The Descent - Review

The Descent
Review by Grace Britten

Edge of your seat horror finally ascends into the UK. Neil Marshall’s vision of six young females being ambushed in dark caves, that possess villainous crawlers, came to life in 2005’s The Descent. Similarly to Marshall’s film “Dog Soldiers”, a claustrophobic environment is created. However this tense atmosphere was detached by humour. Notwithstanding, The Descent takes an alternative path: in the way that they encounter vicious attacks from unexplained forces with no escape and no comedic one- liners to break the drama up. Marshall associates not only jump scares and unnerving makeup   effects to startle the audience, but also delves into people’s psyche and childhood fears of being scared of the monsters in the dark.

The first twenty minutes depict Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) languidly recovering the recent trauma of losing her daughter and husband by a fatal car accident. To put the catastrophe in the gruelling past, Sarah and her five friends- Beth (Alex Reid), Juno (Natalie Mendoza), Rebecca ( Saskia Mulder), Sam ( Myanna Buring) and Holly ( Nora- Jane Noone) venture off into an ill-lighted unknown desolated cave. Reunions soon turn into heated arguments about how Juno led them into such a treacherous and menacing underground, nonetheless something; much more sinister is lurking beneath the surface.

Natalie Mendoza’s portrayal of Juno was executed with extreme character depth. Throughout the first half of the film Juno is a typical leader – commanding, covert and confident. On the other hand as the realisation of the situation commences that they may be there possibly for eternity, Juno reveals her true self. Human instinct along with survival tactics kick in and soon she will discard anyone who dares to get in her way for Mendoza to completely innovate into different representations with such ease takes credible skill.  Additionally the “heroin” of the film (Sarah) dissociates from her characters grieving distress to become a fighter and defend to her death, both Mendoza and McDonald carry out accurate representations of fear that become so relatable that the audience can feel the suspense. 

The Horror genre has been criticised by the public due to regular clichés making an appearance in every single horror film. Such as, investigating the alarming noise in a haunted house or falling over at the most inconvenient of times. However just as original story lines were dying a death The Descent manages to break the chains from the genres restraints and creates original award worthy material.

Every movie has its flaws, yet it is burdensome to even fathom any, but if there was one aspect about the film that worked as a disadvantage it would be that the crawlers have no information or origination. How have they evolved into such disconcerting creatures? Were they a tribe? Or even a result of a nuclear radiation experiment gone astray.

Additionally Marshall varies his camera angles to accentuate the twisted and disorientated nature of the caves, which foreshadowed the events of the twisted crawlers that are out to get them. The aerial shots are shown continuously in the woodland area where the cave is; especially when the six characters are shown driving in Beth’s car, strolling along the road where all is safe and sound. The woods in this scene are shown as never endless therefore depicting the themes of isolation. There is intertextuality through this scene ; in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining ( 19800 there is an aerial shot of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and his family driving to an empty, isolated hotel where the unexpected also lies.

In films such as Jaws, The Omen, and The Exorcist, soundtracks play a major role, because without that low humming of noise in films the dialogue can lack magnitude and intensity. The Descent soundtrack emphasizes the claustrophobia brooding but loud eccentric tones and pitch changes add copiously to the terror experienced when the characters are confronted by the crawlers. Diegetic sound is regularly used due to the fact that the crawlers can only communicate by harsh high-pitched screeching screams, therefore there is a galore of sound that can only be heard by the characters.

Overall The Descent makes for an eminent viewing experience which will have you anticipating every trepidation. Paranoia, claustrophobia, hallucination, disorientation, fear and isolation are all themes from the film however Marshall’s energetic directing creates such an accurate and realistic portrayal that makes viewers actually involved with the script.