One year after a horrific road accident has claimed the lives of
her husband and young daughter in England, Sarah (Shauna McDonald) joins five of
her friends for an excursion into the caves of the Appalachian Mountains in
North Carolina. Arranged by the high-spirited Juno (Natalie Mendoza), the trip
also consists of Sarah’s close friend, schoolteacher Beth (Alex Reid); Rebecca
(Saskia Mulder) and her med-school sister Sam (MyAnna Buring) and Holly
(Nora-Jane Noone), a mischievous extreme sports fanatic who moved to the States
because she ran out of high buildings to base jump from in Scotland.
The trip appears to be just what the doctor ordered for the still-recovering
Sarah, who suffers from horrendous nightmares of the violent deaths of her
family. Their cave excursion, through a well-known underground labyrinth that’s
even mapped by books, should be a piece of cake for this experienced band of
outdoorswomen…or so they think. It turns out that the women have gone spelunking
in a completely unknown cavern system, and when a cave-in traps them two miles
underground, they can’t expect a rescue party to come for them because they’re
so far off the beaten trail. And as if that’s not enough, the women are
seemingly being stalked by strange beings who lurk in the shadows.
If that story description makes The Descent sound just like any other horror
movie, then rest assured, it’s not. Writer/director Neil Marshall (who also
gave us Dog Soldiers) has expertly
fashioned a genuinely gripping horror film that grabs you by the lapels from the
opening scene and never lets go. Working from a solid script, and featuring a
cast of superb actresses, The Descent has you on the edge of your seat because
you actually care for these characters. Shauna McDonald and Natalie Mendoza are
marvelous as Sarah and Juno, the main characters who are polar opposites from
one another, and yet still share a common bond. The claustrophobic and dark
underground setting only serves to heighten the growing tension and
uncompromising horror. And the unnatural Crawlers are handled with marvelous
intensity as well as intelligence; they are genuinely scary horror movie villains.
The well-done special features on the DVD reveal the amazing fact that, although
it mainly takes place in rural North Carolina, this entire film was actually
shot entirely in England. Another interesting fact that’s revealed in The
Descent: Beneath The Scenes is that the actresses were kept separated from the
actors playing the Crawlers--the mysterious and savage denizens of the
underworld--until their very first day of filming together. The reaction of
horror from the women when they get their first glimpse at one of the Crawlers
is all too real, because that was the very first moment the actresses saw them
on the set, as well. The behind the scenes documentary also show that, despite the
film's grim storyline, the cast and crew looked like they had a lot of fun
working on this production. The Descent is a marvelously well-made horror film
that pulls the viewer right into its heart of darkness.
--SF
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