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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Descent (warning, SPOILERS)

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17:52 / 17.07.05

Seen this? Do, it's great!

I watched Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers and thought it was OK. Bit formulaic but, with horror, that's no bad thing. He has cranked it up several notches with this one though. Claustrophobic, shocking, good sound, great lighting, and I was holding onto Ganesh at several points.

Yes, inevitable plotholes but they're not there niggling at you as the story unfolds. Why the fuck do people go spelunking though? Just asking for trouble.

Psi-L is working in hell

09:01 / 18.07.05

I enjoyed this a lot, definitely a cut above a lot of horror films.

Mind you not being particularly squeamish about blood, guts and gore, I found the scenes where they were crawling through the tiny tunnels with only millimetres to spare on either side the more difficult to watch...though sadly didn't have anyone to grab onto and hide behind!

I agree with you though...why would anyone want to do that sort of thing for fun?

09:41 / 18.07.05

Because it's not there.

lonely as a cloud...

10:07 / 18.07.05

Is there a character called Spoon in it?

10:54 / 18.07.05

There is no Spoon (ho ho).

I liked Dog Soldiers a lot, but felt it was let down by budgetary limitations, specifically in terms of the monsters themselves. The Descent showed what Marshall could do with a little more cash.

I loved the fact that the adrenaline-junkie potholers were all-female, and there was enough of a long, slow build-up (interspersed with occasional "ARGH!" popcorn-spilling moments) for us to become acquainted with the disparate characters. Initially, shades of Don't Look Now (although the latter was much gentler horror) with perhaps a smidgeon of Blair Witch. The CGI bats were a bit shittily Scooby Doo but the special effects improved exponentially from then on in.

I'd agree that the claustrophic stuck-in-a-tunnel scenes were at least as bad as the more overtly gory stuff - and the scene where the women cross a deep fissure had me on the edge of my seat. The Gollum/Creep critters, when they gradually began to appear, were exceptionally well realised (and devoid of the irritating loincloth affairs often airbrushed in in this sort of situation), and the blood 'n' guts satisfyingly bloody 'n' gutsy.

The metaophorical descent into barbarism/the womb was handled relatively lightly, and didn't feel hammered home (with a climbing pick) - apart from the Carrie/Apocalypse Now pool of blood, which was perhaps a pothole plothole too far. When Sarah emerged, the bastard offspring of Rambo and Ripley, one couldn't help but cheer - before the twisty ending kicked in...

The first half is can't-breathe rising anxiety, and the second half near-constant something-jumping-from-the-shadows pant-shitting terror. Go see it!

12:14 / 18.07.05

I really want to want to see this - if that makes any sense - but I'm torn because, however much I want to trust all the positive reviews, I just really hated Dog Soldiers, which I felt was badly acted, badly written and suffered from appalling dialogue. Perhaps I should watch it again - maybe I'll enjoy it more - but I don't hold out much hope.

12:37 / 18.07.05

you don't like dog soldiers because you're a ponce. simple.

do we need to do the working outs? okay then:

sweary squaddies in scotch wilderness? check.
sean 'roll up and see my dad's amazing spinning grave!' pertwee? check.
him out of trainspotting? check.
special forces guy can't be trusted? check.
guns? check.
creepy farmhouse under siege? check.
battle kitchen sequences? check.
touchyfeely lady 'anthropologist' with 'its me monthlies' sign-off line? check.
chased through woods ny werewolves? check.
swords? check.
bashing with frying pans? check.
cringey football references? check.

as you can see from the list above, dog soldiers is probably the finest bmovie made in the uk in the last twenty years. if you don't get that, and still don't like it, you should restrict yourself to those films what have academy award r winner on the video box and be happy.

12:53 / 18.07.05

I'll being seeing the Descent just cause I like horror films. However, I didn't think much of Dog Soldiers either, and the Academy can fuck right off.

13:19 / 18.07.05

Yeah, the womb/birth imagery was pretty intense for this preggers woman! The Descent is a good old fashioned horror film, doesn't pull it's punches, particularly the twisty ending. The lady who hosts the local horror film festival and introduced the preview we saw suggested the alternative title "Chicks with Picks".

14:30 / 18.07.05

Benny, don't need to justify yourself to Gumbitch, he's still smarting from the roasting MacGyver and I gave him when he first admitted to liking the film.

The thing is, Dog Soldiers doesn't suffer from corny dialogue, or silly dialogue - staples of quality B movie fare - it suffers from awful, clunky, naff dialogue, and embarassing acting (er.... IMO). It made me cringe.

Annnyway, that said, I think I'll try and check The Descent out. It's a horror movie and it's British; I should go and see it.

A beautiful tunnel of ghosts

14:34 / 18.07.05

So it's got a twist ending then?

19:52 / 18.07.05

A twisty ending.

A beautiful tunnel of ghosts

20:13 / 18.07.05

So I shouldn't expect M. Night Shyamalan-style shenanigans then?

20:15 / 18.07.05

Wouldn't like to say. Just saying 'twisty'.

Jack The Bodiless

10:11 / 19.07.05

I like saying 'twisty' too. Twisty. Twisty twisty twistytwistytwistytwisty. Oh yeah.

15:02 / 09.11.05

Parts reminded me of that second to last torchlit fight in Buffy's last season expanded and exploded. From the similarity between the orcs/vampires to the all female cast and reliance on torch lighting. But it was done well so I can't really complain.
I do however think it suffered in the latter half from confusion due to this lighting effect and I felt that it might have been improved with an added half hour or so at the begining where some of the fodder characters were established a bit more. Not only could I not recognise who these people were due to the lighting but I just didn't care.

There were a few visceral shocks; the car crash, the orc/vampires numerous appearances but what the film really succeeded in IMHO was the sheer claustrophobia and danger evinced by the cave. Those tight spaces and sheer drops, the sheer panic of the crew when they realised their situation, that Touching the Void-esque moment where my mind began to echo "Bone.... Bone.... Bone...".
The actual monsters as in Dog Soldiers failed to scare although their sheer number did make for incredible tension; it tended to be all scuttering in the dark, jumpy-outy/rippy-uppy/eaty-facey stuff that is pretty common/and is done more effectively in alot of other horror films.

But I suppose the real meat of the film is the dynamic of the group. Sarah/Beth/Juno and in particular that of Sarah/Juno. I complete misread that final scene where a silent line of communication passes between Sarah/Juno. I thought something along the lines of "Ah she understands, the dark, the panic, the things, an accident she forgives her" but in actuality what I got was *Thunk*.
Are the competitive Sara's motives that clear-cut though?
Is it purely revenge? Is she just buying herself time to escape at Juno's expense (survival instinct)?

And that ending. The cave does seem to strive for some further metaphor in the films latter half (as oppossed to its earlier one of The Womb/female unity perhaps) Is it some vaguely allegorical tale? The orcs did seem to exclusively male... patriarchal society? A glass ceiling analogy? Workplace sociopaths?

Err anyway I really liked it. I think I may have been grasping with the glass ceiling analogy though.

08:31 / 10.11.05

The orcs did seem to exclusively male
Ahem. Except the mother with the baby.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:10 / 10.11.05

Watched this last night, and enjoyed it. I have to admit, there was more "plotholing" than I expected, but as Xoc said, it didn't really bother me while the movie was actually on.

And yes, I agree with everyone who's said the claustrophobia was far scarier than the actual gore.

13:45 / 10.11.05

Ahem. Except the mother with the baby.

Really, I missed that bit obviously. What stage of the movie was this? Did she engage in fighting? If not what was she doing?

17:11 / 10.11.05

Near the end. I may be getting it wrong but I'm pretty sure the lead (forgotten the names, sorry) kills a smallish one, realises what she's done (with a flashback to her own wean) and then does a submerging thing to throw one that looks like a female off the scent. Or did I imagine that? I was having claustrophobic heebie-jeebies at the time.

17:31 / 10.11.05

No, you didn't imagine it. There's a mother and child, both killed by Sarah, along with their male partner/parent - presumably as a dramatic counterpoint/echo of Sarah's own loss at the start of the film.

17:45 / 10.11.05

and, yes, twisty. No-one must spoil the twisty.

18:51 / 10.11.05

Near the end. I may be getting it wrong but I'm pretty sure the lead (forgotten the names, sorry) kills a smallish one, realises what she's done (with a flashback to her own wean) and then does a submerging thing to throw one that looks like a female off the scent. Or did I imagine that? I was having claustrophobic heebie-jeebies at the time.

Arggghhhh I did miss that!! Must watch it again.

21:56 / 10.11.05

Thanks for giving this deserving film a bit more publicity now it's more readily available, DS. The thing about which none of us appears sure how to speak is the excellent ending, with what Ganesh calls its twist. That has stayed with me for months and prickles rise on the back of my neck whenever I think of it. Such a good film, for many reasons.

D Terminator XXXIII

21:20 / 02.03.07

Yes, yes, yes, fantastic straight up horror movie, though I'd go for Deliverance X Aliens than Blair Witch -- saw it with my family, and although they don't watch as many horrors like I do, they went, "Aliens!" once the creatures were introed. Like the majority in this thread, found the pre-creatures sequences far more suspenceful and thrilling; it was like a slight case of going through the motions post-creatures, however, I'm glad the movie had a lot more going for it than mosters vs humans. In my mind, Primal Sarah survives the ordeal of the twisty ending, which of course paves the way to-

The Descent 2: Will You Be My Mommy?

Sarah, no longer *completely* Primal, she's more of like in a halfway place between civilized and primal, is given the chance to act as a consultant and help lead a group of scientists and military folks back to the caves, and ultimately she accepts in order to put the nightmares to rest. Everybody assures her, she's got nothing to worry about and that protection will be total; this, of course, turns later out to be an illusion. Down there, they come across a creature's female offspring that Sarah happily adopts, while shit go to hell around them. Full of heartwarming, estrogenemoments like HalfwayPrimal Sarah and Daughter Substitute bonding over body language, crawling around, and the use of fire, it sets effectively up the third act, where Daughter Substitute is reclaimed by the creatures and HalfwayPrimal Sarah is forced to go into the creatures' den alone, where she unleashes hell upon them. This angers the Mother Creature, who chases... Okay, I'll stop now.

Great movie. Excellent acting - all unknown to me, thus enhancing the pleasures, as they were, of the movie. What's next up for the director?

Foust is SO authentic

13:24 / 03.03.07

Hey, guess what --- the American version leaves out the twisty ending. It ends a minute or two earlier at the obvious point.

16:28 / 03.03.07

I must have seen the American version because there was no twist ending to the one I saw. I still enjoyed the film immensely, but now I'm curious to hear what the twist is.

17:40 / 04.03.07

I still enjoyed the film immensely, but now I'm curious to hear what the twist is.

Heartbreakingly sad, for the most part.

19:01 / 04.03.07

>>>>I must have seen the American version because there was no twist ending to the one I saw. I still enjoyed the film immensely, but now I'm curious to hear what the twist is.<<<

I dunno if I'd call it a "twist" but here's the difference - The North American release ends with Sarah escaping the cave, fleeing to their van and driving away, then having the ghost of Juno appear next to her in the car - cut to black, roll credits. In the original version that's just a fake-out dream sequence; as soon as Juno's ghost appears in the car Sarah wakes with a start, and she's still down there in the cave. She sees her little girl with the birthday cake sitting before her, and the camera pans around to show her there, alone in the cave, torch burning out, as the chittering sound of the monsters grows nearer. Fade to black, roll credits.

The US version is kind of stupid, because by cutting it short they imply that Juno's ghost is real, which is a silly thing to throw in right at the end. In the original the ghost is just another in a series of dreams/hallucinations.

21:22 / 04.03.07

Sarah is also smiling in that last scene. There is the suggestion that she has become one of the bestial orc creatures, having butchered a mother and child orc thingy herself...

01:30 / 05.03.07

I didn't take her smile as a suggestion that she's lost her humanity and become one of the creatures, I just took it as her realizing that she'd be dead soon and "reunited" with her daughter.

03:54 / 05.03.07

Okay, the use of the word "twist" threw me off, I did apparently see the UK version. Strange that they would cut that part off for the American version.

09:07 / 05.03.07

Sarah is also smiling in that last scene. There is the suggestion that she has become one of the bestial orc creatures, having butchered a mother and child orc thingy herself...

and

I didn't take her smile as a suggestion that she's lost her humanity and become one of the creatures, I just took it as her realizing that she'd be dead soon and "reunited" with her daughter.

My interpretation was a little more basic. She's gone catatonic, the trauma of the revelations and deaths of the trip on her already fragile mental state has driven her into a "happy" inner world where she's with her child. It's the nastiest of all ends, trapped in one's own mind deep under the world. Either dying of thirst or at the hands of a goblin, it doesn't matter, she won't even notice.

09:09 / 05.03.07

Strange that they would cut that part off for the American version.

Not really. There're a few incidences of the US versions of films being edited to have "happy" endings. Bladerunner's original cut is a good example.

11:49 / 05.03.07

Evil Scientist, that's actually what I was driving at, but you phrased it more accurately and eloquently.

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