Movie Talk: "the Descent" is an Underappreciated Horror Classic

I used to be scared of the dark when I was a kid. I always had to have a little light on, like a lot of kids do. Or I'd rely on the little sticky glow stars that were pasted on my wall.

A lot of us have a fear of the dark, in part because our fear of the unknown often pervades our minds even in early development. It's like walking into a damp, suffocating tunnel. Have you ever seen the movie the Descent? If you suffer from claustrophobia, I suggest you stop reading now.

"the Uber Eats is here."

        In 2005 UK director and writer Neil Marshall released the Descent. I also feel like I should give credit to the cinematographer, Sam McCurdy, because shooting this could not have been easy. The film follows a group of girlfriends who go cave exploring in the Appalachian mountains. Funny enough, I actually lived in the Appalachian part of Georgia for 6 years of my life. When I tell you this film struck a familiar and weird chord with me, I mean in the sense that there are simply stories in that area only the locals know about. I'm not supposing that this film is true, but it reminded me of when my uncles would tell me not to go to the forest at night, or follow if I hear a voice in the woods pleading me for help. Honestly I applaud a British filmmaker being able to capture that feeling for me. However I did get a good chuckle out of the random eagle sound effect and the banjo music. Whatever, he's not native to the area.

    I'm not exactly sure how they made the goblin creatures but it looks like a mixture of costume, makeup, and CGI. It looks real even for 2005, although having the setting in a dark space is certainly an advantage. The film doesn't explain what they are exactly, but I think it's nice when directors leave it up to the audience's imagination rather than putting it outright. The unknown adds to the feeling of danger.

    It's not just the monsters that make this movie scary. Remember when I said claustrophobics beware? Yeah, cave exploring can be absolutely terrifying when you think of all the things that can go wrong, and go wrong it does. Characters get squeezed between walls, nearly crushed to death, fall, and break several bones in the process. It's the kind of uneasiness that truly makes you cringe in pain, and you can almost feel the walls closing in on you as you watch the characters squirm through crevices that are smaller than them. This makes the audience already on edge. Terrifying yes, but you can't stop watching.

    I really enjoyed the use of reds and oranges in this movie. You can see the yellow fade to orange into deep, dark scarlet. When the group runs out of light, they must rely on flares and fire. The deeper the characters descend the redder the film becomes until it literally looks like hell. It instantly reminded me of the bucket scene in Carrie. Red can be a distressing color, like it's not supposed to be seen in such a large volume, or perhaps it has an association with the underworld; what with its fire and brimstone and demons. All things that are evil and tempting and wrong. 

    It's sort of the same dynamic you see in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, when a group of friends gets into a dire situation that goes from bad to worse. There's even a final girl in this too (every good horror movie has one.)

    But mostly I enjoyed watching a movie where female characters actually had some power. This makes the dynamic between hero and monster more interesting because too often we find women in horror films to be totally clueless. I like it when movies give a bit of a fighting chance to the main characters in general. It seems to me in American horror movies, we're often watching people suffer or die for seemingly no reason other than for the sake of killing. I can't say that I like gore for gore. I like some reasoning behind why it's happening. Like, if you actually sit down and think about the Saw movies, what is the point other than to watch a bunch of people endure the worst possible torture? (I've seen all of them, and believe me the plot is weak at best anyhow.) 

    This also in my opinion is what separates the Descent from movies like 47 Meters Down, which honestly felt like torture porn too. In the Descent, the characters have personal issues between each other and traumas they're processing that feel authentic and relatable. The character Sarah loses her husband and child in an accident, and still holds some resentment towards Juno who ghosted her after the event. Juno is sort of a pseudo-antagonist in this movie, as her ego manages to get the group lost and stuck underground in the first place. There are certain decisions she makes that might categorize her into neutral evil or anti-villain status, a trope that was only beginning to become popular. I think it was subversive for the time. 

    It's telling, then, that the last person to survive is Sarah. You could say that the cave exploration in the film is a manifestation of the process of grief, because experiencing loss can sometimes mean losing friends who you thought would be there for you in your darkest period. Sarah must learn how to navigate through the darkness; in the end it's her alone that finds daylight. There's a light quite literally, at the end of the tunnel.

    So I guess you could say this is a happy ending if you ignore all the... death. I know that sounds silly but I try to process media more for what it says rather than what it is. I'm a writer at heart so it's almost second nature. 

    I haven't seen the second movie but I heard it was silly. I kind of think this movie is perfect already and I don't want to ruin it for myself. Anyways, if you're searching for a horror flick, give this one a watch. I've seen it at least a dozen times already. 

~ 🖤 ~