The Descent

2005

 

Directed by:  Neil Marshall

Written by:  Neil Marshall

Starring:  Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Jackson Mendoza and Alex Reid.

 

From IMDB:

"A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators."

 

 

 

It's nice to watch something shot with a budget that's higher than the cost of my first car.

Good talent and beautifully shot.  Hopefully they'll come up with some original twists and turns.  Be nice to avoid the "everyone dies but one" cliche.  I won't hold out hope.

Strong opening.  Nice set up with the tragedy and the foreshadowing of an affair between the husband and the friend.  That's no spoiler - only a moron would have missed it - not subtle and I see no reason for it to be.

 

This movie moves along nicely. 

 

And the penalty for stupidity is pain.  I love it!!

 

Lots of panic going on.  I imagine I'd be filling my drawers as well if I was being attacked by CHUDs!

 

So Beth is dying and her last act is to tell Sarah "Juno did this - and she was fucking your husband."

She left the part out about how it was an accident - and the husband is already dead.  So what's to be gained?  Bad karma I tell you - that's what!!

 

The final escape scene is so over the top music video it's virtually impossible to really see what the hell is going on but one does manage to follow it.

And Juno certainly didn't deserve her end but some might disagree.

So in the end no one survives - there's a bold new twist :( And it turns out our protagonist is a woman willing to send another woman to a horrible fate for essentially having an affair with her husband - of course there was Beth's little white sin of omission - so that is factor - but still, some chicken shit writing in an otherwise EXCELLENT film.

 

I'm giving it 4 Bloody Eyes out of 5.