Jackass Critics

Descent

This is really sad but it amuses the hell out of me to be able to review movies that aren’t coming out in the United States for a while. Consider it the geek in me, wanting to gloat a little when I see something people are talking about. Enter Descent a British horror film that has been lighting up geek movie sites and making horror nerds go all twitchy. Brought to you by the director of Dog Soldiers, this fun little chiller may have a dreadful poster but the movie more than makes up for that.

Still grieving over the loss of her daughter and husband, a young woman journeys from Britain to the American south to join five other friends on one of their yearly adventures. Once a year the six women get together to test their limits and to do something as exciting as it is dangerous. Hoping this trip will re-connect her to her friends and to herself again, the young woman (Sarah) throws herself into the trip. This year’s adventure is to be a cave expedition into a cave network that has been plotted and charted by professionals. One of the women though, deciding that she wants them all to have a true adventure, decides that they’ll explore a cave she has found herself. One that has never been charted before. The trouble is that, after a cave in while they are exploring, they are then forced to find another way out of the cave and to safety. What they don’t realize is that they aren’t alone in the cave, and that there are things that have been living within it for at least as long as Man has walked the earth. And these creatures are very hungry.

A savage and brutal film when it gets going, it really is a shame that it may not really reach an audience here. I am hoping that isn’t the case but, after the last spooky cave movie that came out last year and bombed miserably, I can’t help but wonder if that taints this film’s release.

I certainly hope not.

Beautifully filmed, well acted, and extremely scary, this is the sort of thriller that can really set some jaws to dropping. And let me tell you, the creatures in this are gonna give you nightmares. The director, having worked with special effects on his previous film, really knows how to shoot creatures and horrific moments and his skill shows here.

And if you are wondering, this is a very scary movie. The claustrophobic sets alone made my friend nervous and anxious and I was right there with him.

There are really only a couple problems I had with the film, the biggest of those being that there is a sub-plot that, after reading up on it in the IMDB forums, makes a lot sense, but doesn’t get explored in the film well. There are clues, and you don’t need it, but it really does fill things out a lot better. The other quarrel I have is that the end seems well, it takes a turn that just didn’t work for me. I love the film, and I can accept the ending, but I just dunno that I agree with it.

All said, this is a damned effective horror film and one I hope some people go out to see. Disregard the awful poster, please. Scary, memorable, and bound to get some lame ass ‘scary as hell’ quotes from some websites or radio people, this is a movie that comes through with what it promises. And I sure as hell won’t go cave diving now. Eek!