Day Seven: The Descent

Just rounded off the first week of horror movies with a truly scary movie: The Descent. Right away, in the second scene of the movie, tragedy befalls Sarah when those close to her are lost. A year later, her and her friends get together to do what they all love, go explore some caves in the Appalachian Mountains! Many in the group are not even American, so I'm not sure what drew them to this locale, but as with my other favorite horror film from hillbilly country, I Spit On Your Grave*, the setting proves to be occupied with aggressive humanoid life forms.

I should note that I am claustrophobic. So really, even if there was no monster in the dark in The Descent, I still would have thought this was a scary movie. The first half of the movie establishes that the women are trapped. The second half establishes that there is a lot of blood. I meant that they're being chased. And there's a lot of blood. Sorry- I don't want to ruin movies for anyone who happens to be reading this, so I apologize that sometimes these reviews get a little vague. I will talk about the elements of the movie that I liked a lot, though:

1. The setting- most people do not go caving. There are narrow passages, dead ends, darkness, and a lot of physical stamina that makes me exhausted to just watch.
2. Mind games- Sarah has experienced intense trauma and loss, and we're never sure if she's just imagining things or if her panic attacks are warranted.
And 3. Badass women.

All six of the main characters are women. They are all strong and have distinct personalities. What a crazy concept for a movie! And they seriously are awesome... the stunts while caving/climbing that these characters do are awesome. And dear lord, when the horror starts... well let's just say that a couple of them just have that killing instinct.

I think this is the scariest movie I've watched so far this month. It ranks up there with The Exorcist and 28 Days Later for my favorite so far... but it's only been a week so I don't want to get too hasty.


*I Spit On Your Grave is an incredibly graphic rape/revenge movie. I stumbled upon a VHS copy in my college library and, having no clues as to what it was about (the case had only a typewriter font title), brought it home to watch. It was... enlightening? No. It was scarring. And yet a fascinating chapter in the grindhouse genre. In any case, there's a remake out in theaters... tomorrow!


On one final note: after I watch these movies, I usually need a buffer of warmth before I can sleep. So I'll pop in a DVD of Arrested Development or something similarly comforting. Tonight I'm watching this: