This Is What Takes ‘The Descent’ From Scary to Terrifying

Ever need to scare the pants off of anyone however don’t know what horror movie will do it finest? With regards to horror, many various facets of the style can create each worry and stress for a viewer. Generally it’s paranormal, typically it’s tacky slasher movies, or perhaps it’s low-cost jump-scares. These are at all times a tried and true staple. However relating to actually scaring an viewers, actually getting below their pores and skin, there’s one film that does it finest: The Descent.

Launched in 2005, The Descent follows a gaggle of mates on a spelunking journey, a yr after tragedy strikes one in all them. What they discover inside is extra than simply mesmerizing cave methods although, and so they quickly discover themselves in a struggle for his or her lives in opposition to the cave’s monstrous dwellers. The movie acts as a gradual burn for the primary hour or so into its run, actually increase the suspense till the primary crawler (because the monsters have been deemed) reveals up. The crawlers are downright nasty, pale, and vampiric in look, with human-like figures however inhuman tendencies. They’ve a style for blood and flesh and seek out every of the ladies one after the other, lingering within the shadows able to pounce at any second. Nevertheless it isn’t simply the crawlers that make The Descent such an important horror movie, actually, it could not even be the highest cause. What makes The Descent so efficient is the way it faucets into very actual and customary fears, and creates a deeply private movie that’s certain to make audiences squirm.

What Is ‘The Descent’ About?

The film begins by introducing us to a couple of the characters we’ll be following all through the movie. There’s Sarah (Shauna Macdonald), Juno (Natalie Mendoza), and Beth (Alex Reid). The buddies are thrill seekers and are simply coming to shore from whitewater rafting. They’re greeted by Sarah’s husband Paul (Oliver Milburn) and their daughter Jessica (Molly Kayll). On the way in which house, Sarah notes Paul’s quietness and asks him what’s flawed. He tells her it’s nothing, which we (and Sarah) can inform is a lie, however earlier than she will press on their automobile is all of a sudden hit by one other car. The accident claims the lives of each Paul and Jessica, leaving Sarah the one survivor with an unimaginable quantity of ache and guilt over the losses.

Although it’s inevitable, the worry of shedding somebody you like is a really actual and really daunting thought. The Descent took that worry and had it kick off the film, setting a dreary and miserable tone that will solely worsen because the movie went on. In spite of everything, the remainder of the movie is ready solely a yr after the accident, which means it’s nonetheless a really contemporary wound. All through the movie, Sarah usually hears the sound of a kid’s laughter, or hallucinates her daughter whereas within the caves. So not solely is she in a struggle for her life, however whereas caught in a seemingly hopeless state of affairs, Sarah is coping with grief that feels not possible to beat. Her finest buddy Beth even says as a lot, encouraging Sarah to push by means of when she will get caught within the cave, saying: “The worst factor that would have occurred to you has already occurred.” However although that’s vehemently true, it doesn’t deter the movie from doubling down on Sarah’s trauma.

‘The Descent’ Units Up a Hopeless Scenario

As talked about, the crawlers would be the promoting level for the horror of the movie, however the true horror comes lengthy earlier than the crawlers even seem on the display screen. The aforementioned group of mates (joined by some newcomers) convene at a cabin within the Appalachian mountains, the place they plan to embark on a spelunking journey. The group hikes up a mountain to a cave entrance and make their descent. Spelunking on the whole is kind of a scary exercise, even whenever you’re with educated professionals in caves which have been explored a whole lot of hundreds of occasions. So when the group has to navigate by means of small passages, it feels extremely daunting — much more so when the passage collapses behind them and traps them. However in contrast to a guided spelunking journey, these ladies are doing this all on their very own, and unbeknownst to them Juno has introduced them to a never-before explored cave. They haven’t any map, are down a bag of provides as a result of tunnel collapse, and any hope of assist and rescue of any form rapidly begins to dwindle. They proceed to discover the cave, figuring in the event that they preserve pushing by means of they’ll have to search out an exit someplace. However the cave system proves to be more and more harmful, with caverns, holes, and impossible-to-cross passages at each flip.

Claustrophobia is without doubt one of the most typical fears amongst people — it’s the worry of small or enclosed areas. The Descent is principally simply Claustrophobia: The Film, and although we clearly know the caves featured within the movie are simply units, they really feel far too actual. The result’s a suffocating, horrifying, hopeless trip of terror that simply by no means appears to let up. Even when there isn’t a cave monster on display screen, we nonetheless have to observe our heroines navigate a seemingly hopeless state of affairs. They nonetheless have to search out an exit in some way, whereas balancing throughout crumbly cliffs and squirming by means of the smallest of areas.

However the claustrophobic side isn’t the one factor including to the horror ambiance; there’s additionally the truth that the group is working with minimal gentle, making the already unknown cave all of the extra daunting. They every have headlamps, and at one level they use flares to gentle the cave. However probably the most distinguished use is a Glowstick, which paints a lot of the scenes in an eerie inexperienced coloration that makes it really feel prefer it’s shot in evening imaginative and prescient. Talking of which, there are additionally some wonderful photographs by means of a video digicam, which is used to create a wonderful leap scare when the primary crawler seems to the group. The darkish is one more frequent worry, one thing all of us as soon as feared as kids, and a few as adults too. However the darkish blended with the tight, enclosed area of an unknown cave? It’s an ideal recipe to essentially make your backbone tingle.

‘The Descent’s Nightmare By no means Ends

An honorable point out for what makes the movie so scary, is the way it performs with the delusion and hysteria that somebody would face on this state of affairs. Sarah kinda serves because the viewers self-insert. She’s the primary character, she’s the one we sympathize with, and we’re rooting for her to make it out alive. So when she spots a ray of sunshine within the distance, we rejoice; she’s going to make it, and he or she’s going to be simply effective. She scrambles up a hill of skulls and bones and pops her head out of a gap, inhaling contemporary air and bathing in daylight. Or a minimum of, that’s how the US launch model of the movie ends.

The ending of the unique UK launch is far more grim and doubles down on the hopelessness we’ve felt all through the whole lot of the movie. On this ending, all the pieces performs out the very same because the US ending, however it’s then revealed that it was all a hallucination. She by no means escaped the cave, and we watch as she hallucinates her daughter blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. Solely it is a hallucination as nicely; her daughter isn’t there and the candles in query are literally her torch. Because the digicam pans out we see nothing however darkness surrounding Sarah and listen to the sounds of the cave dwellers closing in.

The Descent is really a grasp at boggling the thoughts and senses. It manages to dig deep below your pores and skin with out having to depend on its monsters. Positive they’re scary and grotesque, however the true horror comes from the private facets which might be grounded in real-life. It’s what makes the movie so efficient and why its scare issue by no means dulls upon a rewatch. And it’s why The Descent is without doubt one of the biggest horror movies lately.

The Descent is obtainable to lease on Amazon within the U.S.

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