------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Rating : 6/10
Directed By : Neil Marshall
Shauna Macdonald
Natalie Jackson Mendoza
Alex Reid (Arachnid)
Saskia Mulder
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Dec. 22, 2006
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PLOT A group of female friends led by Juno encounter bloodthirsty creatures when they get trapped in a mountain cave due to rockfall. Worst of all they their friendships sour and they discover their real fear is from each other... |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| THE REVIEW In Neil Marshall's THE DESCENT, we follow a group of female friends as they reunite with each other to go on a caving expedition. The group in lead by the seemingly fearless Juno, whom is obviously the most experienced of the six. But no matter how experienced she may be, she forgets to bring a long a map and this lands her and her friends in an unfamiliar place, a cave that is not located on any map - a place no one knows about, Curious to go on and explore, Juno encourages the girls to continue their exploration into the unknown cave, and as time passes their friendships begin to crack, but soon they find out that strained friendships won't be the only troubles they face in the cave. Just when the women think the cave is undiscovered and that they are alone, they find some old caving equipment, presumingly left behind by exibitionist that didn't make it out alive - unfortunately for the females they would soon find out why. It seems that located deep within the cave live a unique breed of flesh eating creatures, whom have no sight so they rely on sound as an instinct to find food, and guess what> they're hungry! Soon the women must throw away all tension they have with one another, and band together to fight for their lives, but one major obstacle left standing in their way is that they are unaware of a way out of the cave, leaving the friends virtually trapped. THE DESCENT happens to be yet another foreign import, this time from the UK, the film was released here in America, most likely due to another successful import - that being WOLF CREEK. While everyone it seems praised WOLF CREEK, I did not in fact I found it rather boring and uninspired. When I popped in THE DESCENT today to watch, I kept an open mind and hoped not to have yet another WOLF CREEK on my hands. Thankfully that was not the case this time, yes THE DESCENT takes a while to get fully kicked off full throttle, but once it does, a film that starts off more like an adventure film suddenly turns into an action packed Horror flick. Director Neil Marshall does a fabulous job on bringing his very specific vision from script to screen. The majority of the film is shit in the darkest light possible at the same time illuminated with very faint hues(,often a red-ish tint) this lighting adds an even more frightening atmosphere, as if the caves itself weren't enough. Marshall, as I mentioned made it very clear that he wanted the film to be as dark as possible, and come to think of it, the scariest things always come out of the dark as he shows us here - there as many instances in which the creatures are nowhere in sight and then.......BOOM, to tell you the truth I jumped quite a few times through out. As with any great Horror film, in order to keep the audience interested and have them care.... you must give them character's they will care about. I really liked the idea of having an all female cast, as it is relatively new and fresh in the Horror genre.(and it helped a great deal that I happen to be a guy too) All six leading character's are extremely likeable and real, you really do get the genuine feeling that all of them are very good friends who go way back and when the fight amongst each other, you get a sense od real tension also - the relationships never stray away from reality. Even though there are indeed six principal characters here, one in particular by the name of Sarah is singled out. At the film's beginning, it starts off on a high note, as it displays Sarah, along with her Daughter and Husband driving along, only to violently crash and as a result Sarah's Husband and Daughter's lives are lost. In the film it is apparent that Sarah is the most distant of all of the female, as she stays quiet and often experiences flashbacks with involves her late Daughter's Birthday Party, with her blowing out candles. Shauna Macdonald does a fantastic job as the troubled Sarah, you really feel for her character, as she has already gone through personal hell only to end up in another - you really find yourself rooting for Sarah the most to be honest. When it comes down to it, as much as I liked THE DESCENT, there were a few flaws, for instance the Birthday party flashbacks I mentioned above. These are never really explained and really just show up out of nowhere with no explanation - not to mention that Sarah continuously on occasion begins to hear her deceased Daughter's voice - what's with that? Also let's just say I wasn't liking the ending, (which IS the UK ending if you buy the Original Unrated cut DVD) and if I were to explain why I would be spoiling it for those who have yet to see the film.... Overall, THE DESCENT is a good film, but in my opinion it is not great. While it is definitely better than American rip-off's like THE CAVE and THE CAVERN, THE DESCENT is a film that seems to be little over hyped. |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| GORE
METER 5.5/10 The gore is great, and it all starts off with the car crash in which some impalements occur. We also get the creatures eating away at human flesh and multiple stabbings - but one of the downfalls is that sometimes it is too dark to fully see everything. |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| MUSICAL
SCORE 6/10 I really enjoyed the score, it was rather strong and powerful and added a level of excitement to the thrilling action on screen. |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM THE DESCENT, is beautifully shot and handled by it's Director and has that eerie feeling a Horror film should have. I thoroughly enjoyed the film but I couldn't help but have a need and want for more explanation for the elements within the story that seemed to have been randomly thrown in, I recommend when renting or buying to pick up the Original Uncut version, because it has the original UK ending as it was intended and not the US ending which was trimmed back - All in all it is a good film to kick back and have fun with due to it's fast paced suspense.... but it is not the film all of the hype surrounding it shapes it to be... This DVD will be released December 26, 2006 |
||||
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| STILLS | ||||
|
