The Descent

[mcilroga]

I think this one just barely passed the mark and can be put into the "General Horror" forum. Could be wrong, though.

Anyway, here is the thread to discuss all things The Descent.

The Descent is the best horror film to come out in the last few years, and is my favorite British horror movie (believe it or not, I've seen quite a few). Strong cast, great acting, plot, characters, editing, direction, lighting, sound, ending (the UK one puts the American one to shame).

The creatures scared me to no end. Not because they were necessarily realistic, but because they were just fucking terrifying. The first reveal of one of the creatures shocked me, mainly because I hadn't seen the (US) trailer which reveals it. I was pretty satisfied when Juno and Sarah started kicking all ass. Nothing can beat that.

Anyway, I was utterly pissed off when Sarah killed Juno. Juno did not deserve to die. Sure, she made a few mistakes along the way (forgetting the map, leaving Beth to die though she did have a great reason to, and I would've as well), but I didn't find that deserving of death. That is where the film dropped in points for me, and I found myself no longer rooting for Sarah. Then again, the death added a whole new accuracy to the film; in particular, the "anyone can die at any moment"-feel.

In short: A from me.

[Wheatjedi]

I finally saw this one a month or so ago with a friend. I thought it was pretty good, but the "crawling through the small tunnel" scenes scared me far more than the monsters did.

And I agree with your one criticism. It didn't piss me off when that happened, but it did make me lose any sympathy I had for Sarah.

[Jigsaw]

This movie was good in the first half but went downhill in the second half after the Crawlers arrived. Their designs IMO were so stupid and cartoonish and absolutely ruined the suspense that the first half built up. Not to mention once they showed up, that God-awful shaky-cam technique was used and I HATE that technique.

I would give it a 6/10 overall. The first half was solid, but the second half, with the exception of some good moments, was laughable.

[Mutant Leprechaun]

I liked it, it had a cool claustrophobic (sp?) tension to it and unlike most modern horrors it had very good acting and a pretty original plot. But it loses points for showing the creatures so much.

I'd give it seven out of ten.

[Franchise]

I think it's one of those movies that just gets you on a level where most of us have been. I know I don't like tight spaces. I can also see what's going on between the women and can say I'd give up a friend who screwed me over as well. It's an all around good movie and I'm now waiting for Doomsday.

[French Friday]

Apart from the awful shaky cam during the attacks, and the character of Sarah I can't really say I liked, prefering Juno, I have to say this was one of the best horror movie I've seen for a long time, right next to Dog Soldiers.

[Toejam]

I liked Dog Soldiers more, but this wasn't a bad film.
I liked the ending. I also liked Juno more than Sarah, but I can kinda understand why Sarah killed her.

[Joshg]

Oh I loved The Descent.
8/10
The characters were so nice to see nowadays. I felt horrible for Juno too. Although, Sarah was a fun killing machine.

If only she made it out in the end. :(

[Merf]

Y'all do realize Character A had plenty of motivation for killing Character B, right? How would you all feel if Character B not only got you lost in a dank, seemingly-endless cave with a horde of hungry troglodytes, but fucked your husband as well?

[Autobotsdie]

It had its moments like when she got stuck in that small crevase. But other wise it was mediocre.

[Joshg]

Yeah, the whole "I did it with your husband" thing was good enough reason for Juno to die. LOL, I'm not joking either. This isn't sarcasm. :D

[The 5th Golden Girl]

Y'all do realize Character A had plenty of motivation for killing Character B, right? How would you all feel if Character B not only got you lost in a dank, seemingly-endless cave with a horde of hungry troglodytes, but fucked your husband as well?

And mortally wounded your friend and left her for dead?

[Scarecrow]

Juno was a bitch, really. All sympathy went for her when she left the other woman to die.


Brilliant film though, can't wait for his next.


- Scarecrow

[Fowlees]

Outstanding British horror film. Right up there with Dog Soldiers.

Extremely atmospheric

[Joe Strummer]

overrated and mediocre. The only part that made me cringe was the part where that chick fell and broke her leg. The rest of the movie didn't do much for me. I watched the Cave just before this movie and that was worse, but I guess by the time I got to descent, I was burned out on caves. This movie could have been a hell of a lot better than what it presented.

The movie does make you think tho. Is what happened real or just a figment of that chick's insanity and an excuse to kill? But whatever. 5/10

[Scarecrow]

I recall this came out before The Dave over here. And this was rated 8 and The Cave was rated 2. Everyone just looked at thew Cave as some cheap-ass, low-rated kiddie version of The Descent. :p


- Scarecrow

[sCabbOy]

I definitely thought The Descent was a pretty alright film. I loved the claustrophobic feeling... the killer people could have looked scarier, but it was an alright movie.

[Apocalypto]

Y'all do realize Character A had plenty of motivation for killing Character B, right? How would you all feel if Character B not only got you lost in a dank, seemingly-endless cave with a horde of hungry troglodytes, but fucked your husband as well?

Of course character B also risked her life to go back and save character A when she didn't have to, and when characters C and D impored her not to, and if character A hadn't stabbed character B, then there would've been someone to pull her up when she was slipping down into the tunnel that she obviously didn't want to fall down into at the end of the film.

One of the major points of the film is the dangers of what happens when people put personal interests (ie. vengeance) above the greater good of the group...a unit has a better chance of survival than an individual.

Attempting to Murder someone that your husband cheated with hardly makes you the 'good one' of the two. Sarah and Juno were both deeply flawed, the fact that so many people choose to side with one while demonizing the other when both had good and bad in them is a testament to how good the film is.

My #1 horror film of all time, great characters, alot of subtext, a great survival movie/monster movie/psychological thriller/subtle suspense atmospheric thriller/morality tale...

It has everything that makes a horror film great 10 fold.
ADDED:
Juno was a bitch, really. All sympathy went for her when she left the other woman to die.


Brilliant film though, can't wait for his next.


- Scarecrow

When she (very reasonably) thought that Beth would be dead within a few seconds anyway, and could hear more creatures coming and didn't exactly have time to drag around dead weight with her.

Juno is also the only one in the film that risks her life to help others while everyone else scatters around only concerned with covering their own asses. Best character in the film.

As for mortally wounding Beth, it was remarkably stupid to sneak up on somebody that was right in the middle of an intense fight for their life, swinging is a natural instinctual reaction in that situation, atleast any harm Juno was caused was not intentional, unlike the the blatant act of cruelty Sarah committs at the end of the film.

I doubt either of them is dead btw, considering there's a sequel on the way and we didn't see either die on camera, they'll probably both be back.

[Chex]

Apocalypto, I really hope the bottom part of your message is correct. I'm just trying not to get my hopes up.

Also, I really don't want a sequel to the film. One of the nice draws of the movie was that there's a few different possible ways that everything happened and one of my favorite theories is that the latter half of the film didn't actually happen in how it appears on scree, so to say. I've got the feeling the sequel will just push all that stuff aside in order to make a mediocre follow up. I hope I'm wrong. :(

[cropsy]

This was one I didn't have very high expectations but came to enjoy it and it also showed me more and more why I don't go into places like that. The acting wasn't that bad overall and I agree the reason was good enough for Juno to get killed.

[Apocalypto]

This was one I didn't have very high expectations but came to enjoy it and it also showed me more and more why I don't go into places like that. The acting wasn't that bad overall and I agree the reason was good enough for Juno to get killed.

If someone does things we don't like than it's ok to kill them...nice.

Anyone that thinks the attempted murder of Juno was justified completely missed the point of the movie. It was no more justified than Juno's mistakes were...the only difference is that it was a deliberate act of cruelty.

[Joshg]

Yeah, the whole "I did it with your husband" thing was good enough reason for Juno to die. LOL, I'm not joking either. This isn't sarcasm. :D

In case people were wondering, this WAS sarcasm. Hehe, nearly five months later, and the truth comes out!

Juno slept with Sarah's husband, and yes, killed the other member, but the member was an accident, and sleeping around with your friend's partner, while bad, is not kill-worthy. Bad Sarah, baaaad!

[Ron]

my sister-in-law bought me this for Christmas and I can't wait to put my 2 cents in.

[Chex]

my sister-in-law bought me this for Christmas and I can't wait to put my 2 cents in.
Hope you enjoy it Peter and once you're done, let us know your thoughts on it. Oh, and then you can read the other theories about what really happened in the film.

[ChoKo]

I really love this movie and I watch it quite often. I have no problems with it, at all.

[Scarecrow]

If someone does things we don't like than it's ok to kill them...nice.

Anyone that thinks the attempted murder of Juno was justified completely missed the point of the movie. It was no more justified than Juno's mistakes were...the only difference is that it was a deliberate act of cruelty.

In your opinion. The film I saw, had Juno clearly set up as a bad egg. She may have been strong but she was selfish and self-centred and she lied, cheated and didn't care. She got them in there, killed someone, left them for dead,, and only cared for herself when it came down to it. Not that that justifies murder but in such an intense situation its understandable and Juno brought it on herself through her own selfish actions. great character though.


- Scarecrow

[Ron]

I'm really glad that everyone loves this movie, or so it seems. I can't wait to watch it.

[Apocalypto]

In your opinion. The film I saw, had Juno clearly set up as a bad egg. She may have been strong but she was selfish and self-centred and she lied, cheated and didn't care. She got them in there, killed someone, left them for dead,, and only cared for herself when it came down to it. Not that that justifies murder but in such an intense situation its understandable and Juno brought it on herself through her own selfish actions. great character though.


- Scarecrow

It set her up as a very flawed person that was still good enough to risk her life to save her friends (which was far from selfish) and their own mistakes kept her from doing it.

Yes, she got them there, but again, fought her heart out to save them, as she said "I promise I'm going to get you out of here, but I can't do it unless you're with me," them scattering off on their own and working only for themselves rather than for the good of the group is what led to everyone's demise. Notice she told Holly and Sam not to run off on their own...they did...look how well that turned out.

Sarah and her working together were winning against the Crawlers, Sarah just to seek personal vengeance rather than continue working as a team, she then slipped down into a hole that if she had not chosen to attack her partner and go alone, she would've had someone to pull her up...look how well that turned out.

One of the major points of the film is as I said, what happens when individuals put personal interest above the good of an entire group.
Yes, Juno fucked up bringing them they, and they all fucked up while they were there which prevented her from saving them.

Most movies depict flawless Hollywoodized heroes, this film gave us one that was capable of committing adultery and royally fucking up, but also capable of giving her life's blood to try and save people. OF COURSE she cared, she was stunned and heartbroken over what she did to Beth (which again would not have happened if Beth hadn't stupidly snuck up on her right in the middle of an intense fight) and even vomited on the extended version of that scene because she was so disgusted with what happened; she felt horrible over what she'd done to Sarah, hence why she felt that she owed it to her to go back even when Sam and Becca were insisting that they should leave her there (which was more selfish than Juno was), and she even yelled for Sarah to go AFTER Sarah had stabbed her.

Trying to justify Sarah's blatant act of cruelty at the end of the film is no better than trying to justify Juno's mistakes. Everyonoe fucks up, but regardless of who's fault it is, a unit working cohesively (which the Crawlers were and the women were not) stands a much better chance of survival than individuals that are more interested in covering their own asses and bickering/seeking vengeane on each other. One shouldn't be so quick to deal out death and judgement over someones mistakes, but if Juno "brought it on herself," than by the same logic so did Sarah.

To make one out to be "the bad one" is to miss the point of the film, they all had good and bad in them, and they all made mistakes that fucked them all over.

Another major point of the film is how dangerous it can be to leave someone on their own to deal with problems that they obviously need alot of help with, Sarah's psychological trauma manifested itself in very horrible ways, that in no way whatsoever justifies her cruelty, but I can see that she was a flawed person that still had plenty of good in her just like Juno was, which is why I don't villify either of them. Both of them made huge mistakes and one can find excuses for either, but it doesn't justify their wrongdoing, nor does their wrongdoing make them horrible people to the core.

[cropsy]

If someone does things we don't like than it's ok to kill them...nice.

Anyone that thinks the attempted murder of Juno was justified completely missed the point of the movie. It was no more justified than Juno's mistakes were...the only difference is that it was a deliberate act of cruelty.

Like anyone really would condone killing anyone. The only way I can even imagine would be if it was protecting my kids but you can take it whatever way you want. I as someone else said it in the idea of sarcasm.

[Ron]

i wanna "kill" my sister-in-law because she was a bitch tonight.

[cropsy]

watch out that may not be right to say :P

[Ron]

well the point is the word "kill" is not always intended literally..it's all context. She did buy me The decent and some nice shirts so I still love her:)

[i am SAW]

i think i only watched this twice since i got it/it came out, so i decided to watch it again last night because i'll be watching the sequel sometime this week.

i forgot how good it was. this movie is the shit.

first half when they're in the tunnels, so tense and unnerving.

second half when the crawlers come out, shit just gets crazy.

Sarah doing the "mercy killing" and smashing that chick's head with a rock., DAMN! :eek:

great fuckin movie.

[Ron]

Yeah, I think this is one of the most anticipated sequels for me.