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The Descent

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The Descent (2006)

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Reviews Counted:29

Fresh:21

Rotten:8

Average Rating:6.9/10

Consensus: Deft direction and strong performances from its all-female cast guide The Descent, a riveting, claustrophobic horror film. In this low-budget import from Scotland, director Neil Marshall has masterfully created a spelunking nightmare, which doubles as a compelling meditation on morality, vengeance, and the depths to which we might go for survival.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong violence/gore and language.

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:Aug 4, 2006 Wide

Box Office: $26,005,908

Synopsis: THE DESCENT is Neil Marshall’s hotly anticipated follow up to his 2002 hit DOG SOLDIERS. Directed by Marshall from his own script, it tells the story of an all-female caving expedition that goes... THE DESCENT is Neil Marshall’s hotly anticipated follow up to his 2002 hit DOG SOLDIERS. Directed by Marshall from his own script, it tells the story of an all-female caving expedition that goes horribly wrong, and stars Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone and Myanna Buring. Set in a cave system deep in the Appalachian Mountains, Marshall describes his film as ‘DELIVERANCE goes underground’. On a daredevil caving holiday, six women friends are unexpectedly trapped underground when a rock fall blocks their exit. Searching the maze of tunnels for a way out, they find themselves hunted by a race of fearless, hungry predators, once humanoid but now monstrously adapted to live in the dark… As the others battle for their lives, Sarah (Macdonald), still recovering from a mental collapse brought on by the recent deaths of her family, is fighting for her sanity. When old secrets are revealed, the friends turn on one another, causing the group to implode. Betrayed and desperate, Sarah realizes that to make it back to the surface, she must become as savage as the creatures themselves. THE DESCENT was filmed on location in Scotland and at Pinewood Studios from December 2004 to February 2005, and was fully financed and produced by Celador Films. Celador’s Paul Smith is executive producer and Christian Colson is producer. The film reunites Marshall with DOG SOLDIERS’ director of photography, Sam McCurdy, and production designer, Simon Bowles. Celador’s previous credits include the Oscar-nominated DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. THE DESCENT movie has already had a hugely successful release both critically and commercially in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. In September, 2005 the film took the top competition prize -- the Méliès d’Argent -- for Euro feature at Lund International Fantastic Film Festival in Sweden, and in November, Neil Marshall won Best Director and the film Best Technical Achievement (for the Editing) at the British Independent Films Awards (BIFA's) (THE DESCENT was nominated for Best Film). It has also been nominated for Best British Film, Best British Director and Best British Producer by the London Film Critics Circle (the winners are announced in February), an unheard of achievement for a genre piece. --© Lionsgate Films [More]

Starring: Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder

Starring: Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring, Oliver Milburn, Molly Kayll

Director: Neil Marshall

Director: Neil Marshall
Producer: Christian Colson
Screenwriter: Neil Marshall
Composer: David Julyan
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Release:

Dec 26, 2006

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Reviews for The Descent

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Marshall could very well be the Caravaggio of the B-movie.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
10/15/08
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This intermittently effective UK horror thriller carefully establishes the psychological relationships among the women, then squanders this calibrated and generally plausible setup with a series of crude, implausible, and scattershot horror effects.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 1 Comment
09/24/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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For my money, [the] first 20 or so minutes are the best in the film. Once the real adventure gets underway in the cave, things get less interesting.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
08/04/06
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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While the movie has wonderful moments of unmotivated tension that make sure we're quite ill at ease from the beginning, it's also got a few too many of the kind of cheap boo-scares that indicate a director not fully trusting his grip on you.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
08/04/06
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
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Do we even need men in horror films any more? They're bound to do something stupid, they almost always get killed in the end and don't look as good covered in sweat and blood.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
08/04/06
Peter Hartlaub
Peter Hartlaub
San Francisco Chronicle
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Prepare to be scared senseless, and then, when you think you have it figured, your certainty will be shaken by scenes built to scare you even more.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
08/04/06
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
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Every theater should come with a sign: Your expectations must be this low to ride.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
08/04/06
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
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Working on terrific sets with imaginative lighting effects and cinematography, Marshall creates a palpable sense of claustrophobia and danger well before murderous cave dwellers make their appearance quite a ways into the movie.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
08/04/06
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
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This is one of the scariest movies featuring female heroines since the Alien series.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
08/04/06
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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The Descent seems less about female empowerment than female misery. One wonders if Marshall has issues. No males suffer here, just women who, even if they survive, won't ever be the same again.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment 6 Comments
08/04/06
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
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The film redeems itself through the denouement, building on that initial psychological foundation to hint disturbingly at a metaphoric struggle with interior demons.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
08/04/06
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
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The Descent is a sharp hammer to the head and a claw to the gut, a blood-drenched creep show that wants to eat you alive. Beware, and bon appetit.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
08/04/06
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News
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The Descent was better when the women were battling nature and their own demons rather than monsters capable of crawling across ceilings.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
08/04/06
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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A cult classic is born.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/04/06
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
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Sorry, George Lucas, but CGI creatures usually look pretty fake; the crawlers, however, are quite realistic and creepy, especially as they skitter over the walls and roofs of the caves.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
08/04/06
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
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You genuinely care about the six women who enter a cave in the Appalachian mountains, only to discover it crawling with flesh-eating predators who have adapted to life in the dark.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
08/03/06
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
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An object lesson in making a tightly-budgeted, no-star horror pic work through razor-sharp technique and committed performances alone.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
08/03/06
Derek Elley
Derek Elley
Variety
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The babes are buff and the scares bountiful in Neil Marshall's full-throttle horror freakout about six women on a caving expedition.

comment Comment
08/03/06
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
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It plays every emotional key of fright and despair with the skill of a concertmaster at a cathedral organ.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
08/03/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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[Marshall] expertly maps out those raw nerve endings while creating credible characters who speak and act like real people rather than the usual horror archetypes.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
08/03/06
Michael Rechtshaffen
Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
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