review: The Descent (2005)
8 / 10
REVIEW:
I'd put off watching this for a long time because I didn't think it looked like my kind of horror. I read a brief description somewhere that was trying to keep things vague, and I think it ended up being too vague because all it said was: a group of women go on a caving expedition that goes horribly wrong. Sounded like a survival drama celebrating the triumphs of the human spirit, or something. But then it had a lot of positive reviews in the horror category, so I decided to give it a shot. And maybe my tastes have changed because I WAS SO WRONG about it not being my kind of horror.
The only complaints I have about this movie that prevent it from being a 9/10 are the cheap scares at the beginning (the tap on the shoulder kind of scare) and the dumb way in which two characters get themselves in trouble for the purposes of progressing the plot. Especially when there are other ways of doing it that aren't going to have your audience saying "dumb move, wtf". Yes, characters in a traumatic situation probably aren't thinking straight, but unless the character is established as being a bit of a doofus, it's a cop-out that's used way, way too many times.
Those two points aside, the rest of the film was done quite well. I liked that it was both a horror story and a character study. It should also be noted that there are two endings: the US version has a crap ending, the UK version (original, uncut) is vastly superior and reflects the intended perspective/meaning/symbolism which was apparently "too dark" for US audiences. (Which is a shame, because it makes Americans look like wusses and that isn't true particularly when so much weird and creepy shit goes on in America.)
Although the premise was about a caving adventure, an activity which I have no interest in, the Descent actually draws on a lot of primal fears that now make me never want to go inside a cave, ever. It's dark. It's claustrophobic. You get lost. You get trapped. There are twisting, tight tunnels and holes and unstable ground and cave-ins and giant bottomless chasms that will kill you because this is no place for human passage. These features alone would have been quite sufficient for a scary scenario, but on top of that, you have these deformed-looking crawlers that will eat you because there doesn't seem to be much fine dining in those caves.
I thought the all-female cast gave it a good dynamic in a survival horror movie, where they were all realistically capable and athletic, but not superhuman glamazons, because all too often women are the weak victims in horror flicks (or overly sympathetic with no self-preservation instinct by being all 'oh, let's stay and care for the sick, infected person who will turn zombie on us any second now') while men are the ones who make practical, useful decisions and lead the team to safety. It's nice to see women in a kickass role -- for gender equality, as it should be painfully obvious I also enjoy seeing men kicking ass a lot.
However, as I said, this isn't about the triumphs of the human spirit in adversity, but a descent into madness, primitive savagery and the baser side of human nature. The main character undergoes a transformation (she went in as a blonde and came out a redhead! just kidding) from normal, though recovering from a traumatic incident, to batshit insane. On the flipside, the next most prominent character starts out in a negative light but redeems herself by becoming noble and loyal. There aren't clear lines as to who's a hero, because they're all flawed.
Bottom line: A very good, realistic horror movie that is less about supernatural spooks and more about human nature.