The Descent (2005)

A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.

Director:

Neil Marshall

Writer:

Neil Marshall

Stars:

Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid

8 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shauna Macdonald	...	Sarah
Natalie Mendoza	...	Juno
Alex Reid	...	Beth
Saskia Mulder	...	Rebecca
MyAnna Buring	...	Sam
Nora-Jane Noone	...	Holly
Oliver Milburn	...	Paul
Molly Kayll	...	Jessica
Craig Conway	...	Crawler - Scar
Leslie Simpson	...	Crawler
Mark Cronfield	...	Crawler
Stephen Lamb	...	Crawler (as Steve Lamb)
Catherine Dyson	...	Crawler
Julie Ellis	...	Crawler
Sophie Trott	...	Crawler

Storyline

A woman goes on vacation with her friends after her husband and daughter encounter a tragic accident. One year later she goes hiking with her friends and they get trapped in the cave. With a lack of supply, they struggle to survive and they meet strange blood thirsty creatures.

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Plot Keywords:

cave | fear | group of friends | survival horror | expedition | 

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Taglines:

Scream your last breath.

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

18A

Did You Know?

Trivia

The opening river rafting scene is only the first of several references to Deliverance (1972) which also includes Juno's sleeveless wetsuit top. There are also brief homages and references to The Shining (1980), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Alien (1979), The Howling (1981), Apocalypse Now (1979), Carrie (1976), and Alan Partridge.

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Goofs

Cars in North Carolina are not required to have front license plates. Also, the license tag is made up of four digits followed by three letters; on North Carolina plates, letters precede numbers.

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Quotes

Juno: Sam's gonna be Doctor Van Ney in like a year's time.
Beth: Please tell me it's longer than that.

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Crazy Credits

While the credits start rolling, there is a picture of all the girls on the background.

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Alternate Versions

SPOILER: The endings of the US and UK versions differ. In the end, Sarah wakes up at the bottom of the cave, crawls out, and makes her way back to the car. When she is driving away, she pulls over and vomits, and when she leans back into the car, she is startled by the ghost of Juno sitting in the passenger seat. The US version cuts to the credits here. In the UK version, this apparition causes Sarah to wake up for real at the bottom of the cave, revealing her escape to be just a dream. She then has a vision of her daughter's birthday cake, which we see is just her torch. The camera backs out, the voices of the creatures can be heard again and are increasing in strength as they are closing in on her, and the movie ends. This ending was considered "too dark" for US audiences.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movie Vacations That Turned Deadly (2020)

User Reviews

Dark, claustrophobic thriller hits the mark

This tense thriller is a terrifying chronicle of six young women who explore caves in the Appalachian Mountains and find unspeakable horror thousands of feet down. A cave-in traps them with no way to retrace their steps, but don't yet know that a terrible fate lurks around the tunnel's next bend. The film is reminiscent of "The Lost Patrol" as the ladies band together as much as they can against a ghoulish and unseen foe, with each girl's nerves pushed to the breaking point. The movie's dark, claustrophobic look adds realism to the ghastly dangers that the young women face and the music score is effective. The girls have several encounters with the predators underground and use torches and climbing gear to fight off their attackers. Natalie Mendoza is the group's ambitious leader who misleads the other women about the caves and also tries to cover up an awful deed she committed in a wild flight to escape. The four other women on this ill-fated expedition are also good in difficult roles. This movie is certainly one of the best films of 2006.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 August 2006 (Canada)

Also Known As:

La descente

Filming Locations:

Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

GBP3,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,911,330, 6 August 2006

Gross USA:

$26,024,456

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$57,130,027

Company Credits

Production Co:

Celador Films, Northmen Productions, Pathe UK

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min 100 min (original unrated cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS (US prints) Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1