The Descent

DOG SOLDIERS certainly is. I don't think it's half as good as a lot of people seem to think it is, but it's a fun and breezy flick. I wish I could say the same about THE DESCENT, but I seem to be in the minority on that one.

If you went to see The Descent without ever hearing about it, you'd probably like it. i recently saw a copy of the British cut (I hear the US cut will have some changes) and i was seriously underwhelmed. It's okay, but don't expect the second coming of horror films.

Unfortunately, that's how it's being promoted. It's got a few scares, but on the whole, I can't really recommend it much more than The Cave, which is just lousy.

I'd definitely rate it higher than THE CAVE. It's far better made.

Then again, it doesn't have Cole Hauser or Morris Chestnut.

Dog Soldiers is definitely worth a look, Sean Pertwee overacting aside. Charles hit the nail on the head when he called it fun & breezy. Haven't seen Combat.

COMBAT's a short, so it's hardly been in circulation or anything. It's a lads' night out set to the sounds of warfare. It's clever, but not groundbreaking or anything.

Thumbs up from me. Marshall works miracles – on a threadbare budget - creating an atmospheric and totally authentic subterranean domain that just looks fantastic bathed in blazing flare light. I love Henry Levin’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and this film captures the most visually arresting elements of that aesthetic. Credit also to David Julyan, whose bleak and haunting score projects a darkening mood of tragedy and desperation.

The major plus point for The Descent is that it can be appreciated on more than one level. At the most obvious layer it’s an effective monster movie with plenty of jumpy bits and blood-soaked butchery. It’s also a horror film made by a horror fan, and thus presupposes the viewer’s familiarity with the genre. There’s plenty of fun to be had in picking out the countless homages to horror classics (all tastefully shot). But what elevates The Descent above the mean for me is its exploration of grief, how we learn to overcome it and the fundamental division between horror and mortal terror.

Marshall succeeds in reminding us that monsters of the flesh are insignificant next to those that haunt our minds. Juxtaposed with the terrors of overcoming Total Loss, horror becomes stupid and irrelevant. What fear can cave-dwelling cannibals present to a woman who’s seen everything that mattered to her torn away?

Yes, some of the characters are under-drawn (although no more than the genre standard, IMO) but Shauna Macdonald’s development from a broken human being to one that has found peace with herself really does give TD a strong emotional draw. Marshall might be ok with the US cut but deleting the final scene – which drew a tear or two out of me - devalues the movie and the message. Despite the bleakness, I think it’s a beautiful and spiritually uplifting finish. I’m not sure what the movie is without it.

I wouldn't disagree; I just don't rate either of them that highly. The great spelunking horror film has yet to be made - not to sound like a broken record, but hopefully with Jeff Long's The Descent.

Bpoth Dog Soldiers and The Descent are decent and competently made, and better than a lot of horror, but neither of 'em are great films.
Just a bit too derivative, I'd say- nothing to really make them stand out.

I mentioned this in the other Descent thread but Neil Marshall's film really comes across as one of the side stories in Long's excellent novel. You know how there would sometimes be a chapter devoted to a hadal incident around the world? The film is like a side story from the main plot. Plus the creepers in Marshall's film look like the hadal's in Long's novel. (going off my dodgy memory anyway)

I thought they looked like Gollum.

How did the US cut end?

Saw this about a year ago and I enjoyed it. The first half of the movie was fairly boring but once the cannibalistic cave dwellers appeared it really took off.

Good point. That is how it reads, although the women would all have been taken alive, most likely. IIRC the hadals had freakily prominent bone structures.

I read it cuts cuts the final moments in the cave. I haven't seen it yet, I have to find a theater that is showing it.

I saw this over a year ago and it seemed to be very intense.

Unusual in the sense that all the leads in the cave are female.

Is this version any different than the British version?

Read. The. Thread.

I saw this on DVD over the weekend and loved it to bits. It was uncomprimising, inventive and genuinely tense. The central characters were well drawn and the pacing was just right. LOVED the ending- really stayed with me. It seems like the US cut pussied out to some extent. Shame.

Oh, and it's not overrated. Best horror in a few years is accurate, but that's also partly because the last few years haven't been great. I found The Descent to be thrilling.

Check out Annika's squeeze's review!

I wasn't going to see it...I need more recommendations.

Seriously, man. See it. THE DESCENT is the real deal. Great character study. Dark and foreboding imagery. Characters you will dig (and some you will learn to hate). A seriously fucked up situation for the lead.

I'm going to go see it again this weekend on the big screen and I own the damn thing on DVD (Region 2).

This whole ending debate will be null and void once the DVD is released.

Great movie. I'd give it an 8 / 10. Loved the opening scene, all the stuff in the caves and the badass ending. Not a sure classic, but entertaining.

This is definitely one of those movies that people are going to be disappointed with simply because it's been built up for so long. But the bottom line is that it's a remarkably well-done little horror movie that would be unsettling even without the monsters.

saw the movie last nite (uk version). i thougth it was pretty interesting. i liked how they seemed to create a fully developed world. i found the ending to be fucked up and i knew immediately where they were going to make changes for the american release. the uk ending was a little depressing for me but that was fine. i just hope that if the movie does well, the movie company doesn't try to make a whole bunch of sequels with the cave creatures.

Went tonight and enjoyed it thoroughly. While it doesn't break any new ground, the film makes the most of modest B movie conventions. The characters are relatable and the ever increasing danger of their situation elicits genuine tension.

Having the frame limited by the darkness is worked to great effect as well, especially during the early caving scenes. These claustrophobic scenes are so effective that it occurred to me that a truly terrifying movie could have been made around that aspect alone, without the subterranean creatures.

As it stands, though, the film is a well crafted creature feature with loads of gore to compliment the scares. Horror fans should give it a try.

The hour before the creatures showed up I was ridiculous uncomfortable with everything, which was great. While the creature stuff was still very good, I think all the stuff before that was better.

I 100% agree. I knew nothing about this other than it had an all female cast and was set in a cave. I was not impressed with Dog Soldiers so I put this on the backburner. Well just saw it last night and I have to say its sticking with me. Geoff does a great job of explaining why and for sure the original ending would have been more haunting.

Saying that i'm very impressed with what Marshall accomplished here. I was unsettled and riveted from the first few minutes on. Easily one of the best horror films of the past decade.

Just saw this over the weekend so I'm bumping it.

That's exactly what I was thinking. It's an involving, creepy film before the monsters even show up.

I'm a little surprised to see the reaction in this thread. Just about every horror film made nowadays is derivative in some way of other horror films. But this was exceptionally well-made. Even after I watched the extras, seeing the sets that were built, I still wonder how the hell Marshall got some of those shots without trapping himself in a cave.

I'm a bit of a Lovecraft junkie so I took it as a bit of an homage to "The Lurking Fear".

I was leaning towards "The Thing In The Cave". Oh, and you know Brigden is MIA right?

Either or.

Am I not allowed to quote his posts then?

You can do what you want, I just thought you may've been expecting a reply from him, if not, then that's fine.

Sorry if I came across as a bit cranky.

Anyway, "The Thing in the Cave" is a pretty good one, but I think more "The Lurking Fear" because The Thing in the Cave was ONE monster; the Lurking Fear was a whole colony of mole-people.

Interesting criticism.

Way overrated. It looked like The Cave part 2 to me.

Sir, you are a fool.

Just saw this last night. I liked it a lot. It deserved all the love it got in these parts & elsewhere. I mentioned in an earlier pst somewhere that I'd done some spelunking, and that the claustrophobia wears off eventually, turning it into a fun activity for those w/ the right outdoorsy mind set. But what I did was nothing like that. We never needed more than 10' or so of rope. No rappelling involved. The underground stream w/ the albino crayfish was cool, and we only saw one bat. But having a passage in an unknown cave collapse on top of you? That's a whole nother ball game. And that's before the crawlers even showed up. Beautifully shot, good gore, and very creepy. Definitely one of the year's best.

How is it like the cave? I'm not sure, but it seems like anybody that would make a comparison between The Cave and The Descent probably hasn't seen both movies...possible they haven't seen either. The Descent wasn't the greatest movie ever, but if you're going to bring one of those crappy pg-13 movies into the mix than something just isn't right with what you're saying. I have seen the Cave unfortunately because my girlfriend forces me to watch that kind of stuff. I had to watch The Covenant, ok? THE CAVE BETTER THAN THE DESCENT!? Are you sure you just don't have them mixed up?

Yeah, I don't get the CAVE comparison either. THE CAVE was super-stupid, with lots of silly exposition, one-dimensional characters and strictly PG-13 bloodletting. Like it or not, THE DESCENT is on a whole 'nuther level.

neil marshall

i gotta admit, i really like neil marshall's films. the plots are pretty generic horror standards, but he brings a depth of character and sense of tongue in cheek that is rarely done well my other films. the descent was no shining, but had some good jumps and some cringingly gory bits. i enjoyed it. certainly a far cry better than the grudge/ring/final destination bullshit flooding the movie houses these days.

and furthermore....

the cave was a total peice of crap.