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The Descent (2005)

Sometimes, the plot doesn't need to be complicated. The film follows Sarah and her friends who go into some caves in the Appalachian Mountains where things go wrong and they are being hunted by crawlers. That’s it. That’s the plot and it doesn't need to be anything more than that.  The defining quality of this film is that it is very claustrophobic and atmospheric. If you suffer from claustrophobia then this film isn’t for you. I’m not the sort of person that suffers from claustrophobia but there were times that I was thinking that the caves were too small and they probably shouldn’t be doing that. 


I thought the only real issue with the film is that there were too many characters. All of them were treated as part of the story with Sarah being the most important seeing as it was her loss that spurred the story along but apart from Sarah and Juno they never really felt like they were there for anything other than being dinner for the crawlers. They tried to introduce the idea that Juno and Sarah’s husband were having an affair and this made Juno the villain of the piece which seemed unnecessary. I also thought having Juno kill Holly even by accident seemed like it was done to set up the end moment where Sarah leaves Juno to be eaten by the crawlers when there was a nicer way of writing the character out.


The crawlers are really good. We don't see them that well and when we do they look disgusting and I liked how the group surmised what they are in a way that comes across as plausible without sounding like forced exposition. The writing is really good in this but the crawlers themselves are an effective monster.


The claustrophobic feel that runs through a large portion of the film gets to you without you realising as when Sarah makes it out of the cave (or thinks she does) I found myself relieved that we were outside.  As this is a horror film things were never going to end nicely and we realise that her making it out of the cave was a dream and she is in fact still in the cave at the end and this the bleaker end to the alternate version and I have to say I prefer the bleaker end. It works for this story and I think had there been a nicer ending then it would have undermined the entire film. I know people might not agree but horror really is the one genre where bleak endings are the better and stronger ending.


I really liked The Descent and considering it is 20 years old at this point really does show how good it is as I think that it can hold up to modern horror films. It has a simple story to introduce characters that are all women which was rare in 2005 and the horror never lets up for the entirety of the movie. 


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