the last half hour they crank it up to 11.  So much blood, so many brutal deaths, such ferocity, such brutality and even though it’s short, so satisfying.  After all the shit that these women have been through it feels so good to see them get out their frustrations unmercifully on these fucking beasts.

Marshall sure has a strange and interesting idea of what a horror movie can be.  Dog Soldiers is straight forward: a group of soldiers fight werewolves.  That’s a little different than The Descent’s premise: a group of friends go spelunking, get trapped in a cave, endure hardship while trying to find a way out, encounter and combat humanoid cave creatures that try to eat them, no one gets out of the cave.  Man, that must’ve been a hard sell to studios.  Well I’m glad Marshall made it and that the film was successful. 

You can officially count me as a Neil Marshall fan (for those of you that tally that sort of thing).  I dig his little-CGI-as-possible approach and his incredible sense for action.  His shooting style has improved a bunch in his second go around which is nice to see.  Apparently there were no real caves used in this film and that’s really impressive because the sets look phenomenally real.  Marshall knows what the fuck he’s doing guys.  The way The Descent is constructed could’ve been disastrous (and on paper it should’ve been) but Marshall knew it would work.  He admits that he ripped off the idea of reevaluating what a happy ending is from Brazil (meaning if the character is content in their own mind is that considered a happy ending (our lead is still stuck in the cave but has finally found some inner peace) or is something more traditional only considered a happy ending (escaping the cave)).  It’s a fascinating idea and not something that you would expect out of a horror picture.  This is way deeper than Dog Soldiers folks.      

If you haven’t seen this sonuvabitch and you read this piece anyway I don’t know what the fuck your problem is.  Get a hold of a copy and check it out.  I wouldn’t go as far to say that this is a classic but parts of it are excellent.  This one’s difficult to categorize and an anomaly in horror.  It’s certainly different and definitely good.