the cave is one of the biggest pieces of shit .. like ... ever

An exceptionally scary, effective, and surprisingly involving horror/thriller. Despite the monsters not appearing until over halfway into the film, the story not only manages, but excels, at staying exciting and thrilling throughout. The story is built up quite well in the exposition, though a bit more character development was needed before the mayhem begins. The car crash at the beginning of the film was so well-executed and yet still made me jump. Even when they are just lost in the cave, without any monsters, the suspense is nearly unbearable, just through the claustrophobic set and dark lighting. Once the action sets in, it's sufficiently gory but also serves the story well. All in all, just a great horror film.

The acting was pretty good, for a no-name cast. The girls were all believable as spelunkers, although not so much as action heroes. Technically, the film was very effective, with some great camera work and terrific creature makeup. And the story was well above a typical creature feature flick. The character dynamics underlying all the action was what made the film so involving. Sarah's transformation was very 28 Days Later-esque, and the ending - the original, international one - was quite interesting and very Jacob's Ladder-esque. Quite the surprise for what seemed like a generic horror film.

I watched it again last night (laaaate, dark, I really wanted that effect) and man, it is still pretty damn freaky. And I'm not just talking about the creatures in the film. The scenes in the tunnel where she's stuck, where they're crossing the gap, the car crash at the beginning - it's just all really suspensful. It's definitely one of the most effective horror films in years.

Wow. Like nearly everyone else already said, one of the best horror film in a few years. I've just seen it so I can't say If I liked it better than this years masterful Hills Have Eyes but it's pretty damn close. I thought the first part, before the creatures came, was brilliant (which surprised me a lot) and maybe even better than the second part. But my eyes were glued to the screen all the time. The thing is, I tend to love Horror movies extremely after the first viewing and after a second viewing they drop pretty hard sometimes. But this didn't happend to Hills this year and I don't think I will like The Descent any less too. A/A-

A-

Yeah, I repeat what has been said already... pretty awesome, fucked up, scary movie. Really got use of camera movement and direction, builds up the tension well and fucks with your brain. I also agree that the movie still would've been great without the monsters, if they all just got stuck in the cave and died, though the monsters still made it good. Sara with the blood on her was so primal, so awesome. I do agree that I love the character development and details pointed on the last page, the entire affair thing and it's complications, what great attention to detail and tragedy.

I slightly prefer Wolf Creek, because I feel it develops the characters better with only 3 in the story, and I feel that a the live twisted man in that is more terrifying than the gollum creatures, however both are excellent rides, and the best 2 horror films since The Ring.

I thought The Descent was good enough, well worth the rental, but much preferred Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers. I'm not sure why I like that film so much - there was just something incredibly eerie and graceful about the werewolves running through the woods - like huskies. Plus, I liked the twist and the self-sacrifice.

I had a couple of minor problems with The Descent. I'm aware that there were different endings in different parts of the world, but the one we got (the "überhopeless finale" of Entertainment Weekly - cheers again, Wikipedia!) ended with a surprising downer after an fake "happy ending". It was like the traditional "cheap shock" (strings... strings... *bang*! - oh, it's just the cat) but the other way round. Either way, it was a really lazy way (I felt) to deflate the audience.

There were a few niggling things that I didn't like, but I won't sit here listing them because I don't really think that it's in the the spirit of the genre - I thought that, overall, it was a well-made, eerie horror film with lots of good points. In fact, it made me think that British cinema still has more to offer than us heart-warming romantic comedies and films about middle-aged women either making calendars or being the Queen.

I forgot to add - anyone know much about Doomsday/ anyone looking forward to it? All I know is, it's a little Mad Max (and I loved those films, before my Mel Gibson boycott).

They haven't released much beyond the basic plot. Knowing Marshall it'll be brilliant thou. I heard he'll have about $20 million to play with as well.

I never want to go into a cave again.




In fact, I never want to leave my house. Ever.

Thought it was pretty lame.

The attempt at making real people out of these characters falls flat, I thought. The pre-cave scenes scream of trying to make some type of rapport between the girls, but it's all just a lot of bad acting and writing for about 20 minutes before we hit the caves. There are a couple tense moments here, but it all got very repetitive and tedious for me, and I honestly couldn't tell one girl from another by the end (well, except for Juno, because... yanno).

And again, I'm first to admit that I scare pretty easily, but for me this was just tall Gollums popping up and screaming a lot. Didn't do anything for me.

C-

Why do American audience have such shitty taste? The shorter ending tested better in the U.S. then the longer one, thus they went with the shorter ending in the U.S.??? Glad I didnt watch it in theaters, got the better ending on the unrated dvd.

Really dug the film, one of the better horror films in recent years.

Grade - B+

Having finally seen this, all I can say is...wow. Brilliant, tense, absolutely terrifying. Marshall is the savior of the horror genre and this is one of the few movies to scare me shitless. Without a doubt this is in my top 25 movies of all time.

A+++++

About time Quint, I was on the verge of revoking your horror fan license.

I think I would've liked this more if it wasn't for the gollum monster things... A conclusion where they get stuck in the caves and all die, that would've fucked me up.

That could've been cool too, and normally I would agree 100%, except in this case the "monsters" were natural beings, logically explained (rare in horror movies)...

I didn't love it quite as much as everyone else seems to have, but it was great for what it was.

B+

Still holds up well, but seeing it in a theater is a whole other experience.

B+

Scared the hell out of me several times. I liked Juno (sp?), and thought for such a simple plot in general, they made it work to great lengths. The ending was pretty good too. I haven't read any theories or whatever on the film, and skipped every page in this thread. So, I think Sarah may have been driven insane sometime before the killings began, and all the monsters could have been imaginated by all the women, with Sarah being the actual killer. Not sure though, and I like the open-endedness of the movie.

The first half was easily the best horror/suspense that I have seen in a long time, once you actually see 'them' it gets a lot less scary but is still enjoyable.

A must watch for anyone who likes horror/suspense movies.

B+

I just saw this last week and enjoyed it. One of the better horror films to have come out lately.

Just realized I have never posted my thoughts on this....


A-


A very effective horror movie, one of the best to come out in recent years. This really works well on many levels, but first and foremost it accomplishes what a good unflinching horror film should - it scares! Seriously, this one has a couple of very well-done jump scenes. Now I must admit that after a while, you get used to their scheme of jump scenes and I could actually see them coming., but the first couple of them really took me aback. The one with the main character's dream at the beginning of the film when her head gets impaled...half of the audience I saw the film with gasped at this scene, myself included.

The cast of basically unknowns was very well-chosen and the whole caves setting was excellent because of how claustrophobic it made me feel. The atmosphere is great. Once the Crawlers appear, it becomes more of an action-horror, but well-done at that too. I also must say that I find the international ending much better and very haunting at that too.

The best horror film I've seen in a long time- extremely claustrophobic, shocking, bloody and brutal- just FUCKING TERRIFYING. Seriously, I jumped many times throughout this movie and that never happens when I'm watching a movie. The acting is surprisingly solid from the group of young actresses/victims. This horror film rarity is made even more unique with the film's top-notch production values, musical score, and direction. Make sure you watch this film in pitch-black darkness. It will make the experience that much more scarier and awesome.

A

Worked best when they were going through the cave unawares of the creatures within it (which is a good hour of the film). Those are the only moments where I felt tense.

Once the creatures start making their attacks, it turns into a regular horror film with "shocks" around each corner that I can tell are coming just by the way in which the camera is panning. Then pulls that same horror movie Cliche where "oh she's out and safe WAIT NO SHE ISNT!" though I will admit that the alternate (international) ending that I saw was much better than the ending the American version originally had (so I am told), but they didn't have to pull that lame crap.

HOWEVER, the first hour and some decent moments that had nothing to do with scares in the last 30 minutes pushes the movie over the hump.

***

Great Brit horror fLick! What makes it so to me is because its not your shitty horror/creature movie when you have 6 or 8 teens go on a vacation, fuck each other, then get eaten aLive, a coupLe escapes and then they fuck each other again. Though as far as recent horrors go, 28 Weeks Later was better.

A-