The Descent

I was in the mood for a fun no brainer of a movie and horror films usually fit that bill. I was intrigued this one because of it's all female cast. That's just never done. I didn't have very high hopes for this movie because it really looked like The Cave with an all female cast. And it was very much like it but it was better written and the creatures where better.

I didn't have very high hopes for this movie aside from being a couple hours of entertainment. As I told me good friend Liz Taylor's House it was not the craptastic gorefest I was anticipating it to be. It was rather gory but it wasn't bad. The dark setting made the gore a little less gory which was cool.

The cast was really good as well. None of them phoned it in and they took it seriously. No trying to make it campy or anything like that.



Spoilers Ahead:


The movie was very well put together and the story was good as were the characters. However, there were a couple of flaws that hurt my overall enjoyment of the movie.

One was when Juno hit I think it was Beth with her ice ax after having just faught off two of the creatures. I had a feeling a moment like that was coming but I didn't think it would play out quite like that. She hits her right square in the throat and then leaves her there to die. Not entirely cool leaving her like that but there was no way they were going to be able to save her. But then later Sarah finds Beth in the creatures food pile and she's still alive. Come one, that was so stupid there was no way she was still going to be alive that much later. She would have bled to death within minutes. And not only was she alive she was able to give Sarah important info about Juno.

Which sets up my major problem with the movie and it happened right at the end. Sarah and Juno are the only two left alive and they are almost to the opening and safety. There's a bunch of the creatures closing in. Turns out that Juno was having an affair with Sarah's husband (who was killed at the beginning of the movie) a fact which Sarah learned from Beth. Beth also told Sarah that Juno was a danger and that she had to find her own way out. So right there at the end Sarah takes her ice ax and puts it through Juno's knee leaving her there to die. Total character problem. I get your mad she had an affair with your husband, your best friend made it sound like Juno killed her on purpose, but no true horror film herione would leave someone behind unless they absolutely had to.

When it came to the creatures it was cool how they could only find their prey by sound. And that worked very well for the story except for one part. One of the characters was hanging from the top of the cave over some water. Her sister and Juno were trying to get her to come back and they were yelling at her. So the creature that was there next to her should have gone after them. Only he just starts swinging and clawing for the one hanging there until he finally gets her. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how he knew she was there or where she was exactly.



I went to a matinee and it was well worth that price. I don't think it is really worth more than that.