The Descent

British filmmaker Neil Marshall’s The Descent (2005) is not out to transform the horror film narrative, especially since the film is predicated on those familiar tropes that have been around as long as the horror film narrative; instead, it is out to provide the most psychologically taut and frightening images to be documented in a horror film in many a year.

Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) suffered the traumatic loss of her husband and daughter in a car accident. She is still haunted by images of this event, and her impaired psychopathology is one of the film’s greatest strengths, since we don’t quite know whether the film wants us to understand the events that unfold as hallucination, and thus as inscripted revelation, or instead as shocking reality (the British ending, unlike the US ending, emphasizes the former, and can be seen here).

Anyway. There is unstated antagonism between Sarah and Juno (Natalie Jackson Mendoza), who may have been trying to initiate an affair with Sarah’s husband in the moments leading up to the crash. Now, however, it is a year later and Sarah, Juno, and four others are going on a cave expedition. What unfolds will not be stated here, as the film is best viewed when you know as little as possible. Know that you’ll be entertained, and that the film subtly explores the effects of traumatic experience.

However, The Descent also explores how a victim, namely the fragile Sarah, can in effect become a victimizer. Without the proper therapy, the trauma that she suffered through can linger and be revealed later with devastating results. In some regards, this may be the best explanation behind why she is perhaps most able to handle all that transpires in the cave expedition.

Given the status of the current horror market, where the best films are invariably Asian and those often aim for more than cheap thrills, The Descent is a wonderful find, and well worth the ticket.

The Descent: 8.5/10