It's never a good idea for B movies to try to evoke feeling for their monster fodder characters. It's enough if you just don't hate the people... The actors are most convincing when they're just screaming.
The Descent (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:159
Fresh:134
Rotten:25
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Deft direction and strong performances from its all-female cast guide The Descent, a riveting, claustrophobic horror film. In this low-budget import from Scotland, director Neil Marshall has masterfully created a spelunking nightmare, which doubles as a compelling meditation on morality, vengeance, and the depths to which we might go for survival.
Rated: 18 [See Full Rating] for strong violence/gore and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:08-07-2005
Synopsis: THE DESCENT is Neil Marshall’s hotly anticipated follow up to his 2002 hit DOG SOLDIERS. Directed by Marshall from his own script, it tells the story of an all-female caving expedition that goes... THE DESCENT is Neil Marshall’s hotly anticipated follow up to his 2002 hit DOG SOLDIERS. Directed by Marshall from his own script, it tells the story of an all-female caving expedition that goes horribly wrong, and stars Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone and Myanna Buring. Set in a cave system deep in the Appalachian Mountains, Marshall describes his film as ‘DELIVERANCE goes underground’. On a daredevil caving holiday, six women friends are unexpectedly trapped underground when a rock fall blocks their exit. Searching the maze of tunnels for a way out, they find themselves hunted by a race of fearless, hungry predators, once humanoid but now monstrously adapted to live in the dark… As the others battle for their lives, Sarah (Macdonald), still recovering from a mental collapse brought on by the recent deaths of her family, is fighting for her sanity. When old secrets are revealed, the friends turn on one another, causing the group to implode. Betrayed and desperate, Sarah realizes that to make it back to the surface, she must become as savage as the creatures themselves. THE DESCENT was filmed on location in Scotland and at Pinewood Studios from December 2004 to February 2005, and was fully financed and produced by Celador Films. Celador’s Paul Smith is executive producer and Christian Colson is producer. The film reunites Marshall with DOG SOLDIERS’ director of photography, Sam McCurdy, and production designer, Simon Bowles. Celador’s previous credits include the Oscar-nominated DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. THE DESCENT movie has already had a hugely successful release both critically and commercially in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. In September, 2005 the film took the top competition prize -- the Méličs d’Argent -- for Euro feature at Lund International Fantastic Film Festival in Sweden, and in November, Neil Marshall won Best Director and the film Best Technical Achievement (for the Editing) at the British Independent Films Awards (BIFA's) (THE DESCENT was nominated for Best Film). It has also been nominated for Best British Film, Best British Director and Best British Producer by the London Film Critics Circle (the winners are announced in February), an unheard of achievement for a genre piece. --© Lionsgate Films [More]
Starring: Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder
Starring: Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring, Oliver Milburn, Molly Kayll
Director: Neil Marshall
Director: Neil Marshall
Producer: Christian Colson
Screenwriter: Neil Marshall
Composer: David Julyan
Studio: Lions Gate Films
Reviews for The Descent
This journey down and inwards, piercing Mother Earth but metaphorically “a descent into madness” and psyche, is not personally involving or convincing.
Technical details and weak characters fail to derail the latest frontrunner in blood soaked underground horror.
Becomes so enthralling and intense that perspective viewers shouldn't be surprised if they forget to breathe for minutes at a time.
By far, the first half is the most effective as the outing goes from bad to disastrous: Sarah [Shauna Macdonald] gets trapped in a tunnel ("Just keep breathing!"), and the rest are lost - this film is not for the claustrophobic.
A lean, mean genre exercise for those who prefer their horror full-blooded.
The Descent only works marginally better than last August's similar creature feature, The Cave.
For my money, [the] first 20 or so minutes are the best in the film. Once the real adventure gets underway in the cave, things get less interesting.
While the movie has wonderful moments of unmotivated tension that make sure we're quite ill at ease from the beginning, it's also got a few too many of the kind of cheap boo-scares that indicate a director not fully trusting his grip on you.
Neil Marshall, who wrote and directed The Descent, is an expert at the slow build that gradually earns our trust and then rewards it by scaring the pants off us.
…taps into the heightened hysteria that made The Blair Witch Project so unnerving.
Tight shots of women desperately wriggling through worm holes or teetering on a ledge overlooking an abyss create a claustrophobic effect, one that leaves the characters gasping for air and the audience breathing shallower.
Do we even need men in horror films any more? They're bound to do something stupid, they almost always get killed in the end and don't look as good covered in sweat and blood.
Prepare to be scared senseless, and then, when you think you have it figured, your certainty will be shaken by scenes built to scare you even more.
The Descent marks the arrival of a major horror talent. And it is, quite simply, one of the best monster movies in years.
This grueling trapped-in-a-cave-with-boogey-men movie is a solid thriller, and a terrific horror experience.
Though "shock scares" usually feel kind of cheap, The Descent uses them as punctuation marks to enhance the larger sense of dread.
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