Neil Marshall sure knows how to get your attention. Mere minutes into The Descent, he’ll have made you jump half out your seat, sent your popcorn cascading ceilingward and left nervous titters bubbling around the theatre. Here’s a man who truly, deeply, horribly knows his horror. Welding a fanboy mentality to a masterful grasp of genre-filmmaking, Marshall goes all-out to disturb, upset and downright terrify his audience for a relentless 100-odd minutes, pausing only occasionally to allow us the odd twitchy laugh or indulge in bit of visual-reference in-jokery (Aliens and Carrie are just two of the more obvious homaged movies).

The Geordie shockmeister first got our attention back in 2002 with his gruey, boisterous squaddies-versus-werewolves debut Dog Soldiers. Scrappy and shoestringy it may have been, but it marked Marshall out as a British talent to keep our beadies on. The Descent represents a logical progression. It’s bigger-budget (or, at least, it looks it), better-looking, far scarier and will, no doubt fling small-fish Marshall into a much bigger pond – one ringed with tinsel.

Much of The Descent’s success is due to the beautiful economy of the concept: six girls, one cave and a whole lotta pain. The subterranean setting is conducive to horror and Marshall grinds every last wince out of it. Even before the screams begin and the bones start snapping, the claustrophobia will get you, with the women elbowing and puffing their way through cheese-press tunnels, their hardhats scraping disconcertingly against stone, the rockdust snaking through the dank, stale air in the torchlight… And once we’re all down in the dark, we’re down there for the rest of the movie. There’s no respite, no moment to sit back and breathe easy.

Thankfully, Marshall’s inventive enough to make this work for, rather than against him. Some scenes are lit by the eerie crimson glow of a flare, others washed in the green of a glowstick, while in a few we can only see through the fuzzy, black-and-white nightsight of a camcorder. And when there’s no light at all, he lets his creepy sound-design do all the dirty work.

Naturally there’s far more to this than the vacation-gone-wrong set-up. For a start, there’s the strained character dynamics, played out effectively by the cast as Sarah’s (Macdonald) mental state becomes worryingly fragile, while Juno’s (Mendoza) ballsiness soon teeters into recklessness. Then, even worse there’s… Well, it’s probably best we don’t go there. The less you know, the more you’ll enjoy. If, of course, being scared shitless is what you consider enjoyable.

Verdict

Brutal, bloody, terrifying, astonishing... And so tense it'll leave you aching. The most significant Brit chiller since 28 Days Later.

5 stars (out of 5)

Looks good for the horror people. Good premise, simple (how the horror people like, otherwise they wouldnt understand it).

Would see it but i will save my money for Rocky VI.

OUCH! [-X


Oh well, any fan of Stallone movies should really talk :razz:.

Gay? god i hope not.

http://www.worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10223

:shock: Crikey werthy, you've even got me a wee bit afraid with that ominous post. :wink: I'll do my research and if it gets over to these parts, I'll give it a watch. Haven't watched a horror flick in a good long while.

the werewolves looked a bit too contrived at times.

Aye, that they did, lad. But I just like the whole premise and "execution"... and the gore, of course.

Which seemed to be strangely lacking in Land of the Dead. Most peculiar.

The gore in THE DESCENT leaves all comers in the dust... or charnel pit, if you prefer.

You've just hyped my anticipation to supreme levels for a flick that I haven't even heard of until five minutes ago.

A truly horrible, devastating, yet brilliant film.