The Descent: a full review (spoilers)

Yes, there are spoilers here. If you are thinking of seeing the movie, and want to enjoy what you can, turn away.

First of all, I have to say that the casting was fairly good. The women actually felt real when they were interacting, so their dialogue was not only decently written, but they also delivered the lines fairly well. They felt like old friends when they meet up in the begining, and you don't feel very forced into the situation, and their interaction doesn't confuse you that much.

The movie takes place in the Appalacian Mountains, which pulled me into the setting. I'm from the area, and the movie looks like it really was filmed in the area. The cave setting was also well thought out, and when they were exploring they actually looked like they knew what they were doing. No easily noted mistakes as far as technique goes. A few people in the audience chuckled here and their when they were climbing, but with a little background you could tell someone in charge has actual experience.

So far it sounds as though the movie is good, right? After all, they advertise it to be the best horror movie since Alien. That's a big statement, and with so much attention to detail it may very well be for much of the public. For me, however, the horror aspect makes the movie fall apart.

The movie opens with an introduction of the main character, and the tramatic death of her family (esp. her daughter). Basically, they are setting up a tragic streak into the character to seperate her from the rest of the cast later on. The others are cheerful and eager to cavedive, while she is joining them to try to overcome her trama. She takes pills to calm her nerves, so you know she isn't wholely recovered mentally.

This mental trama presents itself early on with mindtrips that lead into "boo-scares" - sudden events that make you jump and question what's real. These early moments feel forced into the movie due to its genre, as if there are a required number of audience jumps per 15 minutes. The car wrecking and the deaths were acceptible, because they didn't actually show the death. It was implied and your mind is welcome to imagine the worst. The other moments made no sense, and pulled me out of the story briefly.

I hate boo-scares. I personally am fond of horror movies that creep you out atmospherically, or make you wonder about what is really happening. Boo-scares feel cheap and exploitational. They make you jump because sudden noise. I want to feel icky about what is presented by allowing my brain to fill in the gap. Trust me, my imagination can come up with things Hollywood will never put onto film.

Later after the enter the cave, the movie feels like it was finally begining. This isn't a good thing, but I can't complain too much since much of the time was spent devloping character traits. As they travel deeper into the cave, things begin to grow strange. Caves can be strange, which is part of the draw of them. Sound is distorted, perception is dulled, and irrational fears are magnified. Afterall, Batman lives in a cave and his main weapon is fear.

One thing I do have to point out now that I am talking about the cave. I have to point out that I really liked the choice in how to film the movie. There is no natural ambient light. If there is no light it is black, like a real cave. The only sources of light for the whole cast are the headlamps, flashlights, flares, glowsticks, and a digital camera with nightvision. When someone is talking, someone is looking at them so you see them talking. When they look into cave rooms you can only see as far as they would see, and shadows dance everywhere. In tunnels and pipes you feel very trapped.

Anyway, the main character hears a child periodically, which you assume is her hearing her child. She's crazy, remember? She is told by the trip leader that things are not as they seem in caves and to stick with the group. The noises do make her break away to try to find the source of the sounds, which is almost always Stupid Horror Movie Rule #2. This leads into the interaction with the freaky dwellers in the dark.

Rule #1 is that the girl must twist her ankle while being chased, and since there is no "girl" stereotype it doesn't apply. The whole cast is female, and there isn't a romantic relationship between any of them. Instead you have close friends and sisters. There is a bond between them all, and that bond is stressed as the movie progresses.

The creatures in the cave are eerie when introduced, and very much like the alien from Alien. It appears and vanishes into the shadow. It runs around the group, crawls on the walls, and they can't see it well enough to get a good look. After this initial confrontation, however, the movie falls apart.

You see a lot of the monster, because there is more than one and they have actual weaknesses that get figured out an exploited by our split up group of girls. After you get face to face with them, and they are in full light, they are more repulsing than frightning. You no longer freaked out by them, but you do feel a level of direness in the situation.

Attention was paid to how the creatures would act. They can't see like nearly all cave life, but hunt by sound. However, I have two major troubles with the creatures.

First of all, the noises they make are snake hisses and hyena calls. They don't fit. What they should have done is have human voices making wierd noises, because that would have only aided the disgust of the human like creatures. Besides, they had previously used those noises in Pitch Black, and they mostly worked then - the creatures were not humanoid.

Second, though the make up and effects were quite good, they were total ripoffs of Count Orlok. The name may not be familiar, but he's the vampire from Nosferatu. Pointed ears, clawed hands, and most telling they have the two fangs in the very front (instead of canines). He's featured not only in Nosferatu, but also Shadow of the Vampire - another of my more favorite movies.

I'm not going to give the whole movie away, but it does spiral into a bit of a metaphor. In the end it comes down to what you (or the girls) are willing to do to survive, and how loyalty plays a role. It feels like they were also making a point that to be an ultimate survivor you have to lose your humanity.

...and then they give you a final boo-scare that makes no sense and ruins the feeling of the end of the movie.

For a horror film, it really is one of the better ones to be released in a long time. Sadly, it content choices in the begining and ending prevent it from me fully enjoying it.

Overall, I'd grade it a C+
Worth admission, but no food or drinks. Best if you see it in a group, not so good alone.