The Descent

Horror film are lately my thing. First I saw The Fourth Kind and now The Descent part I & II.

So first a quick introduction. Parts I & II are like a continued story. In the first part we have this opening scene: 3 gals go rafting (or canoeing). Risk - this is something they love. At the end of the river awaits husband of one of them with their little daughter. Kiss, kiss, laugh, everyone is happy, "you guys go ahead and we'll meet in the town." So our little happy (not? this is explained in the 2nd part) family packs themselves into the car and goes. Unfortunately the husband was a little bit distracted and got them into an accident in which he and the kid dies. Drama. Drama. Drama. But after a year they meet again with few other girls to explore new caves.

And here spoilers begin.


So obviously we had to go to the wrong cave, right? Because then there wouldn't be a problem and a film in fact. You see... in order to cheer up her widow-friend the organiser of the trip decided to check out this new system of caves and name them after her poor woman¹⁾. And since she didn't want anyone to be faster and name those, she told no-one about where they are going. But who cares, she is also a niece of a governor or a senator so someone would be looking for them either way (in fact the rescue committee arrives in part II).

From that moment on the horror start its way down, along with characters going the same direction in the caves.

First part of the underground adventure is quite decent (forgive me the pun). If someone has claustrophobia and watches the film with interest after dusk, s/he might even get scared. Because girls first are trapped (part of the corridor collapses while one of them is stuck there),  they have to get over an abyss (you can learn what happens when you grab a rope and it "slips" through your palm very fast). But unfortunately this part ends and the horror begins. Though I can't fully say it's unfortunately, since I'm not sure if the director knows how to build tension just with the actors talking and no action.

But then our characters enter this hall full of bones and... IT. Or rather THOSE things. People, here I address the producers and directors... seriously... You think I'm gonna be afraid of running thingies which look like Gollum? After 3 parts of Lord of the Rings? Really?!

Speaking of which - Bilbo was more scary when he wanted to take Frodo's ring when the latter was undressing.

So our monsters are hungry, eat meat and therefore decide to hunt for our ladies. And here's the most intriguing thing - they can't see, so obviously they use other senses. Or rather one sense - hearing. It beats me why when one of the girls is just 20 cm away gollum can't feel her body heat, smell or even feel the breath, but say one word and you might as well considered yourself as dead.

I would also like to say about the part that proceeds the "terror". That the characters seem... real. Bunch of girls meeting, going for a field trip, drinking. And having a hangover! There is no American hero motive and pathos. I must say that the quote "I'm a fucking English teacher, not a tomb raider" just conquered my little heart. Also mentioned palm cut by the rope looks real. Behaviour and fear that they are going to be stuck and die in those caves. Someone really had an idea.

However... this goes bye-bye later and is practically non-existing in the 2nd part. I really get that you might accidentally kill someone as the brunette does. But to change into a cold-blooded murder within 10 minutes? Or 24h²⁾? Sure, you see your dying friend who is suffering, but who the hell has the guts to kill and end those just like that. The blond who survives the first film when taken back to the cave remembers everything in an instant and turns into Bear Grylls, has absolutely no reluctance when it comes to smashing heads. And I would like to remind you that it's still 24-48h since the whole trip started.

Nevertheless the "best" part is in the end. With almost everyone dead from the rescue team (only blond girl and the policewoman who "has to say to her daughter how much she loves her" survived; of course the brunette/governor's niece survived in the caves also) our main characters enter another hall just next to the surface with lots of bones and those creatures taking some dead deer inside. Of course they make little noise so gollums don't notice them. However something goes wrong, secret is revealed (look: footnote #1) and the brunette is attacked. Yet blond-chick forgives her and wanting the policewoman to get out she stands out and starts to scream so loud that the monsters attack her. WHAT THE F**K?! Especially the slide of the camera up kills. What a sacrifice...

So is it a good film? No. Is it a good horror? Maybe. That is if you are aware that most of films in the genre doesn't allow their characters to think logical. Though I admit that the 1st part is better than the average, however if you want a good scare I would rather recommend 28 days later. It's also British, but if you later visit London and have the image of empty City... Yummy!

And here is my latest (and the last) hope: Let me in (recommendation provided by Karolina). What's even better - this is a remake and the original is Swedish (Låt den rätte komma in). So... tusen takk og jeg går se på dette!

If this doesn't work, I'm dropping horrors for some time.

1) spoiler alter: because you see, the other protagonist was "taken by guilt" since she had romance with her husband...
2)  2nd part takes place just after the disappearing or rather recovering one of the survivors