The Descent

The characters and the conflicts between them are not great, but the horror storyline is excellent. Neil Marshall moves skillfully in the limited setting, conjuring from it a dense atmosphere of isolation and opening a new door every ten minutes. The scares are perfect, the “bad guys” are terrifying and repulsive, and the quick-motion filming is impressive. And the final action posturing is less awkward than you would expect. Plus a few nice nods to horror connoisseurs (music from The Thing, eye gouging from The Evil Dead...). The Descent is an above-average genre flick conjured up from an average screenplay and a big step forward for the director after Dog Soldiers. (12/02/2006)

Neil Marshall (watch out for that name in the future!) has undergone some mysterious reinvention and after the lackluster, if not bad Dog Soldiers. He has made a little genre treat, for the enjoyment of horror fans and for the sweating of claustrophobics. In the first half he builds up the tension with precision, with the help of great likeable and unknown actresses, thanks mostly to unpleasant claustrophobic feelings and the suspicion of something bad, and the second half turns into an uncompromising bloody carnage. Already in some scenes in Dog Soldiers, Marshall showed that he knows how to do jump scares, but here he developed this ability into complete perfection – there were a couple of times where I really had a heart attack. Yet the final impression is not perfect. There are a few fatal logical lapses, such as the fact that the blind cave creatures don't react to heat at all, even when they pass within inches of a burning torch. Also, the transformation of one of the heroines into some kind of terminator with a specialty in axe fighting is not very believable, and the trampling of the viewer catharsis in the final few seconds is almost a slap in the face. Still, I recommend it to horror fans and be warned, it is an absolute must to see this film in total darkness or you will get nothing out of it. (01/04/2006)

The best horror film of 2005. After an average werewolf flick, Neil Marshall took a step back and created a perfect combination of atmospheric tension and bloody carnage. If you want to see the monsters in person, I recommend a visit to the Rieseneishöhle cave in the Dachstein massif near Hallstatt, in Austria. On the walls of one of the chambers there’s a projection of one of those “Gollums” and it’s bloody realistic. (05/04/2007)

The simple premise incorporated into a meandering screenplay was used quite flexibly by director Neil Marshall to his advantage. Today, creating a well-blended mix of latex creatures, atmospheric emotions, and captivating soundscapes is almost impossible. What initially appears as a hopeless survival for the group of heroines brings something in the second half that perfectly glues you to your seat. I have no objections to the director's creativity until the end, which not only begins to rely on an overly "polished" plot but also pushes the lack of credibility of the characters to an unbearable extent. Indeed, the position in which the heroines are introduced at the beginning certainly does not correspond to the ending, where one of them stands majestically astride one of their "prey." Because of that, and also due to the contrived psychology, which is more detrimental and creates an unsightly mess among the relationships of the characters, I will refrain from giving it the highest rating. And I'm supposed to climb a mountain after this? (17/10/2005)

A super bloody film with nickel-and-dime morale and a very sexy, bloodied main heroine. Unlike the similarly tuned The Cave, here we have a great director, who did a great job with the underground atmosphere, as well as a decent script, which threw a group of women into a cave complex, exposed them to a bunch of hungry Gollums and didn’t bother to worry about anything else. The dialogues are thus limited to the necessary minimum, and you are able to survive even the most barren attempt to somehow exacerbate the relationship within the group. I really liked the stylish ending. I was expecting typical idiotic cliché, but despite the false hint, the end is... well, just as descent as it should be. Neil Marshall has it in hand, and The Descent is actually great horror B-movie with A-movie tone. Although the part before the appearance of the Gollum creatures is significantly more successful, overall, I enjoyed the emancipated murderer spree at the end. I also enjoyed the reference to Morricone's sounds from The Thing. I was not expecting this. (06/01/2008)

Gollum. Gollum. At the beginning it looks like it’s panning out interestingly, but it gradually descends into the darkness of tiresome mediocrity. This story about cavers isn’t at all horrifying, atmospheric or even interesting. If you suffer from claustrophobia, then I would think long and hard before watching it. It is suspenseful only until the moment when the fount of evil turns up. Then it becomes a classic genre movie with needlessly hectic and confusing editing. Interestingly made from a technical point of view, an appealing environment, but overall nothing special. In terms of genre, this movie is related to The Cave, which is so ridiculous that it is unforgettable and, in a way, you have a good time watching. But there is no chance of that with this movie. (15/08/2005)

Unwatchable. A movie where the main heroines act like the simplest creatures, crawl into unknown caves to restore their friendship, half of the runtime they scream in the dark, and eventually encounter slimy frog creatures who scream into the camera, is not for me. (23/09/2007)

The unexplored cave setting works in terms of atmosphere and horror, and some of the climactic passages, such as the climb over the abyss, the first brief glimpses of the monsters or the lair scene, are truly unsettling and frightening. In addition, the women are fine and the bad guys are incredibly good, from the hideous exteriors to the very effective and impressive quick-motion that elevates the few scares to the A-list horror league. Unfortunately, just as the film does a great job in the process of generating an atmosphere of fear and gives you the creeps with its initial hints of the lurking horror, the pure action track it switches to in the final act feels very bland and, despite the overwhelming momentum and a decent amount of brutality, has nothing to surprise a slightly more jaded viewer. However, I appreciate the few imaginative references to its famous predecessors, the refined claustrophobic form and the believable behaviour of the heroines, whose will to survive turns them from minute to minute into senseless and vengeful creatures, so much that I stick to a positive rating, even if it's very, very tight. 70% (06/08/2015)

A genre delicacy that makes the most of its setting in a claustrophobic cave environment. Like they say, less is sometimes more, so in this case I wouldn't be afraid of an infantile paraphrase where less is definitely more. At the same time, one can't help but notice how originally very sweet girls gradually become freak killing machines. It's a film that doesn't lose focus and never really lets you breathe. Totally awesome. [90%] (10/04/2021)

A convincingly claustrophobic and evocative minimalist horror film that is stunning in the way it makes the viewer feel what the characters feel, trapped and lost in the dark cramped cave passages. But the film works on multiple levels. Mainly because of the relationships between the characters. It's not so much about their confrontation with the cave monsters, but rather how they begin to relate to each other during it. The story also metaphors the main character's uncomfortable overcoming of grief after the death of her husband. But I can't help it - there's almost nothing to see in this film. And sometimes it's hard to tell the characters apart in the darkness. It doesn't help that all of them are wearing helmets most of the time, and they get progressively dirtier and bloodier. (03/11/2019)