The Descent

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Wayne K It’s interesting that The Descent came out in 2006, because the decade was not a good time to be a horror fan, with a glut of unnecessary remakes of classic horror films and CGI laden dross that would blight the cinematic landscape. I mention this because The Descent is very much an outlier in this time period. I remember hearing a lot about it when it came was released, as I was in my last few years of high school and swore I seen it at the time. The film very much harkens back to the days when horror stories were about suspense, tension and characters you cared about and wanted to see escape whichever situations they found themselves in. The film even goes as far to have musical cues that you’ll never convince me aren’t lifted straight from John Carpenter’s The Thing. The actual monsters leads don’t even make an appearance until over halfway. The enemy until that point is a blend of hidden secrets and dark, narrow passageways. The script does a lot to differentiate the 6 principle characters, with different accents, attitudes and points of view. This is not 6 stock stereotypes doing whatever the plot needs them to do, its 6 distinct characters reacting to dangerous situations in a way that’s internally consistent with who they are as people. The film doesn’t skimp on the violence, but it’s the claustrophobia and the fear of the unknown that’s most frightening. The directing enhances the sense of loneliness and isolation the 6 are going through, and I love how the principle cast is made up entirely of women but never pigeonholes them into any stock archetypes or uses them for cheap exploitation. The crawlers have a fairly flimsy and tenuous backstory, and the ending is either eerily ambiguous or unrealistically optimistic, depending on which version you watch. All in all, The Descent is remarkably slick and efficient horror story that avoids the usual tropes of the genre in order to focus on the things that will engage and discomfort the audience, just like all great horror films should do. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/04/25 Full Review Joona S I watched because people say its so good and scary, but it wasn't scary at all! First half of the movie nothing happens (no building tension, nothing) and second half EVERYTHING happens, it turns into bloody action movie. This movie would have benefitted greatly from playing more into the claustrophobic feeling, underground caves are scary as is. There is no need for 100 creatures to chase them, 1 creature lurking and hunting them in the dark would have been great. The best and most tense scene in the movie was when Sarah saw first time glimpse of the creature, eating something in the dark. I wanted more of that, it was tense. Too bad that 5 minutes after that the movie turned into nonstop action. The thing about horror movies is, that the building of the tension is the most scary part of them. But when the creature in this case attacks the tension is released and then the director should be build it up again. Except they are not doing that, the creatures are just attacking non-stop, so there is no tension, just action and then it loses the "horror' aspect. Its just action movie. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 05/04/25 Full Review James B The descent is a brilliant film that has great tension and scares and a twist ending you won't believe. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 04/13/25 Full Review Audience Member More funny than scary. [sleeping in bed emoji] Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 04/05/25 Full Review Bryan C so well done. Great tension build and ending Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/28/25 Full Review Me a one of my favorite horror-thrillers of all time Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/23/25 Full Review Read all reviews

The Descent

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