Meatpuppet
Member
Finally got around to going to watch the Descent on Friday, and figured I should probably post up some impressions, so here we go!
First up, a bit of background. Back in 2002, Neil Marshall wrote & directed a low budget (Film 4 funded) horror film called Dog Soldiers. Set in the Scottish highlands, it revolves around a bunch of squaddies who run afoul of a clan of werewolves while on a standard training operation. Bloody, gore-riddled chaos ensues. In short, it's one of the best horror films (non-psychological) in recent memory. If you haven't seen it already, get down to Blockbusters asap. Or better still, buy it.
Anyway, last week Marshall's latest project "The Descent" hit screens in the UK. Horror again, it follows a group of women caving in the Appalachian Mountains on an adventure weekend. As they go further into the deep, things soon go to shit. Suffice to say, they aren't alone. I don't want to spoil the film (even if it's not a literary masterpiece), so that's about all I'll say about it in terms of specifics.
My criteria for an enjoyable horror film within this sub-genre are fairly basic; make me jump in spite of myself, and you've got my vote. I actually went airborne a few times during the film, so I enjoyed it no end. Blood flies, guts rip and numerous asses are kicked as the film progresses. Production values are a clear step up from those shown in Dog Soldiers, though still clearly lag behind those seen in other films.
I will say that the cave sets (only one real cave was used!) are awesome, and thanks to the lighting alternate between beautiful and baleful, spacious and crushingly claustrophobic.
In some respects it falls short of Dog Soldiers by virtue of the protagonists (a group of female friends don't come with automatic rifles in their kitbags), but on the whole it was pretty damn good. It was good to watch a movie where women have realistic/natural dialogue (slang/cursing), as sometimes you'd think female characters are born sugar-tongued.
All in all, I probably enjoyed the film more than any other so far this summer, though WotW & BB are fairly close behind it.
No word yet as to when this comes out stateside, but it has been picked up by Lions Gate.
First up, a bit of background. Back in 2002, Neil Marshall wrote & directed a low budget (Film 4 funded) horror film called Dog Soldiers. Set in the Scottish highlands, it revolves around a bunch of squaddies who run afoul of a clan of werewolves while on a standard training operation. Bloody, gore-riddled chaos ensues. In short, it's one of the best horror films (non-psychological) in recent memory. If you haven't seen it already, get down to Blockbusters asap. Or better still, buy it.
Anyway, last week Marshall's latest project "The Descent" hit screens in the UK. Horror again, it follows a group of women caving in the Appalachian Mountains on an adventure weekend. As they go further into the deep, things soon go to shit. Suffice to say, they aren't alone. I don't want to spoil the film (even if it's not a literary masterpiece), so that's about all I'll say about it in terms of specifics.
My criteria for an enjoyable horror film within this sub-genre are fairly basic; make me jump in spite of myself, and you've got my vote. I actually went airborne a few times during the film, so I enjoyed it no end. Blood flies, guts rip and numerous asses are kicked as the film progresses. Production values are a clear step up from those shown in Dog Soldiers, though still clearly lag behind those seen in other films.
I will say that the cave sets (only one real cave was used!) are awesome, and thanks to the lighting alternate between beautiful and baleful, spacious and crushingly claustrophobic.
In some respects it falls short of Dog Soldiers by virtue of the protagonists (a group of female friends don't come with automatic rifles in their kitbags), but on the whole it was pretty damn good. It was good to watch a movie where women have realistic/natural dialogue (slang/cursing), as sometimes you'd think female characters are born sugar-tongued.
All in all, I probably enjoyed the film more than any other so far this summer, though WotW & BB are fairly close behind it.
Speaking of which, the ending to The Descent is most definitely not Spielbergian
No word yet as to when this comes out stateside, but it has been picked up by Lions Gate.