Dir. Neil Marshall, 2005, UK, 100 mins
Cast:
Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring
When Neil Marshall single-handedly brought the rotting corpse of the British horror film back to life with 2002's Dog Soldiers he probably thought, along with the fans, that it was back for good. Yet despite the best efforts of directors like Danny Boyle and Marc Evans there has not really been a revival so much as a handful of good films. The Descent is Marshall 's welcome return to the genre and perhaps the extra boost that horror in this country has been waiting for.
The film follows six women on a caving expedition that goes horribly wrong in every way imaginable. Cut off from the outside world and plagued by prehistoric predators the trip soon becomes a fight for survival, made worse by escalating tensions within the group.
Comparisons to Dog Soldiers are inevitable, particularly as Marshall seems rather attached to the survival-horror sub-genre to which he adds his own recipe of frantic action and buckets of gore. More specifically there are a couple of signature moments, such as the stomach-churning DIY surgery applied to one of the girls after a fall, which echoes the intestinal problems of Sean Pertwee's character in Dog Soldiers . The basic set-up is practically identical - monsters attack a group of characters in an enclosed environment - but there are a few major differences.
Firstly, The Descent is much darker, both thematically and visually, than Dog Soldiers especially where the central characters are concerned. Both Sarah (Macdonald) and Juno (Mendoza) bounce between moments of heroism and sheer insanity or worse leaving us to wonder whether the film actually has a hero at all. All this is reinforced with a script that gives both characters a suitably conflicted back story ensuring that no matter how extreme their actions they can always be traced back to something we have already seen. It is left to the actresses to make this work and while Macdonald and Mendoza are convincing in the leads it is the solid support, particularly from Reid as sensible English teacher Beth (not without experience in the genre having battled giant alien spiders in Jack Sholder's 2001 film Arachnid ), which keeps the group tensions consistent. While it could be argued that the all-female group are merely the Dog Soldiers platoon with breasts the decision does work in that it negates our expectations. While the story is a familiar one, the characters take us into relatively unexplored territory in horror terms, where for once it is impossible to predict the course of events or even the body count. Marshall pushes this advantage to its full potential, throwing in unexpected twists and surprises all the way to the final minutes of the film.
What we gain in character development we unfortunately lose where the creatures are concerned. While the monsters themselves are well designed and move with an impressive bestial grace the emphasis on the tensions within the group pushes them to the periphery of the action. Although Marshall should be commended for this shift of focus it is that one re-write too many that kills off the creatures rather than the efforts of the group. The result is a film that plays like mountaineering disaster Touching the Void with monsters added as an afterthought and it is unlikely that the story and the tensions within would be that much different without them.
The Descent does have the advantage of looking suitably creepy with minimal lighting and claustrophobic set design throughout. Also, with the exception of some dubious-looking bats when the girls first enter the cave, there is an emphasis on physical effects that adds to the already heightened tension. The result is a well-crafted, enjoyable horror film that despite its flaws cements Marshall 's position as one of the most accomplished directors working in the genre today.
Chris Regan The Descent is released by Pathe Distribution Ltd on Region 2 DVD on 7th November 2005. The two-disc special edition includes:
- 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- English DD5.1 & DTS 5.1 Surround (Full Bitrate DTS)
- Cast Commentary by Shauna MacDonald, Myanna Buring, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone and director Neil Marshall
- Crew Commentary by director Neil Marshall, producer Christian Colson, editor Jon Harris, production designer Simon Bowles and assistant editor Catriona Richardson
- Making Of Featurette (45mins)
- Extended scenes
- Out-takes
- Scene and Storyboard comparisons
- Stills Galleries
- Cast and crew biographies
- Theatrical trailer
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