The Descent

I finally got a chance to see a movie today. I had every intention of seeing this movie last week, but I just couldn't get my lazy ass out of the house to go see it. This movie was definitely worth the wait.

I had reservations about seeing the movie until some of the word of mouth on the internet started pumping it up a bit. I thought it was going to be a retread of last year's The Cave. I will admit that I did not see that one. The reason was because the word of mouth on that one was nothing but negative.

The movie is very intense and had me twisting and turning in my seat throughout most of it. The three lead characters start off in a river rafting boat careening down some river. It's to set up that these girls are a bunch of thrill seekers. A tragedy takes place to the one character early on and then we jump ahead one year later.

The three main characters meet up again with three other women on the eve of a big cave descent somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains. After they arrive at the location they descend down to an entrance way. From there they find their way in to a larger cavern looking for the next entrance way. After they find the very narrow and tight entrance way, the lead character Sarah gets stuck. Her friend that is ahead of her turns around and helps her through. The next thing we know, this entrance way is collapsing. Now their way out is blocked. What to do?

Following this episode, gore, guts, blood, and mayhem ensue. All of the wonderful ingredients of a great horror film. I was literally turning away at many moments, but yet, I found myself HAVING to look. The tight moments in the film made me feel a bit claustrophobic and I am not.

The gore was definitely gruesome and intense. I have to say that the film made me think a lot about John Carpenter's The Thing. Instead of a bunch of guys in some isolated frozen tundra, we had women isolated in a deserted cave. And instead of some alien, shape shifting creature, we had these albino, blind mindless killer humanoids. These women were isolated and knew they had to depend on eachother. What happens to them is extremely disturbing and unsettling, but then again, I love movies like that.

If it's still playing in your area, you should definitely check it out. But be warned: it is indeed very intense and graphic.