- For the book by Jeff Long, see The Descent.
The Descent is a British horror film, written and directed by Neil Marshall. It was released on 8 July 2005, having premiered at the Dawn Horror Film Festival on 6 July 2005. It has received a cinematic release in Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Canada and the United States.
| The Descent | |
|---|---|
| File:The Descent film.jpg | |
| Directed by | Neil Marshall |
| Written by | Neil Marshall |
| Produced by | Christian Colson |
| Starring | Shauna Macdonald Natalie Mendoza MyAnna Buring Nora Jane Noone Alex Reid Saskia Mulder |
| Cinematography | Sam McCurdy |
| Edited by | Jon Harris |
| Music by | David Julyan |
| Distributed by | Pathé Distribution (UK) Lions Gate Films (USA) |
Release dates |  8 July 2005 4 August 2006 |
Running time | 95 min |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ £3,500,000 |
The Descent was both a commercial and critical success, with box office receipts from the UK alone totalling over £2.6 million and a total worldwide gross of approximately £13 million. The Descent received very positive reviews from many critics and a sequel is currently being planned.[1][2]
Plot
Template:Spoiler The film follows a group of six women on a caving expedition. Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) is recovering from a car accident a year ago, which killed her husband and daughter. She and her friend, Beth, (Alex Reid) are invited to the Appalachian Mountains by Juno (Natalie Mendoza). There they join up with Holly (Nora-Jane Noone), and two sisters, Sam (MyAnna Buring) and Rebecca (Saskia Mulder).
After stopping in a cabin for the night, they drive to the caves and begin to explore. A cave-in blocks the way they came in, and it is revealed that Juno has brought them to an unexplored cave system in a misguided effort to bring the group closer together. They continue on as their only hope is to find another exit. Holly breaks her leg in a fall and, as the others assist her, Sarah wanders off and sees a pale humanoid figure drinking from a puddle of stagnant water. It disappears into the darkness when it senses her, and when Sarah tells the others, they dismiss it as a hallucination.
As they progress through the cave system, they come under attack from the creatures (dubbed 'crawlers'). Holly is killed. Juno stabs Beth through the throat by accident, and Beth grabs Juno's necklace as she falls to the ground. The remaining members are separated, and try to survive the environment and the stalking crawlers. Sarah hallucinates about her dead daughter at several points, and as she explores the caves, comes across Beth, who is mortally wounded. Sarah sees the pendant that Beth got from Juno, which shows Sarah that Juno had been having an affair with her husband. At her request, Sarah euthanises Beth.
Sam and Rebecca are both killed by crawlers. Juno narrowly avoids the same fate. She meets up with Sarah, and the two make their way onwards together, only to find a group of crawlers between them and a possible exit. A fight ensues, the women kill the creatures, and afterwards Sarah cripples Juno and leaves her for the crawlers. Fleeing, Sarah falls and is knocked unconscious. She dreams of escaping the cave and sees a bloodied Juno in the car beside her. Screaming, she awakes once more in the cave, hallucinating that her daughter is there with her. Crawler screams are heard, and the film ends.
Alternate ending
The Descent was released in North America with approximately a minute cut from the end. Sarah escapes the cave and sees Juno, but the film does not cut back to the cave.
In the 4 August 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly, it was stated that the ending was trimmed because viewers didn't like its "überhopeless finale". Lionsgate marketing chief Tim Palen said, "It's a visceral ride, and by the time you get to the ending you're drained. [Director Neil] Marshall had a number of endings in mind when he shot the film, so he was open [to making a switch]." Marshall compared the change to the ending of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, saying "Just because she gets away, does that make it a happy ending?"
The North American Unrated DVD includes the original ending.
The Insanity Theory
Many fans of this film argue that the monsters did not exist at all and that the film's title refers to Sarah's 'descent' into insanity. Several clues exist to support this notion, most notably the that Sarah has been through an extremely traumatic experience already, has previously suffered from hallucinations, and is on medication. The Insanity Theory, or the "No Monsters" Theory, posits that Sarah herself either killed or left each of her companions to die. An interview with director Neil Marshall at dreadcentral.com lends further credence to the theory, as he states "she's killed all her friends".
Marshall acknowledges this possibility in the DVD commentary, yet claims that this is only one possible interpretation. The fact that a sequel is being planned likely supports the theory that the monsters were real.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| MyAnna Buring | Sam Van Ney |
| Natalie Mendoza | Juno Caplan |
| Shauna Macdonald | Sarah Carter |
| Saskia Mulder | Rebecca Van Ney |
| Nora Jane Noone | Holly Mills |
| Alex Reid | Beth O'Brien |
Reception
The Descent opened on 329 screens in the UK and received limited releases in other European countries, eventually earning more than £6 million in box office receipts. It has received many positive reviews in the UK and the USA, with 106 out of 128 critics on Rotten Tomatoes giving positive reviews, resulting in an 83% freshness rating. On its debut weekend in the US, The Descent opened with a three-day gross of $8.8 million, and finished with $26,005,908 million. Total worldwide box office receipts are $42 million.
Roger Ebert's Editor, Jim Emerson, reviewed the film for Ebert's column when Ebert went out for surgery. He gave the film 4 out of 4 stars. He wrote, "This is the fresh, exciting summer movie I've been wanting for months. Or for years, it seems."
Trivia
- At no point in the film are actual caves seen, all of the scenes are filmed with model sets, miniatures and blue screen digital images.
- In his Eatmybrains.com interview, Marshall said Pathe deliberately released The Descent first "just to try and beat The Cave to the punch, piss on their chips a bit."
- The Number 30 bus destroyed at Tavistock Square during the terrorist bombings of London in July 2005 had been carrying a placard on the side advertising the film. The placard featured a bloodied Shauna Macdonald staring out of darkness, and quotes from several positive reviews of the film. Famously, as seen in Mario Rosenberg's award nominated photos of the scene, the half of the placard left undamaged by the blast read "Outright Terror, Bold and Brilliant," a quote from a review by Total Film magazine. Several commentators, including writers for Variety and The Times, remarked on this unfortunate coincidence. Three of the four bombs detonated that day specifically targeted the London Underground transport system, leaving many victims trapped underground for several hours. There were initially concerns that the film, due for release the next day, might have to be delayed for reasons of sensitivity but ultimately Pathé chose to release the film with a slightly retooled marketing campaign. The US promotional campaign, managed by Lionsgate Films, is significantly different from the original European one.
- The American movie poster is based on a photograph by Salvador Dali entitled In Voluptas Mors, which depicts several women arranged in positions to make them look like a large sculpture of a skull.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ "Comic Con '06: Neil Marshall Hints at 'Descent 2'". Bloody-Disgusting.com. 2006-07-22. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Butane, Johnny (2006-07-30). "Marshall, Neil (The Descent)". Dread Central. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
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