The Descent
fatpie42

Review by fatpie42

The Descent 2005

★★★★★

Rewatched 12 May 2020

Neil Marshall: Director’s Filmography Ranked!

#7 in my Very Best of 2005 list

Neil Marshall's horror movie about a group of friends going caving stands the test of time well. Even just the entry into the cave tunnels is terrifying in it's own way. Narrow tunnels, an unsafe environment and no chance of seeing daylight.

The characters are set up well and this adds weight to the story when they get into trouble in the caves. These characters don't ever feel one-note, even if they only have a small role (and actually the attention of the film is generally pretty evenly balanced).

I now know that their set is essentially several rocks that they just moved around to give them the different areas of the cave, but knowing this makes no difference. It still looks very much like a group of women wandering around caves in the dark and there's no point where I ever recognise a particular rock coming up twice.

The Descent is a horror movie that builds up tension and makes full use of its setting rather than relying on jump scares. So many horror movies rely on loud noises in the belief that loud noises are scary. Loud noises are alarming, but that's not the same as scary. Sure there are surprising alarming moments in The Descent, but the fear comes from being underground, rather than from anything jumping out.

The Descent is an absolutely classic horror movie, but also a must-see movie for film lovers in general.

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