The Descent

The Descent

“This is just a poxy cave,  and there’s nothing left to be afraid of”.
The Descent is absolutely terrifying.
Horror genre conventions of darkness are often inelegantly rammed into plots - the psycho killer or a storm cuts the electricity supply or scared characters wander into dark rooms without considering switching on the lights first, and a few use geographical anomalies to fuel fear, Pitch Black benefited from a sci-fi setting in order to produce a long-lasting total eclipse, and 30 Days of Night was set in the Arctic circle just as the long winter began. The Descent benefits hugely from its setting, six young women exploring a cave results in understandable, pervasive darkness and the kind of sets that are enough to create new claustrophobes of the audience, the film fermenting unbearable tension for half its running time without needing to bring any creatures into the mix.
Main character Sarah benefits from a back story, her husband and child killed in a car accident near the beginning of the film (which actually starts with her and friends enjoying some white water rapids and so setting the extreme sport basis for a spelunking jaunt), and in general the young female characters are treated with realism with no cheap caricatures or unrealistically skimpy clothing. Shauna MacDonald in particular is brilliant as Sarah, quiet and vulnerable earlier on, once she is put through horrific situations an inner strength rises to the surface, and there is time enough to settle the score of an infidelity sub-plot before the credits roll.
Whilst the Descent is not above using traditional jump-scares the unrelenting build up of tension serves to make them harrowing rather than predictable, I found myself shouting out loud a number of times due to sheer shock.
The creatures themselves are well-designed, close enough to humans to make people in costumes and make-up seem menacing and seemingly dispensing the need for any CGI, they are not unbeatable killers that you often find in other horror films and a few scenes have one or two of the girls putting up an impressive fight, but the fact that the women are trapped in the predators territory tips the balance in the monsters favour.
After the jokey, blokey first feature Dog Soldiers, director Neil Marshall’s ability to create a taut and terrifying movie with a strong cast of solely female characters and no reliance on humour to keep the audience on board is very impressive, this has to be one of the best British horror films of the last decade.