Following upon genre films that are a little different, here’s another one that still gets bought up in certain circles currently—from director Neil Marshall, who did a nearly entirely male cast with Dog Soldiers, comes a thriller-horror going the opposite way with an all-female lineup. Woman leads aren’t exactly unknown in this sort of flick, but to almost completely make up the cast is decidedly less common—so, with that, is The Descent still worth plunging into 20 years later?
For the most part, I’d say so—and what makes the film work is the well-roundedness of the cast. Our lead, more or less, is Shauna MacDonald as Sarah, who still carries the psychological scars of the death of her husband and daughter. Eventually, a friend of hers by the name of Beth (Natalie Mendoza) decides to pull together a caving trip for her and several other lady acquaintances (from the deadpan Beth played by Alex Reid to the more rambunctious thrill seeker Holly given to us by Nora-Jane No-one). You’ve got a relatable enough personality for each one and there’s not quite the obvious designated victims as you might get in lesser films—so far, so good.
The mise-en-scene is solid too—the movie was filmed on 35mm stock and honestly, for the shadowed scenes that permeate this one, that often works better. Sheer black is something that can look ever so slightly off on digital, or at least go too heavy on contrast, but here, the cave scenes (all made very impressively in a set) still look impressive. Those key moments of darkness lit by ever more meager lights are just so darn rich with atmosphere.
And, more importantly, the actual tension itself is squirm-inducingly well-done. Underground places, even artificial ones like mines, are rightfully considered one of the most dangerous places for humans—and here, where even a minor cave-in can leave you helpless and crushed, where crossing a gap might take every ounce of strength and survivability…nothing is held back. Combine this with the mostly naturally written cast, and you will be sitting on the edge when they have to pull every stop just to prevail.
Eventually, of course, it turns out there’s more to this caving trip than just blundering into an unsafe area—ironically perhaps things were tenser before the new element comes in. Still, that’s pretty well done too, with let’s just say some impressive makeup for the budget coming into play—and a very gruesomely done final cavern for our heroines to get through. The ending…let’s just say will depend on which version you watch.
This remains a solid landmark for 21st century horror flicks—Neil Marshall unfortunately hasn’t done a whole lot more noteworthy, mostly with that 2019 Hellboy film that you really don’t need to check out. There was also a sequel that pretty much nobody cares about—but for something different as far as these go, this one definitely still decidedly does not linger in the dark…
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