The Descent

I kept hearing that the The Descent was the best horror movie out last year, and so I rented it as soon as it came out. I was definitely not disappointed. In fact, I would have to say it’s one of the only movies outside of some Asian horror (Audition) that actually made me squeal and cringe into a little ball on the couch. My husband kept laughing from upstairs in our loft at the little Media Kitten ball on the couch. I was much upset at him, but I forgave him when he came home one day from work with a sparkling new copy of the DVD of my very own.

In The Descent, a group of adventure loving women get back together for a spelunking trip after one of them has a terrible (and icky, awesome opening scene) accident the year before. Juno, the leader on this trip, promises a real adventure, while the others aren’t terribly sure of themselves, but they are friends, and game for trying it out. Things start out great, despite some discomfort and some sparks between Juno and Sarah (the woman who had the accident). Eventually, the women realize something is wrong when the cave starts looking unfamiliar. Panic sets in, things start coming out of the walls, and the survival instincts set in. That’s when things start getting really fun. Will they make it out alive?

All of the women were great and I really hated to see any of them get killed off. You don’t usually feel that sort of connection with characters in a horror movie, so it was surprising to me to actually get drawn into these women’s plight. To be honest, I’m not really sure which half was scarier, the part before the creepies came out and they were just freaking out to the different aspects of the cave or afterwards when they were fighting off the flesh hungry beasties. There is certainly plenty of gore to tide the blood lovers over and plenty of tension to make you crawl into a ball on the couch. The beasties are second-hand to the true horror – being trapped underground with no way out and no one to trust but yourself.

I can’t recommend The Descent enough. It’s creepy in almost every bit, the characters are well drawn despite the limited playing time, and the survivor instinct true to your heart. You’ve got elements of all sorts of films here, including Alien, The Hills Have Eyes, and a few other classics, but it doesn’t diminish from the worthiness of this film. I can only recommend you see the uncut version, and not the cut American version. Why test audiences always insist on a happy ending for Americans to see I will never understand. The original is so much more true to the movie.

Rating: 5 Purrs, it’s about darn near perfect, but the caught in a hole scene, the ouch my leg scene, and scenes at the end made my day