The Descent

Regular readers of my comments know I am interested in cinematic architecture.

There's built space of course, but much cooler is when a filmmaker deals with the non-physical: architectural fire or water. Smoke.

And then there's perhaps the hardest of them, architectural darkness. Form of the formless, containment by absence, the pressing in of the absence of light.

"Ghosts of Mars" did a bit of it, poorly, and it is exceedingly rare overall. That's why I celebrate any attempt. 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 isn't terrific cinematic engineering, that part all seems to be hit and miss. But it does have terrific pacing overall and that attention to pacing extends to the use of darkness and the various lighting devices they have at their disposal.

Much use is made of the point of view nature of the lighting: flashlights and cameras and even after they are gone much of the blocking uses those sensibilities. Its a subtle fold, but so very effective. It makes us see what these women do and joins us to them in terror.

There's an effective plot device that pings off this. One of our women has visions, which we follow until we have our legs pulled out from us and her. The ending has one of these — two endings — where we aren't quite sure which is real and which imagined. The idea that both are true is the most unsettling.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

When I read that "The Descent" featured an all women cast I expected a T+A extravaganza with spelunkers in too tight T-shirts and panties cavorting beneath the earth. I was disappointed. What I saw was a scary movie. I am not by nature claustrophobic but a few scenes of the close quarters they were climbing through left me squirming in my seat. I can't continue the review without issuing a SPOILER alert since I will be discussing critical movie facts. The movie was very spookily lit with looming shadows and false colors and was expertly designed. The creatures living below ground were creepy and scary since often they were only glimpsed in the shadows. I hadn't expected the death count to be so high nor the movie to be so bloody. I flinched often during the movie due to the sudden appearance of the creatures or from the wounds suffered by the cast. The pace of the movie once they began the cave exploration was very fast and of course with this type of movie a deeper examination of the facts reveals some plot holes but events move too fast for reflection. I can't say I liked or agreed with some events in the end of the movie. I think Juno, maybe not the best person in the group, was unfairly judged and condemned. None the less the movie was very effective in scaring me and holding my attention. The fact that it had, primarily, an all women cast was hardly noticeable. This is not a chick flic. Worth seeing.

The Descent is an exceptionally good film. 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. However, with what must have been a budget that pales into insignificance when compared to films like Ring 2, the film packs in top class gore with exquisitely detailed 'creatures' and brilliantly claustrophobic cinematography.

Films with great gore abound, for example Jason X, with the audience just waiting for the next gruesome killing to end the tedium in between. However, The Descent keeps you at the edge of your seat throughout, struggling for breath as you feel the walls in the cinema closing in. This is a film to watch in a very dark cinema with great surround sound. You almost feel the creatures closing in around you.

I would have given 10 out of 10, but some of the acting is not top class, so that brings it down to 9 out of 10 for me. That aside, this is a must watch film for those who complain that horror films just aren't scary anymore. Just make sure that whoever you take with you is prepared for the experience. Word of mouth is sure to make this film a success.

An interesting and differentiated horror movie in the "gore" style. It is above average for the genre. It started slowly, but after half it became interesting, maintaining a tense atmosphere, a little frightening and claustrophobic. The atmosphere is good. It can be divided into two parts: before and after the cave. You sit on the armchair during the exhibition with that feeling of agony and distress. It escapes from the usual clichés to the genre, having an unconventional and surprising ending. There are some logic flaws in the plot and the characters, but nothing that compromises the story. The curiosity is to see the cast practically all feminine. It's worth as entertainment. I recommend it to all lovers of horror art.

The Descent is a film that plays with the theme of claustrophobia. Effective usage of lighting. I am pleasantly shocked by how well orchestrated this film is.