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Dan Owen reviews
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment As premiered on
danowen.blogspot.com
- Cert:
- Cat.no: P917201034
- Running time: 96 minutes
- Year: 2005
- Pressing: 2006
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 2*DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras:Audio Commentaries, Making of Featurette, Extended Scenes, Outtakes, StoryboardComparisons, Stills Galleries, Cast & Crew Biogs, Trailer
Director:
- Neil Marshall
Producers:
- Christian Colson
Screenplay:
- Neil Marshall
Music:
- David Julyan
Cast:
- Sarah: Shauna Macdonald
Juno: Natalie Mendoza
Beth: Alex Reid
Rebecca: Saskia Mulder
Sam: MyAnna Buring
Holly: Nora-Jane Noone
Paul: Oliver Mulburn
Jessica: Molly Kayll
A few years ago,a low-budget action/horror movie called Dog Soldiers made respectableprofit at the UK box-office and gathered cult status amongst worldwidehorror aficionados.
Writer-director Neil Marshall’s pulpy “soldiers vs. werewolves” opus may havebeen flawed and scrappy, but it remained refreshingly different from theusual British output.
Marshall returns with a bigger budget, but keeps the same guerilla-style,with The Descent. It’s another gleefully old-fashioned horroradventure with a simple premise: a team of women extreme-sporters descendinto an uncharted cave, only to face natural disasters and awaken someunnatural predators
The Descent undoubtedly takes it cues from movies like Alien, buildingsuspense to breaking point with carefully constructed set-pieces and infleshing out the characters beforehand. There’s nothing particularlydifferent or original once the monsters are revealed, although the cavingpremise is actually quite fresh (although the similarly themed The Cavewas released soon after ) But no matter, because with half the budget ofThe Cave, Marshall shows the Yanks how to crank up the tension with somegenuine scares and well-placed chills.
From the same mould of Dog Soldiers (single-sex team confront supernaturalpredators in a natural territory), this is another mix of engaging charactersand superbly realized make-up effects. While Dog Soldiers’ budget meant thewerewolves resembled men with giant Alsatian heads, the “Crawlers” in TheDescent are thankfully of a more human design (half-Gollum, half-caveman) –a great addition to the pantheon of movie monsters.
What makes the movie so effective is the time it takes to ensure you investin the characters. In fact, for almost half its run-time, the tension,suspense and moments of horror are all character and situation based. There’sa superb moment that replicated the feeling of claustrophobia inside a cavethat is just perfection, and a queasy broken leg scene that’s certainly notfor the squeamish. In fact, so good is the first half of The Descent, thatyou’ll be forgiven for thinking the appearance of monsters is actuallydisappointing after the initial shock value.
This is blood-soaked fun as the intrepid women cavers make the titulardescent into madness as their perilous situation becomes increasinglyfrightening and seemingly insurmountable. Kudos must go to all the actorsinvolved — particularly those actresses who ensure their death scenesactually carry some resonance and leave you numb. The actors playing theslimy Crawlers also use their body languages very effectively (almost mimingtheir nastiness), while the production design and special-effects arefantastic.
The film is not reliant on CGI and it old-fashioned in-camera effects giveeverything that raw, gritty reality computers can’t replicate.
But there is a negative; the ending is too drawn out and clever-clever forits own good. A stronger and more definitive finale would have beenpreferable to the moody scene we get, which could also leave many peoplescratching their heads in confusion. But, beyond that, The Descent is agreat exercise in terror that does exactly what it says on the tin.
Neil Marshall may be the shining light of horror Britain needs right now,and on the evidence of this far more accomplished sophomore effort, I’mreally looking forward to his future projects.
The Descent is a very dark film and the purity of the blackness isn’t always100% in the cave sequences, with some grain and noise visible. However, noneof this is very distracting and the transfer copes well considering. Thedaylight scenes are all heavily contrasted, giving the film a bleachedeffect similar to Saving Private Ryan. Overall, the picture isn’t perfect,but it does a commendable job under such difficult conditions.
No problems with sound, as the DTS and DD5.1 soundtracks are fantasticexperiences full of echoing and a continuous feeling of dread. The Crawlersthemselves are effective primarily through clever use of surround soundeffects, with them scuttling about your speakers. The cave location is justa great place for a filmmaker to have some fun with surround sound, sofalling rocks have plenty of bass and the rear speakers whistle with windand drips of rainwater. The musical score is also well mixed with the dialogue.
The extras are as follows:
- Commentary Tracks: The first is with director Marshall and five of the cast, the other with thedirector and some crew. Both are generally quite rambling and uninteresting,with just a few anecdotes to keep your interest.
- Making Of Documentary: This is quite a good little documentary that does an effective job ofshowing the filming of the movie. A few on-set interviews are sprinkledthroughout, together with some insight into the training undertaken by thefemale cast and creature designs.
- Extended Scenes: Non-anamorphic widescreen footage of certain scenes, correctly excised forpacing reasons.
- Bloopers: Mildly diverting outtakes from filming.
- Still Galleries: For obsessive fans only!
- Storyboard Comparisons: Moderately interesting.
- Trailers: Not a bad selection of teaser and theatrical trailers, but all quite similar.
Well, this is another so-called Special Edition that is nothing of the sort.The Descent SE is a good video transfer with a superb audio mix, capped offwith a nice selection of extra features that provide just the right level ofinsider scoop, although fans would have preferred more in-depth material.
A decent DVD release with some worthwhile additions, recommended to allhorror fans.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.