The movie’s still only available in Europe but hopefully it will get a worldwide release. It deserves it. Good horror movies are rare and far in between.
Neil Marshall’s previous movie, Dog Soldiers, follows a similar course but I like this one better. Monsters excluded, it’s an all-girl cast which strikes an interesting balance between blood baths and hysteria.
I liked the cinematography and set design – except the “night vision” mode. Unless it’s a Paris Hilton movie, it’s better keep to the “night vision” off. The movie was shot on a £3.5M (about $7M ) budget in Pinewood studios in England. The establishing/exterior shots come from Scottland but since I’ve never been to the Appalachians, I bought it.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This movie is free from allegory. There are a few “dream” sequences but overall what you see is what you get. A lot of people seem to (want to) misinterpret the ending so here’s the plot outline, clear and simple:
1. Movie opens with Sarah, Juno, and Jessica white water rafting. End of “Prologue” ends in blood – Sarah’s husband and daughter die in the car crash.
2. One year later, Sarah’s still recovering from the trauma, she’s still on medication. Juno invites her to a cave expedition in the Appalachian Mountains.
3. Juno leads them to an unexplored cave (instead of the planned one). The cave entrance/corridor collapses trapping the 6 women inside.
4. Sarah sees a crawler – a primitive humanoid whose evolved for life in complete darkness (the crawlers appear Gollum-like, the difference being they’re all blind). The crawlers are hungry (duh!) and go after the women.
5. During the fight, Juno accidentally stabs Jessica and leaves her to die.
6. Sarah is lost in the cave but eventually finds the dying Jessica. Jessica tells her Juno stabbed her and also gives her Juno’s pendant which is indication Juno had an affair with Sarah’s husband. All but Juno and Sarah die in the hands (nails, and teeth) of the crawlers.
7. Juno and Sarah get close to the exit and another fight with crawlers ensues. Once the crawlers are dead, a psycho Sarah stabs Juno in the leg to avenge Jessica and to punish her for the affair.
8. Juno is left to die, buying precious time for Sarah to escape. Sarah falls – fade out. She’s out in the open, goes to the Jeep and hits the road.
9. Unfortunately, this is a dream sequence and once she wakes up, she’s back in the cave, staring in the darkness, seeing her dead daughter. Arguably, she accepts her fate.
The performances are solid and the monster make-up is convincing. Neil Marshall’s pulling all the right strings. The movie raised quite a few hairs on my neck. Then again, I thought the Diablo 2 trailers were scary. Wait till Blizzard release Diablo 3.
If you enjoy monster horror, forget Doom The Movie and go see this one. I still can’t turn the lights off and it’s way past midnight. Brrr…
Ohhh!. Add this:
10. There are no monsters in the caves. It was Sarah.
X_x
I’m not a big horror fan but this seems like feminist horror so I maybe I’ll give it a chance
Hey Pavel,
You’re dead wrong on this one – I saw the monsters. See first screenshot I took
My reasoning is simple: if they exist on the payroll, they better exist in real life too. The IMDb lists at least several people starring as the monsters. They probably got paid since they probably didn’t do it for fame.
It’s not precisely feminist horror. Juno’s a strong character, and so is Sarah, but the character development is fairly lacking. Although the typical half-naked cheerleader deaths are missing, this isn’t exactly stereotype free.
It’s worth watching, but I’m always too much of a pragmatist for these movies. (Spoilers.)
So there’s a huge pile of bones – presumably animals that were eaten by these crawlers. You know, whenever *I* eat my dinner, I drag it two miles underground first . . . and it’s not exactly like there’s three of these things. In fact, there’s a very decent breeding population. Think about how many deer it would take to feed them . . . and how do they hunt the deer anyway, if they’re “perfectly suited for a cave environment”? Grrr.
For most people, it won’t matter, but it does for me. I like my horror to be sort of logical.
I agree with you Davros… unless the movie is a “fun” horror movie like Sam Raimi’s “Army of Darkness”, they better make at least some sense.
I’d buy genetic mutations (Resident Evil, Doom) or creepy aliens (Alien, Predator) but I find whole cultures living in caves a bit of a tough sell.
On the other hand, the bones served an “aesthetic” purpose and as such I’m OK with the director’s decision.
this movie was amazing i was screaming during the film. Definitely the best horror movie that I’ve seen.. Congratulations!
first of, this is not a feminist movie (see the barbara creed’s monstrous-feminine book)
second, oh my god! i am a fan of horror/gore movies… and this is… i haven’t felt like this since i watched evil dead when i was a child…
I just got back from seeing The Descent and it surprised me, i expected it to be good but not great, the (creatures) humanoids were absolutely horrifying, i jumped out of my seat once or twice (but that would be because of the fat lady infront of me screaming at every bite they took at one of the women) im not gonna be able to sleep tonight. but i didnt want Juno to die the way she did her figure was so…compelling. lol (but she got what was coming) at the end was Sarah dreaming when she saw Juno again in her car? i never really got that? hmmm
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no offence or anything but when ur goin on bout JESSICA her name is actually BETH!!!! u idiots she’s the best character!!
i really enjoy The Descent….
it got me scare… i got claustrophobic..
but i enjoyed it i have something else to tell about it but i dont know
if someone is going to read this!! see ya
well, I just saw the movie at home. So it obviously wasn’t as terrorising as if I had seen it in the movies. The ending (I beleive it was the U.S version) was really frustrating. I found it disapointing. I think it is meant to be as all hope of the main characters survival has been lost as we realise her escape from the cave it is just another one of the main characters dreams.
I agree with Davros as the whole living concept of the cralwlers doesn’t make sense. Other than what Davros stated ‘So there’s a huge pile of bones – presumably animals that were eaten by these crawlers. You know, whenever *I* eat my dinner, I drag it two miles underground first . . . and it’s not exactly like there’s three of these things. In fact, there’s a very decent breeding population. Think about how many deer it would take to feed them . . . and how do they hunt the deer anyway?’
Ontop of this, in the scene where one of the woman is (well, kind of casually) filming her friend being eaten and she makes a noise which results in one of the crawlers nearly discovering her. How come the crawler can’t feel her body heat? if they can hear so well then why can’t they sense change in temperature?…this drove me crazy throughout the whole intire movie. I understand that when the woman had to endure a crawler or two climbing over them…the crawlers could have just presumed them dead. But presuming that they don’t get much to eat, wouldn’t they have just eaten them anyway?
not happy.
In relation to the ending (U.S);
1) accepting her fate?
2) a flashback to what went through her mind before she climbed up the bones and through the exit?
3) A realisation that she is INSANE, therefore is infact the only monster in the cave and has killed all her friends?
4) An indication that she is going to turn into a crawler?
IT’S TOO OPEN ENDED!!!
The movie also has all these mixed little main storys going on e.g, the dreams of the traumatized main character and the camera recordings which ended up having no sugnificants in the film watsoever.
This film lacks textual intedrity!!!
integrity**
I was not expecting anyone to escape while watching this movie; because for them to get away would have led to them reporting the crawlers to the authorities and a new species being discovered etc. It seemed like the secret would have to stay with them in the cave forever..
It was such a relief when Sarah broke the surface again, but even at that stage I was epecting her to crash the
Jeep or something.
My personal opinion of the ending is that she did make it, and that the final scene with her in the cave again and the birthday cake is just another traumatised memory she has now the burden of carrying.
The ending is open to individual interpretation. Basically either she got out or she just gave up and hallucinated her escape.
If you find the ambiguity frustrating then at least that is an indication the the movie crated a strong sense of empathy with the main charecter – making you desperate to know how she ends up
I think the ending was very good but i think they made it that way because they wanted to leave the ending to the people watching it so they can say she lived or died but theres going to be a DESCENT 2 coming out and they said that its going to pick up with sarah and show what happens.
i loved this film best horror ever!!
i loved juno even tho she had the affiar an killed beth ( she did it by accident) gutted to find out she died but in the new film (descent 2) comeing out they say she is still alve yaaaaaaaaay
I loved the first part it was dramatic and scary at the same time i couldnt sllep that night! but the 2nd movie was fenomenal!!! Juna was still alive although she died at the end… i was kind of disapointed cuz they all died at the end… specially Sarah and Juno ( i dont really care about the other characters) after all they did and how they fought against the creatures they ended up dead!!! =’( and what’s up with the dude at the end… hopefully there’s a 3rd part coming out soon!!!
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