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The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] |
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Home: You are here: The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray] |
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The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Blu-ray]  Rating: Rating:  - a smart horror film? who would've thought!9.5 THE DESCENT 9.0 VISUALS 9.3 SOUND 7.5 PACKAGING 8.0 EXTRAS Most horror movies are not kind of women. Just look at the Carmen Electra scene from Scary Movie and you'll understand why such a statement is one of the truest in all of cinema. Women in horror movies are usually dumb, clumsy, get injured easily and die extravagant deaths - unless your a virgin (like we learn in Scream). But The Descent doesn't follow the normal guidelines for a horror film. I was hestitant to see The Descent because I thought it was going to be another lackluster cheap thrills horror movie. Boy was I wrong... Without giving to much away, the story is based around a group if adrenaline junky females who after one suffers a terrible accident they decide to cave dwelling in the Appalacian Mountains. There are no dumb blondes here, no ridiculous dialogue and no men. This is an all woman cast with an intelligent script! But things quickly go wrong and our band of smart, fiesty female warriors must do anything in their power to survive. But the best part is the way the film is played out. It starts out as a pyschological thriller when mother nature is the first negative of the trip. And while that is bad enough, things get much, much worse. Where most horror films have some intense scene, then it dies off, then picks back up, then dies off again (and again and again and again) The Descent doesn't break its hold. Once the terror begins, it continues until the film ends. And at only 96 minutes, little space is wasted to catch your breath once the insanity begins. I wish more horror films were this smart and well put together. Maybe in time the genre will pick itself back up from all these terrible PG-13 bores (I'm looking at you The Ring and The Grudge), but until then, I will thoroughly enjoy The Descent, knowing someone got it right. 9.0 VISUALS I actually have watched The Descent on blu-ray and DVD and there were alot of details in the blu-ray version that I didn't see in the DVD release. But again, this film does take place in dark, damp caves, so not alot of visuals to base this score off of. 9.3 SOUND The eerie sounds of caves, women howling in a frenzy and creepy creatures make this a treat for the sound geeks. Echoes are realistic and you get the sense they filmed this in an actual cave (newsflash: they didn't). 7.5 PACKAGING I like the cover, but the main screen is just okay. I flashlight shines on each option while a few lines of dialogue run on repetition until you choose an option. 8.0 EXTRAS The Descent comes with 2 commentaries. One is a cast commentary, which has most of the main characters and the director as they talk about a varied of things (such as the "vagina cave") and have a blast as they laugh over anything and everything. Not as annoying as it sound. The second is the crew commentary which is obviously more detail oriented. It plays a bit slower, but still an interesting listen. "Descending: An Underground Experience" is a PiP type feature that runs through the whole film with production videos and designs for different sets. "Descending" (yes, it is called this) is an interview with the director. A neat little look at the original title of the film, why he chose to make it and other assorted goods. "The Descent: Beaneath the Scenes" A 40-minute documentary type piece where the cast and crew talk about their favorite sci-fi / horror films and behind the scenes moments. "Deleted and Extended Scenes", there's not much to see here. Nothing too different from how the movie plays out. "Caving: An HD Experience" is an odd look at caving. It's just shown through the camera's view and has no dialogue as we wonder through a cave for about 7 minutes. Fans of cave dwelling with find joy here, but without any commentary, the res of us will be bored by this. "Storyboard to Scene Comparisons" is just like every other of these types of features. A few minutes of watching the storyboards compare to the actual film. "Still Gallery", this has some great pictures which actually makes it wortwhile. "Outtakes" is a short piece of bloopers and falls along with the crazy creatures tapping their man-jibblets. For some I could see people laughing hysterically at this, but I only found it mildly amusing. IN CLOSING The Descent proved me wrong in every way I imagined. I thought it would be dumb, typical and not scary at all - but it proved to actually be quite frightening and instantly has become one of my favorite horror movies of all time. The bonus features are impressive, but I feel there's nothing superbly substantial here, but alot of good and decent featurettes. But that can't ruin a great looking film for its blu-ray release. 9.6/10 "INCREDIBLE" Rating:  - Read the book by Jeff LongI read the book The Descent by Jeff Long first, and LOVED IT! I was excited to find out there was a movie based on the book, until I watched the movie. I was convinced that the screenwriter did not actually read the book, but just heard about the story from a friend of a friend, and kind of made something up around the idea. The movie is good, but really has nothing to do with the book other than some demon like creatures in a cave- and I must say again, the book is such a great read. I might have rated this movie with more stars if I had not had such high expections unmet by comparing it to the book for the duration. The Descent (the book) by Jeff Long one of those stories that you'll want to tell everyone about as you read it, and you'll be loaning out your copy to everyone that you can convince to take it. Tell then that if you're not a reader, read the first chapter. SO FREAKY! If you "kind of read sometimes", read the first three chapters. The first chapter is about some mountain explorers, the second chapter is around legends from a native african tribe, and the third chapter is from a military perspective. The rest of the book goes in to connecting the three perspectives (individual explorers, legends, and military involvment) into a thrilling story that will stick with you. If you're an avid reader, read all of The Descent and then it's sequel, Deeper. Deeper starts with some missing trick-or-treaters, and goes more into scientific and religious discussions around Long's idea of devils. Rating:  - A movie that explores the dark recesses of the subconsciousFirst off I have to give credit to someone on IMDB (grayden1977) who mentioned the symbolism in this film. Prior to reading that review I found this to be an average movie. But once you realise the importance of metaphors, this turns out to be a great horror story. Basically, this movie explores the dark side of the human psyche - the side that we don't show and find hard to confront. Nonetheless it's the part of us that is roused when we need to conquer our demons and set things right. This movie could be summarised as an allegorical telling of a particularly nasty argument between two friends - one where no punches are pulled and everything is dragged into the open. The film begins with a group of friends who are whitewater rafting. The husband and daughter of one of the women (Sarah) stand nearby watching. On the drive back, Sarah's husband seems distracted by something and ends up crashing the car leaving Sarah as the only survivor. We then skip to a year later. The five friends have planned another trip with Sarah, in part to lift her spirits but also to bring them together again (we find out that certain girls haven't visited her since the accident). The trip is headed up by Juno, a risk-taking, adrenaline junkie who's planned out a caving expedition for them. She continually states that the trip is for Sarah. We soon learn that Juno had been having an affair with Sarah's husband, which may have been why he was distracted on the day of the accident - it is not clear if Sarah is aware of the affair. The day of their trip starts slowly but the pace soon picks up and they're quickly within the cave. It doesn't take long for the girls to get into trouble but it's just the start of their nightmarish ordeal. The cave is a metaphor for Sarah's subconscious, which is still troubled by the death of her family. What happens within the cave is how her morality manifests itself in the physical world. Throughout the movie, the viewer is challenged with claustrophobia-inducing camerawork, an inventive use of colours, light and darkness and a good deal of gore. But the scariest part is being let into the mind of a grieving woman looking for solace who finds something truly horrifying. *** SPOILERS *** I hate to mention spoilers in a review but this stuff is just too good to pass up. Since it is Juno that leads Sarah and the girls into the cave (and ultimately gets them trapped and lost), we can assume that she is the reason Sarah has been forced to confront the death of her family and the possible causes for it. We get plenty of hints that Juno was having an affair with Sarah's husband and this may have been why he was distracted that day. I interpreted Sarah's morality as somewhat twisted by this point (hence the dark cave, collapsed tunnels and strange monsters) and this is why she feels that Juno is responsible for her family's death. Juno was definitely selfish, neglected to bring a map and left one of their friends to die, but she also tried to save Holly from being dragged away. It's interesting that she tries to save Holly without anyone else around but then leaves the other girl (whom she accidentally killed) to die by herself. Later, when Sarah is separated from the group, Juno makes a "public" show of "not leaving without Sarah". I didn't really like the way the monsters looked but I think they were intentionally humanoid because they represent Sarah's "demons"; specifically, they represent Sarah's evil desire to kill Juno. The ending might be seen as cliched, especially since it involves a dream-like sequence, but I think it works in this case and it wasn't a cheap way of tying up loose ends (as is the case in many other movies). Rating:  - "Six Chicks with Picks"Six women go spelunking...and find flesh-eating beasties. Such is the basic gist of THE DESCENT. The film is very-well done; the cast of relative unknowns are all believable and relatable, and writer/director Neil Marshall certainly knows what he's doing. The atmosphere is prevalent and truly frightening; while the film isn't necessarily claustrophobic (maybe it is; I've never been very claustrophobic myself), it is certainly a "close" picture, thrusting you right in there with the characters as they go through this living hell. You're on the edge of your seat the whole picture, never quite knowing what'll happen next, and it all leads up to a truly haunting finale. Then why the three stars? Because it bugs the hell out of me whenever a movie shirks its potential greatness to become something less than what it is. There is tremendous talent behind this film--the cast, the cinematography, the writing, the directing--which makes its shortcoming all the more regrettable. The film's first half is fantastic--part Tarantino, part "Alien." The cave system itself is terrifying, and the audience is frightened right alongside the cast. And then...it becomes something of a zombie film set underground. Not to say these creatures are zombies; but that's what they come off as--flesh-eating, fast-moving, blind (yet somehow with functioning eyes?) zombies. It's a terrible shame; if there weren't so many of the creatures, or if the emphasis wasn't so fully upon them in the second half, their presence could be justified (if if there existence never truly is; there are a few hints as to their origins, but honestly, the film would have been more believable if the creatures' origins were left completely unspoken). Thus, THE DESCENT is a great film that winds up being only a mediocre one. It's still a must-see for horror fans, as the first half of the movie especially is truly outstanding. Certainly it's worth watching to reassure yourself that there is true talent working in the horror industry today, with a writer/director (and cast) who knows how to relate to you, to entertain you, and to terrify you. |
