Go. See. The Descent.
Be forewarned that this movie is probably at its most effective if you go into it knowing as little as possible but for those of you who don’t mind having the experience ruined by hype and expectations, then read on.
The Descent is quite possibly the scariest and bloodiest movie i’ve seen this year. Six times. I jumped six times while watching this flick. Which has never happened before with any other so called horror flicks. And i am not one to be easily scared.
I was actually a little reluctant in getting the DVD because i’d heard that it’s practically the same movie The Cave was (and that movie, i heard, is complete shit). I mean, i knew it was from the guy who made Dog Soldiers (which was a brilliant little horror flick – the Matrix joke made me laugh) but wasn’t too convinced that it’d be anything special. But oh how wrong i was. The Descent is freakin’ amazing for what it is. It was the 5 star rating from Empire magazine that did me in. If Empire says it’s good, then it must be. And it is.
I’m not too sure if the DVD is out in the US but if you can track it down, get it. It’s pretty freakin’ awesome. Otherwise, there’s always bittorrent.
It’s funny because while i was watching this flick, i was thinking, “now THIS is the movie that Creep should’ve been” and then reading the exact same thing being said in a review afterwards. Creep was super disappointing. I was expecting so much better from a movie that had Franka Potente in it.
But anyway, The Descent. Better than Creep. Better than Saw II. Better than High Tension.
Some choice quotes from other people who have seen it:
Marshall goes all-out to disturb, upset and downright terrify his audience for a relentless 100-odd minutes
The less you know, the more you’ll enjoy. If, of course, being scared shitless is what you consider enjoyable.
Brutal, bloody, terrifying, astonishing… And so tense it’ll leave you aching. The most significant Brit chiller since 28 Days Later.
Marshall makes superb use of the claustrophic settings and the darkness to crank up the tension to the absolute maximum, making it almost unbearable to watch at times.
This movie made me jump at least three times! Original, shocking, bloody & tense. This is what a true horror movie is & I think Marshall deserves a big round of applause for achieving it….
I missed this on it’s original release and saw it was the Wednesday Special Screening on Wednesday at my local cinema. Went along, boy I thought my heart was going to jump out of my mouth at times and I’m not an easily scared person.
Never has a film lived up to the hype like this one. Branded “one of the scariest films of all time” I went to see this film believing it cant be that scary. Wrong! I watched this on my own, which I recommend, and I absolutely wet my pants, I think I even lost a stone in sweat.
How often is a horror film one of the best pictures of the year? how often do horror films actually scare the sh-t out of you? how often do horror films grip you in total suspense? how often do horror films have great acting? how often are horror films well made? how often are horror films somehow realistic? HOW OFTEN ARE HORROR FILMS ACTUALLY HORRIFYING? well in modern times… the answer to all of those questions is “very rarely” but The Descent does all of those and more. Somehow, it even horrified critics (in a good way).
The only thing that will ruin this movie for you is word of mouth, which ironically is exactly what this film will need to become commercially viable. But the less you know, the more you will enjoy it.
The Descent will rank as one of the most unashamedly terrifying British films ever made.
I didn’t expect anything from this film before I walked into the theatre it, yet it is the greatest horror I have ever seen, and am likely to for a very long time.
sounds freaking sweet, The Cave was crapola on film and isn’t worth the asswipage that is surely should be.
#1 | Comment by Kyle — December 11, 2005 @ 1:25 pm
finally after all these years of reading your posts I was first.
And second
#2 | Comment by Kyle — December 11, 2005 @ 1:25 pm
Justin, what the hell happened to your web site? I thought your web site’s main purpose is to post hi res hot celebrity pictures. So where the hell are all the hotties?
#3 | Comment by Terry — December 11, 2005 @ 2:44 pm
oh the hotties will be back. still in the middle of getting the new picture server up and running. it’s taking a little bit longer than expected.
i’ll be hosting all the hotty galleries on the new server and the main website on this old one. so seperate servers to handle the site and the galleries.
now go watch the descent.
#4 | Comment by Justin — December 11, 2005 @ 3:11 pm
There were actually two movies with the name Descent released this year. It’s to my knowledge, the one you’re talking of in your post hasn’t been released yet on DVD here. Though the other Descent is, which is a ripoff of “The Core”.
#5 | Comment by JEJ — December 11, 2005 @ 3:29 pm
But Justin, did you cry?
#6 | Comment by Smiley — December 11, 2005 @ 4:34 pm
well i just cried after watching house of flying daggers again =(
#7 | Comment by Justin — December 11, 2005 @ 5:10 pm
I agree – great film.
Shauna Macdonald is hot – some pics of her would be a most welcome addition to further complement your excellent site Justin.
#8 | Comment by Matt — December 11, 2005 @ 5:22 pm
Did some quick looking on most of the major sites and couldn’t find it(for sale at least).
Coming from Hong Kong for a whopping $4.95 now 🙂
#9 | Comment by Alias — December 11, 2005 @ 11:02 pm
Where can I find The Descent for the PSP?
#10 | Comment by crabby — December 12, 2005 @ 7:08 am
#7 Why? The chick deserved to die.
#11 | Comment by kiko — December 12, 2005 @ 7:14 am
I would be interested in pics of the Asian chick who is apparently the sister of some Aussie pop singer? Rumour has it there are topless photos somewhere.
#12 | Comment by Eamon Angelface — December 12, 2005 @ 11:38 pm
Oh yeah, saw this movie in the summer and it really does kick ass. So much better than Dog Soldiers. Even going in with high expectations you should enjoy it. It’s got some Italian spaghetti horror elements in the delivery but not in a campy bad way.
#13 | Comment by Eamon Angelface — December 12, 2005 @ 11:40 pm
i fucking hate you, justin. This is the last time i watch an horror flick you talk about. It’s going to give me nightmares about dark, thank you very fucking much
#14 | Comment by vhw — December 14, 2005 @ 8:53 am
I was kinda disappointed.
An all girl cast and not one exposed booby in sight. Not one, No nip slip. No areola. Not even side boob. Nothing.
What is this world coming to when there’s no boobies in a movie with nothing but hot girls wearing skin tight outfits that’s set in a tight, wet and dark environment that naturally fosters lesbianism and breast fondling.
Scary movie, well written and finely acted, but no tittays. I am outraged. I am going to write the director a letter and demand that version with added tit footage be released, before Christmas. I don’t care where that breast footage comes from. National Geographic, the Playboy Channel, I don’t care. This movie needs boobage if it’s going to get three thumbs up from me.
#15 | Comment by Smiley — December 14, 2005 @ 10:08 am
Saw it finally. Liked everything but the end, I get it, it’s a metaphor. Otherwise gets the double thumb. Yea the end didn’t sit with me well cause the director took no time to get me to care or even identify with any of the characters.
I envision the meeting for parts of the movie being, “So we throw these scenes in with her daughter, and make this movie all psychological.” OOO way to go M. Night Shyamshit. Way to try to make it all artsy. Cause everything else in the movie doesn’t point to she’s crazy as fuck.
#16 | Comment by ninbw — December 14, 2005 @ 5:59 pm
I just wanted to pop in and say hi… so… Hi!
#17 | Comment by Mavis — January 11, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
[…] So, i gather at least quite a number of you have already seen The Descent now that it’s actually in wide release in the States. I made a post about it last year (which you can re-read here) saying how it was the scariest movie i’d ever seen (made me jump 6 times! and i don’t jump easily). […]
#18 | Pingback by dont link this » Seen The Descent yet? — August 8, 2006 @ 5:24 am