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“The Descent” proves that the road to redemption and
the road to recovery are often paved with the bones of distant
memories, ghosts and friends. Neil Marshall’s first film
“Dog Soldiers” inverted the paradigm for horror films featuring
werewolves and cleverly used the template of “Aliens” creating
a memorable beast all its own. Marshall now does the same
thing for spelunking. One year after a tragedy that affects
Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) she and her buddies Juno (Natalie
Jackson Mendoza) and Beth (Alex Reid) meet up with three
other women on their annual outdoor pilgrimage. In the past
they’ve done climbing, white water rafting and other extreme
sports. This year Juno has chosen the Appalachian Mountains
and a series of underground caverns for them to explore.
They get lost. Their friendships sour as they find they
are being hunted by vicious creatures that have no fear.
***
A tense thriller with a decidedly unusual spin due
to Marshall’s decision to cast all women in the primary
roles “The Descent” may not break new ground but Marshall’s
film does once again play with the conventions of the genre
in a number of striking ways. Retooled since its premiere
in the UK and Europe last year the film’s new ending is
decidedly different from the previous one only because a
minute of footage has been cut and the inclusion of one
creepy shot (the original ending can be found on the web
at http://youtube.com/watch?v=3xJgAj8HbVs. I should warn
you that if you haven’t seen the film it’s the last 10 minutes
of the film and there ARE significant spoilers) bu t it
doesn’t change the overall impact of the film or the strong
performances in this estrogen based thriller. ***
Like “Dog Soldiers” Marshall is able to create these
characters with an almost minimalist brush stroke and yet
make them distinct and memorable. Working with greater resources
for his second theatrical film as a director Marshall takes
a step up creating a film that at once works on a personal
level by creating a believable bond between these women
and hinting at much greater depth than is portrayed in the
film. Likewise Marshall also carefully crafts a film that
withholds the “crawlers”* (as they are referred into in
the credits) until the last possible moment making them
quite menacing and unpredictable. Unlike a lot of horror
films released within the past year “The Descent” actually
takes the pains to develop a story with a m etaphorical
twist to the title making it more than just “another horror
film”.
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