The Descent

Next up in our Horror Movie a Day 2009 lineup was The Descent (2005).  Five years later and this film is still receiving accolades for being very well done, unique, and truly scary.  Perhaps some of the charm and power behind the fear provided by this film is the feeling that many of us are indeed afraid of what is out there in the dark. It is possible that the movie terrifies its audience so well because it explores something that scares us as human beings: the unknown.  It provokes a natural human response.

See that response there on her face?  That's fear.  Fear and blood.

Of all the horror movies I've seen, this one ranks number one for keeping me on the edge of my seat.  There is a constant state of anxiety and tension throughout the film even though the crawlers are not seen for at least half of the movie.  (SPOILER: there is a brief shot of one of the crawlers just after the ladies light the red flares.  Sarah is investigating on her own, and on the screen to her left, a figure is seen in the distance watching and then crouching down.) And when the crawlers are first shown, it is only a glimpse of them, a brief shot which gives the viewer only a scant moment to develop a sense of what the ladies are up against.  Ah yes, the ladies. Another plus for this movie: the characters are all women, strong women at that.  Well, we might be able to make an exception for Sarah (This will be discussed later, and you the reader can make your own decision!).

The ladies all get together a year after the death of Sarah's husband and child in order to do another climb, have another adventure.  They hope to help Sarah move on and get her mind off of things. Unfortunately, Juno's idea to "bring the friends together again" is merely an attempt to make herself feel less guilty and gain some glory by discovering and exploring a new cave.  Juno clearly has ulterior and suspicious motives throughout the leadup to the cave, and Sarah is clearly still dealing with some serious issues.  The other ladies appears to be good friends and truly want to have a good time and help Sarah move on with her life.

Just look at Juno there in the middle (holding the hat).  She just oozes "I'm a bitch. I will ruin all of your lives."

Finally, after exploring the cave for a short while (35 minutes in), there is a cavein, and the women learn that Juno has brought them into a system that is new and has never been explored (or so they think).  But Rebecca calls it as she sees it and tells Juno, "This is not caving; this is an ego trip."  Indeed, Juno clearly wants glory.  But the women must now find a way out and have no choice but to continue forward through the system. There are no other options. Until they come upon a ginormous chasm.

What to do, what to do.  Obviously they need to cross as falling to an unpleasant death does not seem too appetizing.  So, Rebecca grabs her cams and those of the others and swings across monkey-bars style planting the cams in the ceiling so they can cast a rope across for the others.  Only, as she is on her way, she notices and old, rusting cam that has been previously placed... by someone else in this unknown cave.  Oh shit.  That does not bode well.  That does not bode well at all.  Bah, let's just continue.  Then the women come upon a cave painting.  Of course our pushy friend-bitch Juno sneers that it's unimportant, they must save battery power, etc.  Beth, in a display of "shove it where the sun don't shine" leadership tells her to shut up and light a flare.  Well, well, well.  The painting appears to suggest that there is another way out. Woo hoo!  So Holly, the cautious lady that she is, takes off running until she ends up falling down a hole and breaking her leg.  Oops.  With a broken leg, it is imperative they find a way out and start carrying her until they reach a chamber.  Sarah grabs the videocamera and sees a room filled with animal skeletons. 

The women, they are scared. They want to run, but that damn Holly had to go and break her leg and now needs help. *Sigh*

As she films around the chamber, an image of Beth fills the screen with a crawler behind her, our first real view of the creatures. As Beth spins around and the others turn to look, the crawler takes off and crawls up the wall.  The women are terrified and attempt to run only to be stopped by the sound of one of the crawlers hissing and clicking as it did earlier.  At this point, there is no way around it, the women have to get the fuck out of there. 

I'm not going to reveal everything that happens from this point on, it needs to be experienced by the viewer.  The only thing I wish to discuss is the ending and what people say it suggests.  MAJOR SPOILER ALERT - Do NOT read this paragraph if you don't want it spoiled.  In theaters, the film cuts off after everyone but Sarah has died.  She escapes and is driving away until she looks over and Juno (dead) is in the car with her.  In the DVD release, we go back to the cave and see Sarah sitting at a fire across from her dead daughter celebrating her birthday.  In either case, the implication is that the final third of the movie is in her head.  But is it?  Are the crawlers real or just imagined by a mother taking psychiatric medication in order to deal with the loss of her family?  In my opinion, neither option is 100% accurate.  It's a combination.  I believe that Sarah never awakens to save herself and get out of the caving system, so yes, that part is imagined.  However, I also believe that the crawlers are indeed real.  There are too many suggestions of them outside of Sarah's experiences to be purely imagined.  We see them when she doesn't, the group sees and hears them, and there is plenty of evidence of fresh kills (for food).  SPOILER DONE!

All in all, this was an amazing movie.  I absolutely loved it.  In fact, I've been watching it while I write this.  I have not as yet seen the sequel, however, it is on my Netflix queue to watch.  If I don't add it to my "Horror Movie a Day" feature for this October, I will still provide a review.  I highly recommend The Descent.  There is a good storyline and the action is superb.  The scares are top notch, and I would be surprised if any person who considers themselves a horror movie fan did not like it.

-Kristin