The absolutely most horrific moment of the Neil Marshall directed "The Descent" happens quite early in the film. In fact, it occurs before the monsters crawl from the darkness of the caves. The moment I speak of is when the film´s central character, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) becomes wedged in a narrow ´tube´ within a cave and is unable to free her arms and move out of her claustrophobic situation. I´ve been in this sort of situation before and I know how frightening it can be to be stuck. Panic sets in. It becomes difficult to breath and rational thought is quickly replaced by fear. She is then freed by Holly (Nora-Jane Noone) and facing a cave-in within their confined quarters. It is during this early scene that "The Descent" shows promise and threatens to make the caverns of the film a formidable foe and menacing villain.
Then, the filmmakers introduce the crawlers. These vampiric, man-bat creatures have a very humanlike silhouette, but are a pasty-white skinned menace that is unable to see, but can move about any surface within the cave, quickly and dangerously. The crawlers are teased by Marshall shortly after Sarah and Holly escape their predicament in the collapsing tunnel. Part of the fun of a horror film is the slow reveal and unknowing of the monsters. Once an evil creation is revealed, a horror film loses some of the dangerous mystique that maintains a level of chilling suspense. "The Descent" puts another foot forward in the proper direction by showing a glimpse of a crawler and having it quickly scuttle out of the way of the camera´s lens. It was at this point of the film, that I was starting to believe that "The Descent" was moving towards being a modern horror classic.
It could have been and it should have been. However, shortly after the crawlers are revealed, they start to dominate the screen and any creepiness or unknowing fear based upon these dark dwelling creatures is quickly lost. "The Descent" starts to become a scream fest between a collection of very pretty leading ladies and no longer becomes a film of fear, but a fairly predictable blood bath where the Crawlers slowly reduce the number of girls who still have a breath to breathe. It becomes all too clear that the Crawlers greatly outnumber the lost spelunkers and that it is highly unlikely that many, if any, will survive their carnivorous attacks. There is hardly any suspense of a Crawler coming out of the shadows to score another kill, as the Crawlers are given so much screen time, that you know exactly what is going to happen.
Though much of what happens is telegraphed to the viewer before it happens, there are still a couple minor plot twists that provide alternate means of death and demise for the girls. This unrated version of "The Descent" does place into question the predictability with its alternate ending, as the film brings a heavy question to the viewer on what has actually been seen in the film´s ninety-nine minutes. The unrated version ponders whether or not the main character was imagining much of what happened during the film, or if everything seen actually happened. However, once the viewer can comfortable settle on their feelings towards this ending, the twisty ending starts to feel slightly disappointing.
I enjoyed "The Descent" and felt the first half of the film was brilliantly done. However, once the trapped sequence happens after the first forty-minutes, things start to become mundane and typical. "The Descent" could have done to spelunking what "Jaws" did to swimming in the ocean – after seeing the film, you don´t want to enter. Dark and confined caves would have provided an amazing setting for a horror film, but this villain is forgotten after the Crawlers take over the screen. The cave becomes a whole lot easier to traverse and is no longer much of a danger after the Crawlers attack. This film could have been a classic horror film had the Crawlers appeared briefly during the moments of attack, or as occasionally teasers and jump frights. The film was still a lot of fun, as far as horror films go. The concept was still there and the panicked group of girls gave "The Descent" a very fresh feeling. Typically, horror films are not completely comprised of female characters. If they are, it is usually for gratuitous nudity. Surprisingly, "The Descent" does not contain a single bare breast. My hats off to the filmmakers for braking conventions with this film, but I feel they went off path and instead of becoming a scary movie in a cave, it became a far more common monster movie.
Then, the filmmakers introduce the crawlers. These vampiric, man-bat creatures have a very humanlike silhouette, but are a pasty-white skinned menace that is unable to see, but can move about any surface within the cave, quickly and dangerously. The crawlers are teased by Marshall shortly after Sarah and Holly escape their predicament in the collapsing tunnel. Part of the fun of a horror film is the slow reveal and unknowing of the monsters. Once an evil creation is revealed, a horror film loses some of the dangerous mystique that maintains a level of chilling suspense. "The Descent" puts another foot forward in the proper direction by showing a glimpse of a crawler and having it quickly scuttle out of the way of the camera´s lens. It was at this point of the film, that I was starting to believe that "The Descent" was moving towards being a modern horror classic.
It could have been and it should have been. However, shortly after the crawlers are revealed, they start to dominate the screen and any creepiness or unknowing fear based upon these dark dwelling creatures is quickly lost. "The Descent" starts to become a scream fest between a collection of very pretty leading ladies and no longer becomes a film of fear, but a fairly predictable blood bath where the Crawlers slowly reduce the number of girls who still have a breath to breathe. It becomes all too clear that the Crawlers greatly outnumber the lost spelunkers and that it is highly unlikely that many, if any, will survive their carnivorous attacks. There is hardly any suspense of a Crawler coming out of the shadows to score another kill, as the Crawlers are given so much screen time, that you know exactly what is going to happen.
Though much of what happens is telegraphed to the viewer before it happens, there are still a couple minor plot twists that provide alternate means of death and demise for the girls. This unrated version of "The Descent" does place into question the predictability with its alternate ending, as the film brings a heavy question to the viewer on what has actually been seen in the film´s ninety-nine minutes. The unrated version ponders whether or not the main character was imagining much of what happened during the film, or if everything seen actually happened. However, once the viewer can comfortable settle on their feelings towards this ending, the twisty ending starts to feel slightly disappointing.
I enjoyed "The Descent" and felt the first half of the film was brilliantly done. However, once the trapped sequence happens after the first forty-minutes, things start to become mundane and typical. "The Descent" could have done to spelunking what "Jaws" did to swimming in the ocean – after seeing the film, you don´t want to enter. Dark and confined caves would have provided an amazing setting for a horror film, but this villain is forgotten after the Crawlers take over the screen. The cave becomes a whole lot easier to traverse and is no longer much of a danger after the Crawlers attack. This film could have been a classic horror film had the Crawlers appeared briefly during the moments of attack, or as occasionally teasers and jump frights. The film was still a lot of fun, as far as horror films go. The concept was still there and the panicked group of girls gave "The Descent" a very fresh feeling. Typically, horror films are not completely comprised of female characters. If they are, it is usually for gratuitous nudity. Surprisingly, "The Descent" does not contain a single bare breast. My hats off to the filmmakers for braking conventions with this film, but I feel they went off path and instead of becoming a scary movie in a cave, it became a far more common monster movie.
The absolutely most horrific moment of the Neil Marshall directed "The Descent" happens quite early in the film. In fact, it occurs before the monsters crawl from the darkness of the caves. The moment I speak of is when the film´s central character, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) becomes wedged in a narrow ´tube´ within a cave and is unable to free her arms and move out of her claustrophobic situation. I´ve been in this sort of situation before and I know how frightening it can be to be stuck. Panic sets in. It becomes difficult to breath and rational thought is quickly replaced by fear. She is then freed by Holly (Nora-Jane Noone) and facing a cave-in within their confined quarters. It is during this early scene that "The Descent" shows promise and threatens to make the caverns of the film a formidable foe and menacing villain.
Then, the filmmakers introduce the crawlers. These vampiric, man-bat creatures have a very humanlike silhouette, but are a pasty-white skinned menace that is unable to see, but can move about any surface within the cave, quickly and dangerously. The crawlers are teased by Marshall shortly after Sarah and Holly escape their predicament in the collapsing tunnel. Part of the fun of a horror film is the slow reveal and unknowing of the monsters. Once an evil creation is revealed, a horror film loses some of the dangerous mystique that maintains a level of chilling suspense. "The Descent" puts another foot forward in the proper direction by showing a glimpse of a crawler and having it quickly scuttle out of the way of the camera´s lens. It was at this point of the film, that I was starting to believe that "The Descent" was moving towards being a modern horror classic.
It could have been and it should have been. However, shortly after the crawlers are revealed, they start to dominate the screen and any creepiness or unknowing fear based upon these dark dwelling creatures is quickly lost. "The Descent" starts to become a scream fest between a collection of very pretty leading ladies and no longer becomes a film of fear, but a fairly predictable blood bath where the Crawlers slowly reduce the number of girls who still have a breath to breathe. It becomes all too clear that the Crawlers greatly outnumber the lost spelunkers and that it is highly unlikely that many, if any, will survive their carnivorous attacks. There is hardly any suspense of a Crawler coming out of the shadows to score another kill, as the Crawlers are given so much screen time, that you know exactly what is going to happen.
Though much of what happens is telegraphed to the viewer before it happens, there are still a couple minor plot twists that provide alternate means of death and demise for the girls. This unrated version of "The Descent" does place into question the predictability with its alternate ending, as the film brings a heavy question to the viewer on what has actually been seen in the film´s ninety-nine minutes. The unrated version ponders whether or not the main character was imagining much of what happened during the film, or if everything seen actually happened. However, once the viewer can comfortable settle on their feelings towards this ending, the twisty ending starts to feel slightly disappointing.
I enjoyed "The Descent" and felt the first half of the film was brilliantly done. However, once the trapped sequence happens after the first forty-minutes, things start to become mundane and typical. "The Descent" could have done to spelunking what "Jaws" did to swimming in the ocean – after seeing the film, you don´t want to enter. Dark and confined caves would have provided an amazing setting for a horror film, but this villain is forgotten after the Crawlers take over the screen. The cave becomes a whole lot easier to traverse and is no longer much of a danger after the Crawlers attack. This film could have been a classic horror film had the Crawlers appeared briefly during the moments of attack, or as occasionally teasers and jump frights. The film was still a lot of fun, as far as horror films go. The concept was still there and the panicked group of girls gave "The Descent" a very fresh feeling. Typically, horror films are not completely comprised of female characters. If they are, it is usually for gratuitous nudity. Surprisingly, "The Descent" does not contain a single bare breast. My hats off to the filmmakers for braking conventions with this film, but I feel they went off path and instead of becoming a scary movie in a cave, it became a far more common monster movie.
Then, the filmmakers introduce the crawlers. These vampiric, man-bat creatures have a very humanlike silhouette, but are a pasty-white skinned menace that is unable to see, but can move about any surface within the cave, quickly and dangerously. The crawlers are teased by Marshall shortly after Sarah and Holly escape their predicament in the collapsing tunnel. Part of the fun of a horror film is the slow reveal and unknowing of the monsters. Once an evil creation is revealed, a horror film loses some of the dangerous mystique that maintains a level of chilling suspense. "The Descent" puts another foot forward in the proper direction by showing a glimpse of a crawler and having it quickly scuttle out of the way of the camera´s lens. It was at this point of the film, that I was starting to believe that "The Descent" was moving towards being a modern horror classic.
It could have been and it should have been. However, shortly after the crawlers are revealed, they start to dominate the screen and any creepiness or unknowing fear based upon these dark dwelling creatures is quickly lost. "The Descent" starts to become a scream fest between a collection of very pretty leading ladies and no longer becomes a film of fear, but a fairly predictable blood bath where the Crawlers slowly reduce the number of girls who still have a breath to breathe. It becomes all too clear that the Crawlers greatly outnumber the lost spelunkers and that it is highly unlikely that many, if any, will survive their carnivorous attacks. There is hardly any suspense of a Crawler coming out of the shadows to score another kill, as the Crawlers are given so much screen time, that you know exactly what is going to happen.
Though much of what happens is telegraphed to the viewer before it happens, there are still a couple minor plot twists that provide alternate means of death and demise for the girls. This unrated version of "The Descent" does place into question the predictability with its alternate ending, as the film brings a heavy question to the viewer on what has actually been seen in the film´s ninety-nine minutes. The unrated version ponders whether or not the main character was imagining much of what happened during the film, or if everything seen actually happened. However, once the viewer can comfortable settle on their feelings towards this ending, the twisty ending starts to feel slightly disappointing.
I enjoyed "The Descent" and felt the first half of the film was brilliantly done. However, once the trapped sequence happens after the first forty-minutes, things start to become mundane and typical. "The Descent" could have done to spelunking what "Jaws" did to swimming in the ocean – after seeing the film, you don´t want to enter. Dark and confined caves would have provided an amazing setting for a horror film, but this villain is forgotten after the Crawlers take over the screen. The cave becomes a whole lot easier to traverse and is no longer much of a danger after the Crawlers attack. This film could have been a classic horror film had the Crawlers appeared briefly during the moments of attack, or as occasionally teasers and jump frights. The film was still a lot of fun, as far as horror films go. The concept was still there and the panicked group of girls gave "The Descent" a very fresh feeling. Typically, horror films are not completely comprised of female characters. If they are, it is usually for gratuitous nudity. Surprisingly, "The Descent" does not contain a single bare breast. My hats off to the filmmakers for braking conventions with this film, but I feel they went off path and instead of becoming a scary movie in a cave, it became a far more common monster movie.
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