The Descent

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

I went to watch The Descent (2005) last night but was struck by many, many bad accents. Only managed 15 minutes. Google told me it was one of the greatest horrors ever. Should I bother?

[Spores of Pete]

Try Part 2 (2009).

It's total shite.

[Eis Nein]

Yes.

[SavageHedgehog]

I didn't get what was so great about this one, although admittedly I was very tired when I watched it.

[A.A]

No horror film of the 00's that I can think of comes close to the awesomeness that is The Descent. I refuse to acknowledge the existence of The Descent 2.  What a fucking travesty.

Some people (okay, a lot of people) really hated Marshall's follow-up film- Doomsday- but I thought it was quite spectacular, really.  Nonsense, but hugely entertaining nonsense.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

That was a bit awful.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Awful? Bad accents?

You were watching the one with the caves weren't you?

[El Unicornio, mang]

I think this is one of the best, most original horror films to come along in the past 10 years. Found the girly-buddy stuff at the beginning a bit rubbish, and didn't get why the main woman was so into wanting to kill the Asian, but otherwise very good, and pant wettingly scary. (the first reveal still gets me even after 4-5 views)

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Awful? Bad accents?

You were watching the one with the caves weren't you?

Is there another from 2005 that I missed?

'A bunch of ladies in a cave acting all cool and shit and then there's this mad bloke who goes all mental and stuff.' - IMDB

[Eis Nein]

I think this is one of the best, most original horror films to come along in the past 10 years. Found the girly-buddy stuff at the beginning a bit rubbish, and didn't get why the main woman was so into wanting to kill the Asian, but otherwise very good, and pant wettingly scary. (the first reveal still gets me even after 4-5 views)

Er, I may be misreading you, but the girl-buddy stuff is the main theme of the film.

[El Unicornio, mang]

No, I mean the bits with them hanging out in the cabin at the beginning, the dialogue, found it a bit grating.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

There was a lot of testosterone in that scene. I figured they were letting us know how these girls were well able to look after themselves. Anyone who openly and confidently swears is more than likely pretty badass when it comes to big holes in the ground.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think this is one of the best, most original horror films to come along in the past 10 years. Found the girly-buddy stuff at the beginning a bit rubbish, and didn't get why the main woman was so into wanting to kill the Asian, but otherwise very good, and pant wettingly scary. (the first reveal still gets me even after 4-5 views)

Agreed, and this is the first time I've seen someone actively disliking it (though I have had a sheltered upbringing). It's considered a bit of a classic by most of my friends, and for me it's a rare beast in that it's a horror film that feels very, very real - perhaps it's the Scottish setting, but also the way it's shot makes it  disturbingly realistic.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

disturbingly realistic.

Do you have many of them chaps in Scotland?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Loads.



^{I should have been clearer, I meant the whole claustrophobic feel, and the quite raw but effective acting. And after watching it there's no way I'm going to ever fuck around in caves, just incase those crawler bastards do exist somewhere.}

[El Unicornio, mang]

It also has one of the bleakest endings ever (the European version, anyway).

Anyone else seen part 2? I have it but haven't watched it as I feel it will be terrible.

[Phil_A]

I felt it was enjoyably tense and atmospheric, up until the point where the actual threat is revealed. And then it was a bit like "Oh, is that it? A bunch of

Spoiler alert

gollums

[close]

?" And then the latter half of the film was like a repetitive action movie runaround. Very disappointing.

I did like the ending, though. Utterly bizarre that they cut the final scene from the US version entirely, so it ends directly after the

Spoiler alert

escape dream fakeout,

[close]

even though this makes no sense. And the sequel follows on from that version, even though that makes no sense.

[Famous Mortimer]

Thumbs down from me too. Just didn't care for it, it was sort-of alright but the reveal seemed silly to me.

[CaledonianGonzo]

It remains the only film to make me squeal with terror like a little girl in the middle of a busy cinema.

(though I don't go to see many horror movies, so make of that what you will).

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Utterly bizarre that they cut the final scene from the US version entirely

Not sure if I missed anything here. The version I watched ended with

Spoiler alert

her imagining a torch was her daughter with a birthday cake.

[close]

Any more to it?

[Ignatius_S]

...Any more to it?

That's the full version.

The American version ends

Spoiler alert

when she's in the car. One of my friends saw the film in the States and said it confused the hell out of everyone in the cinema when the dead friend appeared.

[close]

[Eis Nein]

There is less to it, in more than one sense.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

That does seem a bit sloppy. Blame the test audiences.

[Ignatius_S]

That does seem a bit sloppy. Blame the test audiences.

It's a British film that an American distributor picked up a while (a year) after it first came out, so I wonder how big a part test audiences played.

Anecdotally, when my mate saw the film, he was visiting his folks in the States and probably would have been over for two months – he said the word of mouth about the film was that it was let down by a really stupid/confusing ending. So it's possible that this indicates that there weren't test audiences. That all said, I've read some fairly positive online remarks about this and there was some interesting discussion about the different endings.

The American version when she sees Juno in the car with her. I suppose this does indicate that Sarah hasn't actually escaped, but I thought it worked much better with the original ending. However, it's possible to interpret it as she has escaped but feels guilt over Juno (she's not actually there, just a figment of Sarah's imagination).

I have read claims that Marshall was behind the decision to make the change, but haven't seen anything that's a smoking gun.

[Peru]

I think it's really great up until exactly one second after the

Spoiler alert

first monster reveal

[close]

. The caving stuff before that is really, genuinely horribly claustrophobic and tense. To be honest, I would have done it without

Spoiler alert

the monsters

[close]

. I also think that the

Spoiler alert

opening car crash in which the child is killed

[close]

is really distastefully done and didn't like it one bit. Nasty bit of schlock, and unwarranted in the context.

[small_world]

The night vision thing, with the thing...

In a cinema, full of people making a hushed 'eugh-oohhh'[nb]A fright noise followed by audible distaste[/nb] noise. I did a full on 'NO!!'

Then a, 'ah... fuck'.

[thugler]

Terrible movie. Don't understand the praise, and the second was even worse.

[remedial_gash]

I think it's really great up until exactly one second after the

Spoiler alert

first monster reveal

[close]

. The caving stuff before that is really, genuinely horribly claustrophobic and tense. To be honest, I would have done it without

Spoiler alert

the monsters

[close]

. I also think that the

Spoiler alert

opening car crash in which the child is killed

[close]

is really distastefully done and didn't like it one bit. Nasty bit of schlock, and unwarranted in the context.

Oddly, I really liked your last bit of spoilered text (bit). It was completely unexpected and something that set up the whole fillum.

Who will die, and what will be left of them?

To steal a quote.

Gash
x

[VegaLA]

The car accident was the only thing that stuck with me from the whole movie!
Even now I can't drive behind a gardener's truck.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Yeah I didn't have a problem with the car bit either. I'm quite intrigued by the notion that the monsters aren't real, that the lead character is going insane (Descent into madness) and is killing off her friends on her own, and imagining the monsters (which would be fairly easy to do inside a pitch black cave). Don't think that was the intention but it gives it a slightly different tone if you watch it with that in mind.