The Descent
Neil Marshall, who directed the excellent, cheeky horror, Dog Soldiers, takes a stab (pardon the pun) at a gaggle of gals who meet gruesome ghouls while spelunking … and doesn’t quite pull it off. Marshall kicks off the film with the death of lead character Sarah’s husband that is supposed to have us identify with her loss (it doesn’t) and provide the thread on which to construct the caving story that ensues (it does … though poorly). It also provides Sarah’s daughter, little Jessica, some reason to constantly appear (dreamlike) wearing a pretty dress and blowing out birthday cake candles (like huh?!). While you have to give prompts to Marshall for the filming here (there’s some great scenes in very tight corners), the ghouls when then finally arrive are just Nosferatu knockoffs. What floored me was Marshall’s decision to have Sarah turn vigilante at the end. (Spoiler alert) … the scene where Sarah hobbles Juno on suspicion she purposely stabbed Beth (or whoever it was … I was beyond caring) comes out of the blue and is, in a word, stupid. This film is an hour of tiresome plot building that ends with thirty minutes of thrills and is not worth the descent. My rating 4 out of 10.

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