"I'm an English teacher, not fucking Tomb Raider."

[philosoraptor42]

The Descent (2005)

I'd heard this recommended all over the place and I finally decided it was time to check it out. I guess that means we can call this a cult hit. The story involves several girls on a caving trip and... stuff goes wrong... to say the least.

To be honest, I've always presumed that this would be one of those ones with whistling noises followed by bangs with that ARE YOU SCARED YET? style of horror. Also, though this was four years after "The Hole" I still couldn't help but compare them. Stupid kids get stuck down a hole and die. (I've admittedly never seen "The Hole" because I was put off by the horrific "teaser" trailer where one character outlines the various symptoms experienced during starvation while showing us the various trapped teenagers throwing up and groaning.)

I don't know whether it's because my tastes have changed or whether it's because this didn't sink into that style. I suspect it's a mixture of the two. Certainly it had "made you jump!" scenes and there were screechy "you're scared aren't you?" noises, however not at the same time. The screechy noises purely for mood and not building up in the whistle-and-bang style. Also the bits that made me jump appeared to be caused by camera cuts rather than additional sound effects.

I'd been told that the film had claustrophic effects, but then again I was told that about "Buried" and I really didn't have that issue with "Buried" at all. "The Descent" however, really has you squirming in your seat as you watch some of the scenes of them in the caves. I was seriously squirming as I watched them make their way through tiny gaps in the cave.

Another thing was that the way the characters are developed. I was worried that this was going to be one of those movies where the most interesting thing about these characters is the order in which they die. As it was, they felt like real people. Sure some were more recognisable than others, but all of them interacted in a realistic way.

It's at this point I need to make a little proviso. The beginning of the movie is not great. In order to push some of the drama later on we have a rather overly extravagant set-up when we could have had the same drama done much more simply. I'm realising that this paragraph must sound pretty odd to people who haven't seen the movie, but I don't want to give this away even if it does happen in the first ten minutes. Let's just say that something bad happens early on that might put some viewers in mind of the "Final Destination" movies. However, you shouldn't judge too quickly. Things get back on track soon enough.

So what have I mentioned so far? Dodgy beginning, good character interaction and development, effective claustrophobic atmosphere, scary sound effects and camera cuts used without cheating. I'm not really sure what else to add, but let's put it this way: "The Thing" is one of my favourite horror movies because it created this amazing atmosphere of unease. Ironically it was criticised at the time for showing too much, but it wasn't what was onscreen that was scary. It was the general feel of the movie that got to me. I'd say that "The Descent" acheives the same effect and I think I'd actually put this on the same level as "The Thing".

There's a reason that people keep mentioning this movie. It's one of the best horror movies of all time. A true classic.

A+ (Excellent)