Director and screenplay writer Neil Marshall follows his semi-successful horror film Dog Soldiers (a film about Werewolves in essence) follows on with a much more interesting and less predictable (though still predictable) tale of a group of women who venture on a caving expedition that goes horribly wrong. As lives are lost, and paranoia creeps up on our adventurers, they become suddenly all too aware that they are not alone in the caves.
Like From Dusk Till Dawn, The Descent is a two part film. The first part deals with Sarah (Shauna McDonald) as she comes to terms with the loss of her husband and daughter in a car accident which she survived. Suggestions are put into place about the purity of the marriage before the death, with another character seemingly wanting to be a part of the picture in Juno (Natalie Mendoza).
Things start to unravel between Juno and Sarah, and at the same time the characters become stuck in cave where going back is not an option. It soons transpires that they are in a part of tunnel which has not been excavated before, and therefore they aren’t likely to be found by a rescue team.
The second half of the film deals with what lurks beneath the caves, and crawls around in the form of monsters. It’s predictable that we’d get cave dwellers who feast on unsuspecting cavers in the prime of their youth, and that a number of bodies would be lost on their way out. What’s done well is the pace at which the film lends the actors near death moments, without killing them off instantly.
There’s always the possibility that more will survive if they hold together and defeat the unknown. What’s also well created is the mood and atmosphere as Juno and Sarah’s friendship starts to strain, and the truth is reveleed that links the two together. The almost dramatic change in Sarah is a little far fetched and hard to swallow. On the one hand she has nothing to lose, but going in guns blazing you’d think she fought in the Vietnam war carrying out stealth kills. It’s more than a little preposterous, but you have to suspend disbelief and sit back and enjoy the violence.
Talking of violence, The Descent has more than its fair share of it. Like Dog Soldiers, if you’re of the squemish nature then you’ll probably need a bucket. Gruesome, aggresive and bloody are understated terms of what is on display. Heads, torsos and limbs are severed, broken, crushed in fine horror fashion spraying and splattering over the face of the killers. It’s as brutal as it is unforgiving, and much of the violence dished out is for survival, and much of it carried out by a sudden super woman in the throes of murderous cave monsters.
Neil Marshall’s direction of the first half impressed me more than the gore fest of the second half. Approaching an intelligent psychological drama about cavers, he seemed to give and depend on the easiest way out of introducting monsters into the frey.
In reality Marhsall could have created as intense an experience without falling back on his favourite genre. It was quite engaging to follow the bonding of the female cast and their perilous trek into the labyrinth of death with not a creature insight. It’s disappointing Marshall didn’t continue with the theme, because as it stands The Descent is a decent but unremarkable chiller which gets somethings right, and other parts completely wrong where suspension of disbelief becomes difficult and improbable.
Credit to the cast who perform well in all circusmtances, creating a brilliant tension and keeping the viewer on the edge. You feel empathy as well as admiration for the resilience the female protagnists find themselves, willing and hoping for their survival, or a violent and bloody death if you were so inclined. There are a couple of dumb plot moments, and it’s not for the weak of heart, but The Descent is a solid film which is lifted above average by a all round performance by the cast.
Verdict: A tense and entertaining horror chiller with an enjoyable cast and tight direction