The Descent

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Under the guidance of adrenaline junkie Juno (Mendoza), a sextet of spunky spelunker-ladies rappel into the depths of an Appalachian pothole seeking adventure... or at least some good stories they can tell back home. But, when things start to go wrong, it looks unlikely that any of them are ever going to see home, or indeed daylight, ever again...
Neil Marshall sure knows how to get your attention. Mere minutes into The Descent, he'll have made you jump half out your seat, sent your popcorn cascading ceilingward and left nervous titters bubbling around the theatre. Here's a man who truly, deeply, horribly knows his horror. Welding a fanboy mentality to a masterful grasp of genre-filmmaking, Marshall goes all-out to disturb, upset and downright terrify his audience for a relentless 100-odd minutes, pausing only occasionally to allow us the odd twitchy laugh or indulge in bit of visual-reference in-jokery (Aliens and Carrie are just two of the more obvious homaged movies).

The Geordie shockmeister first got our attention back in 2002 with his gruey, boisterous squaddies-versus-werewolves debut Dog Soldiers. Scrappy and shoestringy it may have been, but it marked Marshall out as a British talent to keep our beadies on. The Descent represents a logical progression. It's bigger-budget (or, at least, it looks it), better-looking, far scarier and will, no doubt fling small-fish Marshall into a much bigger pond... one ringed with tinsel.

Much of The Descent's success is due to the beautiful economy of the concept: six girls, one cave and a whole lotta pain. The subterranean setting is conducive to horror and Marshall grinds every last wince out of it. Even before the screams begin and the bones start snapping, the claustrophobia will get you, with the women elbowing and puffing their way through cheese-press tunnels, their hardhats scraping disconcertingly against stone, the rockdust snaking through the dank, stale air in the torchlight... And once we're all down in the dark, we're down there for the rest of the movie. There's no respite, no moment to sit back and breathe easy.

Thankfully, Marshall's inventive enough to make this work for, rather than against him. Some scenes are lit by the eerie crimson glow of a flare, others washed in the green of a glowstick, while in a few we can only see through the fuzzy, black-and-white nightsight of a camcorder. And when there's no light at all, he lets his creepy sound-design do all the dirty work.

Naturally there's far more to this than the vacation-gone-wrong set-up. For a start, there's the strained character dynamics, played out effectively by the cast as Sarah's (Macdonald) mental state becomes worryingly fragile, while Juno's (Mendoza) ballsiness soon teeters into recklessness. Then, even worse there's... Well, it's probably best we don't go there. The less you know, the more you'll enjoy. If, of course, being scared shitless is what you consider enjoyable.

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A grisly and gripping horror movie, The Descent follows six friends on a hellish trip underground. Arranged to help Sarah (Shona Macdonald) overcome personal tragedy, the caving expedition goes awry when they're trapped in the dark and realise they're not alone. What unfolds plays like Aliens meets Deliverance, with the action bloody, brutal and relentless. Dog Soldiers director Neil Marshall grabs the audience by the throat and just won't let go.

This movie plays on every primal fear: of darkness, claustrophobia, deformity, drowning and, um, being ripped limb from bloody limb by creatures with very pointy teeth. Dog Soldiers was playfully gory. This is a much darker, more intense horror affair.

From early on, the film unsettles. The impactful opening proves anything can happen. But where many modern horror movies, afraid of boring the audience, splurge their money shots straight away, The Descent takes its own sweet time, with an air of menace that never lets up.

Scrambling around the dark caves and tunnels, the cast nails the atmosphere of fear and panic. All impress, but Mendoza is a standout, giving her ambiguous character nuance. Macdonald, tasked with giving the butchery real-world emotion, is also excellent; like a young Sissy Spacek, with added sex appeal. She provides genuine sorrow amid the scares of the horror film of the year.