The Descent
Afraid of the dark? You will be.
One year after a tragic accident, six girlfriends meet in a remote part of the Appalachians for their annual caving trip. Deep below the surface of the earth, disaster strikes when a rock falls and blocks their route back to the surface. The girls soon learn that Juno, the thrill-seeking leader of the expedition, has brought them to an unexplored cave and that as a result no one knows where they are to come rescue them. The group splinters and each push on, praying for another exit. But there is something else lurking under the earth - a race of monstrous humanoid creatures that are adapted perfectly to life in the dark. As the friends realize they are now prey, they are forced to unleash their most primal instincts in an all-out war against an unspeakable horror—one that attacks without warning, again and again and again.
Member Reviews
One of the best horror movies in recent years - Lone_Wolf
I’m usually not a big fan of the horror genre. Horror movies are typically filled with clichés, terrible performances, horrendous direction, ect. It’s rare that I will see any one of the dozens of horror movies coming out these days. However, I decided to check out The Descent because it had really good reviews and because it comes from the director of Dog Soldiers, a straight to DVD horror movie that happens to be a guilty pleasure of mine. As it so happens, The Descent turned out to be one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in years.
What I liked best about it was it avoids many dangerous conventions that other horror movies so easily fall prey to. For example, instead of having the cliché of “group of guys and their girlfriends are out in a forest and the black guy gets killed first”, they have an all female cast. Other than an extremely short lived character at the beginning of the movie is a guy, everyone else is female. Because of this, the movie avoids a tonne of clichés including females having to constantly be rescued by guys. No, in The Descent these girls are tough.
In addition to the interesting idea of having an all female cast, The Descent makes a wonderful decision to not reveal any of the ‘monsters’ for nearly an hour. This way the movie is able to slowly build suspense, and I thought the way the first half of the movie is simply dedicated to showing how far the woman are going into the Earth was great. The further they go the darker it gets and the more tension builds. Instead of just having a bunch of jump scares, The Descent scares you because of the suspense that is built as well as the element of the unknown. Sure, a ghost is scary but it’s really just a ghost. A masked killer is scary, but he’s just a guy with a mask and a knife. The Descent is horrifying because the audience doesn’t know what in the world those creatures in the cave are. The unknown is often what is scariest to us, and The Descent capitalizes on this marvelouslyA Hidden Gem of Horror - Just_Lacks_Zazz
I began the Descent with a friend of mine with the same mindset I have with every modern day horror: that it's going to be awful. To my pleasant surprise, it was the exact opposite.
The Descent begins with a somewhat sketchy back story which isn't anything special but it does get the job done and sets the stage for the upcoming terror nicely. As we go down into the earth with the characters, the development of a claustrophobic atmosphere occurs almost instantly which I have to say is the best part of this movie. Shortly after, it quickly makes way to a sense of absolute hopelessness. This movie bothered me enough before the monsters were introduced and I just about fell off of my chair when they were. Afterward, the movie loses a bit of it's scaring capabilities but it really doesn't lose it's greatness. From there on it just gets better and better. Make sure to watch this movie, it's great from start to finish!You liked it, really? - StrbrryShtcake
I'm surprised that this has a 3+ star rating. Unlike some of the other unimpressed reviewers, I didn't even think this movie started off with any real potential. The whole thing was cheesy and those women were just plain irritating to watch. Glad there's a group out there who can appreciate this and that the cost of production wasn't a complete waste, but I'm sorry that I sat through the whole thing because that's time I can never get back. If this movie had been produced in the 70's like so many classic thrillers and horror flicks, we would have had lower expectations, but in this day and age with the technology available, I crave more.
Potential viewers: consider yourselves warned.
Member Reviews
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One of the best horror movies in recent years - Lone_Wolf
I’m usually not a big fan of the horror genre. Horror movies are typically filled with clichés, terrible performances, horrendous direction, ect. It’s rare that I will see any one of the dozens of horror movies coming out these days. However, I decided to ...A Hidden Gem of Horror - Just_Lacks_Zazz
I began the Descent with a friend of mine with the same mindset I have with every modern day horror: that it's going to be awful. To my pleasant surprise, it was the exact opposite.
The Descent begins with a somewhat sketchy back story which isn't ...You liked it, really? - StrbrryShtcake
I'm surprised that this has a 3+ star rating. Unlike some of the other unimpressed reviewers, I didn't even think this movie started off with any real potential. The whole thing was cheesy and those women were just plain irritating to watch. Glad there's a ...