Horror Retrospect: 'The Descent' (2005) Movie Review

"Love each day." 

I would, if B-horrors are this tasteful. And while I have long accepted this to be too good for reality, I believe that at the least of things we are entitled to savor one movie and it's own goodness. Neil Marshall's The Descent may appear as your typical trip to the nature gone horribly wrong on the surface of things, but as the story progresses it becomes this grim and creepy tale ensuing carnage, vengeance and malevolence. Seven years after and it's still effective (intermittently, as it was before) and to tell that it isn't terrifying as hell would be an understatement.

Marshall's impressive direction is worthy of praise, his gorgeously drawn characters and their entanglements  with each other are what makes the journey too hard to take but entirely pleasing to follow. It's weird and I understand that I might be babbling right now. I might be trying too hard to make sense. But trust me, The Descent will boggle your mind too! His characterization is first-rate and his execution, grand. Marshall's skills make the film a sumptuous treat, a thrilling and gruesome carnage and an engrossing tale of friendship, loyalty and trust.

Marshall has crafted a story which purpose is something else, and to scare is just an extra feature. It all starts when a group of spelunker friends set out and well, spelunker, down an unknown cave because 1.) a third of the group are "sports fucks", 2.) girls just wanna have fun, and 3.) their traumatized friend Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) asked for it to get her mind off of the tragic incident that took away her husband and daughter's life (helluva way to forget, right?). As the group goes to certain depths of the cave, they find themselves struggling to get out. It should be the least of their worries. Their demise is imminent, a band of demented flesh-eating creatures terrorizes them for dead.

This all-estrogen monster movie has the physical strength of men. It's taut and terrifying at full throttle. Marshall has also found a way to bring out stupendous performances out of his actors making them people you root for, people you want to kill or people you want to just be there. Marshall's craftsmanship, the cast's solid acting and the genuine scares makes The Descent a rare gem, and it's only fitting to celebrate it. A-