The Descent (2005)

"Hey, there's something down here..."


...there sure is and chances are you probably aren't going to get out alive. Here we go again? Perhaps but perhaps not...

Whilst watching The Descent it seemed apparent that it's director, Neil Marshall, is a big fan of film, especially film of the horror genre. What is also apparent in the modern era is that horror films just aren't very good anymore. For every one horror film that can be considered good, there is about fifty that are pretty terrible. Neil Marshall wanted The Descent to be that one.

The Descent is a claustrophobic British horror film which tells the tale of an all female group of British cave enthusiasts who are venturing up to Scotland on a caving expedition. Upon descending into their chosen cave things quickly take a turn for the worse as strange human-like creatures pursue the women.

I've read many reviews and comments for The Descent many of which praise it for being just a little bit different and more considerate than many horrors, not just focused purely on mindless violence and mutilation of random bodies. So I guess the question is do I agree with this common assessment? My answer would be partly yes and partly no. When we meet the characters we immediately see that Marshall wasn't interesting in falling in to the trap that many modern horror films do in which we see a mixed sex set of 'friends' embarking on whatever trip they may happen to be embarking on. Usually these 'friends' don't actually seem to have that much in common as they all seem to have vastly different personalities so that it becomes easy to separate and recognise them. The Descent however has an all female group as its main protagonists all of whom seem very similar to one another. In fact it was actually quite difficult to establish which character was which due to this similarity but this certainly is not a bad thing. The abandonment of familiar character developments such as this, that we see all the time in horror films, brought a more realistic edge to the story and simply allowed Marshall to 'get on with it'.


Don't get me wrong, The Descent does have it's brutal moments. But instead of over the top gore that simply makes us queasy The Descent truly scares us into caring about the outcome with some horrifying scenes of bodily mutilation nicely blended with a sense of doom, madness and sheer terror. The picture above spoils the ending but it is ending filled with relief. I was genuinely delighted that Sarah escaped and this sense of relief was brought across perfectly with some great acting and writing. After escaping she gets into the girl's vehicle and drives away at great speed, clearly disturbed by the days events.

One thing I rarely get to say about horrors is that there were actually some nice visuals here. The shot through the bullet holes in the road sign as the women make their way to their destination, the beautiful shot of the only surviving female clambering up the rocks as she spots an exit from the caves and the use of red flares to illuminate the caves throughout the film are all excellent. The latter gave the situation an air on impending doom. As the girls celebrate the fact that they have made it down in to the cave by lighting a red flare, the cave is awash with colour as the walls gleam. Is this a sign of the blood that the walls will soon be smothered in? It is a warning sign, red does mean stop after all?

But it is not all positive. The story in general is rather familiar. It is obvious from the get go that the majority of these women will end up dying, probably with one lone figure surviving. Although the usual format of the protagonists each making individual stupid judgments in their 'quest' for death is not apparent in The Descent the film still does follow the plot line mentioned which gives the film the familiar air of inevitability. Furthermore, the use of unrealistic, 'these creatures simply do not exist' predators is another aspect of modern horrors that I do not like but Marshall insists of using them here which disappointed me (but did make me curious to see Eden Lake).

It's not perfect but is a great attempt at bucking modern horror trends that has some brilliant moments along the way and for this it has to be commended. The problem is that Marshall just doesn't go far enough in trying to complete this goal of true originality when it seems clear that he really did want to.

Rating: 7.5/10 - recommended.