The Descent (9 of 10)
Review by James Jones
Here’s my confession. The Descent had me so oops-I-crapped-my-pants scared that I almost walked out.
For close to the entire 93 minutes, I cowered in my seat, shifty, nervous and racked with fear. My heart was racing, my stomach was turning and at one point I turned to my girlfriend and asked her if she wanted to leave.
Director Neil Marshall’s terrifying tale of six women spelunking in the Appalachians is not only a masterwork of horror, but it rises above the conventions of genre and becomes a great film, as well.
Even early on, as the women (played by a cast of unknowns, led by the riveting Shauna McDonald and Natalie Mendoza) gather for their adventure, there is an inescapable, building sense of dread. It is only multiplied when the women enter the cave, as acute feelings of claustrophobia and fear set in. I was nervous and frayed long before the technical “horror” element of the film arrived.
The Descent is a “horror” film in the truest sense of the word. It is completely horrifying. It terrorizes the viewer, and in this terror it is absolutely relentless. In a conventional horror film, there is space for the audience to breathe, and maybe even have a few laughs. In The Descent, Marshall offers no such comforts.
Experiencing The Descent is not necessarily “fun.” It’s not good times when something scares the living shit out of you. But while I was watching it, consumed in terror, I was aware that I was watching a masterpiece.