The Descent

[higg0060]

Just got back from 'The Descent.' I waited a while so I could calm down and think about the movie before I commented on it, unlike X3, where I gushed but didn't critique.

I thought it was an awesome movie. The acting, alright (it was a scary movie)... the plot, loose but manageable... the characters, not too cookie-cutter. The main points that made this movie excellent was the storytelling, the action and the flow. That is, it never slowed down and because of the enclosed space, a cave, I felt the conflict was unavoidable and agreeable unrelenting. I loved it. In many movies like this the bad guy always finds or catches up to the main protagonist...why? If they run, drive, hide there shouldn't be that much more action but they always find them. The gore was extreme but wasn't unnecessary. Anyway, before I go on I'd like to hear some other opinions. Let me know what you all think...

[Guest]

Yeah, I was plesantly surprised.

I missed the first five minutes or so, but I just KNOW I missed something important there, as the chick kept having hallucinations throughout the movie.

[higg0060]

Yeah, I was plesantly surprised.

I missed the first five minutes or so, but I just KNOW I missed something important there, as the chick kept having hallucinations throughout the movie.

DW, you are right the beginning did have an important event which made the rest of the fighting for Sarah mean something and also helped to set up the audience for what was to come further in the movie. It was pretty cool.

[NightAngle04]

I heard it was The Cave just with a new cast and new title.

[Aaron Robinson]

I heard it was The Cave just with a new cast and new title.

Every review I've read has said that it’s what The Cave wants to be; a frightening movie that actually spends a decent amount of time building up the suspense and doesn't let its main characters fall into the typical stereotypes for horror movies. I’m actually pretty interested in seeing this.

[Bento]

My friends and I saw it trashed. It was pretty fun. It helped that the entire theater was into the movie. They built up the drama very well. There were times when I actually felt claustrophobic. The UK version actually has a different, happier (somewhat), ending...lame.

[Missy]

The UK version actually has a different, happier (somewhat), ending...lame.

The UK ending is happier? How so? I read that the UK version clearly shows that Sarah dies in the cave, never having escaped. (Her survival in the US ending, however, is debatable. Some speculate that her escape was another hallucination.)

[ragernok2002]

The ending in the uk version is she escapes but then it cuts back to the caves where she is sitting and talking with her dead daughter, so the whole bit where she escapes is a hallucination. It never states if she lives or dies because all you hear at the end are the creature's screams getting closer.

You guys only got the descent now? its out here over a year I think.

[Missy]

Yeah, this happens all the time with European films. 28 Days Later was released in America almost eight months after its initial UK release, Bend It Like Beckham took well over a year to receive a full US release, Trainspotting took five months and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels took roughly seven months coming overseas.

[Bento]

UK ending she is reunited with her daughter essentially not paying penance for her sins (killing her friend or friends). Mother tormented by the death of her husband and daughter is then reunited at the end with her daughter = happy.

US ending she kills her friend (friends) and the last shot is of her sitting in a car screaming in complete horror of what has happened and then... the friend she killed (all fucked up looking) is standing in the window of the passenger side of the car... scaring the shit out of her, and the audience, even more. No daughter and now she will forever be tormented by what she did. Much, much darker

[Aaron Robinson]

Spoiler warnings would have been nice

[A.Logan]

Edited spoiler warning into title.

I'm up in the air about this one. I'm unsure whether I liked the fact that Sarah got out, or that she basically killed her friend for accidently killing another of the group. I felt like a few details were missing in the movie on the whole.

[Missy]

Sorry 'bout the spoilers, AJR. There should have been a warning or buffer zone before my spoiler-filled post, but you kinda have to assume there will be spoilers in a thread dedicated to a movie that's already been released. Next time, though, I'll put a warning.

I'm up in the air about this one. I'm unsure whether I liked the fact that Sarah got out, or that she basically killed her friend for accidently killing another of the group. I felt like a few details were missing in the movie on the whole.

Here's my take on it: Sarah didn't get out. After spiking Juno's knee, Sarah made for the exit and collapsed. The rest, the frantic escape, was all a hallucination. (Either that, or she did escape and was driven insane. So even though she escaped, she'll never truly get out of the cave.)

As for why she killed Juno: it had nothing to do with the fact that she killed Beth. Sarah killed Juno because Juno and Sarah's husband were having an affair.

Remember the necklace the dying Beth tore from Juno's neck and later gave to Sarah? Inscribed on that was a phrase (I forget what, exactly) that Paul used to say (it's mentioned earlier in the film, when they're all in the cabin looking at photographs). This solidified Sarah's earlier suspicions (after the rafting trip, Sarah glared at Juno and Paul who were interacting quite intimately; in fact, at first I suspected Juno and Paul were a couple, but was obviously wrong), and (having been driven mad by the deaths of her family and friends, the unspeakable acts in the cave and the ultimate betrayal) she snapped.

[A.Logan]

Hmm, the affair I suspected, but it just seemed too much of a leap to make, based on the necklace. I was kind of off put by the husband's interaction with Juno after the fact, but only for the brief moment before he was killed.

But I guess that would explain Juno's abrupt departure.

[higg0060]

The ending in the uk version is she escapes but then it cuts back to the caves where she is sitting and talking with her dead daughter, so the whole bit where she escapes is a hallucination. It never states if she lives or dies because all you hear at the end are the creature's screams getting closer.

You guys only got the descent now? its out here over a year I think.

Yeah, we just got The Descent. I never heard about it until about a month ago. We don't get some out-of-US films unless they prove profitable in other countries. Kinda suncks.

I thought the original version had Sarah escaping but that it was all a hallucination and it cuts back to her in the cave. I also never even go the part about the affair with Juno and Sarah's husband. Now that I look back it makes sense but in the movie it wasn't that clear, I think.

[higg0060]

As for why she killed Juno: it had nothing to do with the fact that she killed Beth. Sarah killed Juno because Juno and Sarah's husband were having an affair.

Remember the necklace the dying Beth tore from Juno's neck and later gave to Sarah? Inscribed on that was a phrase (I forget what, exactly) that Paul used to say (it's mentioned earlier in the film, when they're all in the cabin looking at photographs). This solidified Sarah's earlier suspicions (after the rafting trip, Sarah glared at Juno and Paul who were interacting quite intimately; in fact, at first I suspected Juno and Paul were a couple, but was obviously wrong), and (having been driven mad by the deaths of her family and friends, the unspeakable acts in the cave and the ultimate betrayal) she snapped.

See, I wish they made that more clear in the movie. Usually I pick up on stuff like that but I sense the action had me overwhelmed. Now that you clarify the necklace and the saying on it, Yoda, I think that you may be right, although during the movie it seemed that Sarah axed Juno in the leg because Juno didn't help anyone when they were in desperate need. Also, I may have missed it but do the majority of people think this is a good horror movie? An amazingly great horror movie?

[Missy]

Bento, she dies in the UK version. Even though she has that reunion with her daughter, it's still a hallucination before she dies. That's not happy. Nor is it happier than the US ending, which is vague about Sarah's survival: she either escaped and went nuts (but at least she survived), or died like in the UK version.