The Descent - 8 stars out of 10

The Descent - 8 stars out of 10

“The Descent” is in a world of its own.  Literally.  As if the claustrophobia of crawling through tiny passages of an uncharted underground cave isn’t bad enough, what if you discovered that you weren’t alone?  This creature horror film will have you on the edge of your seat with its unique atmosphere and graphic pickaxes-through-zombielike-creature-heads story.  A lot of the film occurs in the dark which keeps us wondering if something is about to jump out.  The most interesting part of the film is one theme that is subtly introduced at the onset of the film: people often begin to hallucinate in caves.  Do these thrill-seekers actually encounter anything down there, or is it all in their heads as they slowly go crazy?  The original UK ending gives us a hint but the unknown of this film will leave you thinking far beyond the closing credits.  The individual character development isn’t the greatest (I couldn’t name a single character from the film) but I’m okay with it since these characters operate as a single unit trying to survive.  Certain characters have memorable moments (especially Juno), though it is their actions that make an impact and not their personality.  Whether it is intentional or not, the lack of character development helped me to place myself into each character’s plight.  It didn’t matter if I related to their personality because their “Everyman” feel made me feel like I could be any (or all) of them.  The acting (unlike the character development) is vivid.  I found it really easy to believe that these were real people trapped in a cave, screaming with desperation amidst severe circumstances.  This movie didn’t leave a huge impact on me when I first saw it but with a second viewing, I am very impressed.  “The Descent” has been called the scariest movie of all time and, while I can’t go that far, it is a thrilling journey that will have you turning your head away in its goriest moments and contemplating what is real between each scream of the characters.

[Pictured: “The Descent” is not for the faint of heart with strong imagery and plenty of gore, but I find the most fascinating part of the film to be the questions that are never given a concrete answer]