One of the better attributes a horror film director can have is the ability to be completely and utterly untrustable. Think Stanley Kubrick and The Shining. Towards the end of the film, Scatman Crothers, who shares the ability to telekinetically communicate with little boy Danny, makes a trek across country to save him from his axe wielding father. The audience has seen this scene before, he's going to come and save the day. But at the moment he enters the hotel, he is greeted with an axe right in the stomach and our expectations are blown to shit, the audience knows it is no longer safe, and anything can happen. In the British import The Descent, currently in theatrical release here in the states, there is a great moment, about midway through, where one character makes an entirely understandable (bearing in mind the state of her psyche at that point) mistake and well, I don't want to give it away because part of the joy of the film is knowing as little as possible going in, but needless to say, the audience will be unable to rely on cliches from there on in.
Like I said before, I recommend going into this knowing as little as possible, but if you'd like a plot synopsis, here are the details: its about a woman, still reeling from a horrible accident that claimed her husband and child, who decides to embark on a cave dwelling expedition with a group of her female friends, and things go awry, you could arguably say "horribly awry", but I guess that's in the eye of the beholder, but yeah, its pretty horrible, lets just say creatures that look like blind albino Gollums are involved.
The film is not without its flaws. I have never seen an all women horror film that didn't involve scantily cladness of said women in some form, so thats appreciated, but at the same time the women all pretty much either conform to some sort of stereotype (IE the girl with a short cropped haircut is the most masculine) or are completely anonymous from one another. The horrible accident at the beginning that claims the husband and child seems a little unnecessary, its almost as if Marshall wanted to distance himself from another horror export, Wolf Creek, and make sure something gruesome happens early to keep people interested. Sure, you will argue that this shapes the persona of main character Sarah (Sissy Spacek doppelganger Shauna MacDonald) and that it plot-wise plays a big dividend in the end, explaining her most severe action, but again, it kind of boils down to another dramatic female stereotype (infidelity).
Still, this film is more brutal than 98% of horror films that are made today, including the two films the ads name drop The Descent as being from the same studio as, Hostel and Saw. Please, somebody explain the allure of these goddamn Saw films to me. They are uniformly poorly acted, look like a shitty Seven wannabe and are laughably edited. The first film had one of the most ridiculous twists ever and the whole morally superior serial killer is an utter bullshit notion, and one that has already been done to death. I vent just because there was a trailer for part 3 in front of the film and a couple of people cheered, and I just thought, "wow it looks exactly like the first film". As for Hostel, The Descent is the film Eli Roth wishes he could make, its able to push its audience to an extreme position of dread with relative ease and maintain it throughout the entire film, hell, The Descent is more frightening in the scenes in the cave, before the shit really hits the fan, then any single moment in Hostel. The only other horror film that have been released recently that I think holds a candle to this is the remake of The Hills Have Eyes which lost some credibility by being a.) a remake (though I think its a better film than the Wes Craven original); b.) for scenes of the crazy hillbillies being a little too crazy; and c.) the whole room full of clipped articles that perfectly tell the whole backstory, sheesh, I hate that shit.
So if you haven't seen The Descent yet and are in the mood for a good horror film that is going to make you uneasy and on edge for a few hours after watching it, then by all means, get yourself to the theatre. Now for some MAJOR SPOILERS CONCERNING THE END, DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE FILM OR YOU HAVE NO DESIRE TO SEE IT AND WANT THE ENDING RUINED FOR YOU.
So as you may know, for the American release, Lionsgate decided to change the ending from the original version that played in England. Technically it didn't alter or add any scenes, but it basically ended the film before a pretty major revelation. Here is the original ending.
Now obviously I think the film should end the way the filmmaker wanted it to end, and I already foresee the DVD release where they will tout in all advertisements: "The ending too frightening for America!" as a marketing strategy. But as far as it goes, I don't think the change is entirely awful. People have been slamming the change saying it shows how stupid the studio think Americans are. But you know what, its not like its an entirely happy ending. Sure Sarah escapes the cave, but things aren't rainbows and puppy dogs. Now instead of envisioning, hearing or seeing her dead daughter all the time, she will see and hear the spirit of Juno, the woman she left to die in the cave. She will be living with not only that but grief that she has no one left, no friends, no husband, no daughter. On top of that, now whenever she sees an albino, she's totally going to freak the fuck out.
As for the original ending, yeah, I consider it slightly more "pure" and works within the style and context of the film. She is still in the cave, she will die. But in the British ending, I think its a little silly to have the "Juno shock" at the end and then reveal her true fate. Its the whole wanting your cake and eating it too notion. Either shock us or reveal a big twist, doing both is a little desperate. So basically what I am saying is both endings could use a little work and I am looking for the third, never before seen anywhere ending, where its revealed that none of this ever happened and it was a dream she had while falling asleep in the car from her river rafting trip at the beginning.
