The Descent: A Review

The Descent is, quite possibly, a perfect horror film. Certainly, it is the best the genre has offered in years, if not decades, and in the slow theater year that has been 2006, it is the year's best title in any genre. It marks a return to true horror, evoking a response both visceral and primal, preying on numerous of our most instinctual fears for a relentless ninety minutes. It doesn't joke around, or pace itself with side plots no one cares about. It just is what it is, and when it's over, the result is oddly cathartic. It is comforting to walk from the theater, to leave that cold, dark space and step into the open, summer air.

And I think that's really the thing of it. So many recent horror films play the horrific and the gory with no real sense of actual horror. While this method has had some interesting and successful results, they don't tap into those basic fears. Yes, it's icky to think of having a reverse bear trap strapped onto my head, set to rip my jaw from my face if I can't dig a key from someone's intestines and unlock the contraption within 60 seconds, but it's not really something I spend a lot of time worrying about. It doesn't resonate as much as, say the notion of being trapped in a confined space with something that wishes to do me harm. Or the simple notion of being lost in some sort of wilderness. Or the notion of losing something precious, like one's child. Or being surrounded by a hungry and unknown swarm. These are the themes you see over and over again in the truly terrifying. Pick any work of Stephen King, or any number of truly classic horror films, like Alien, Night of the Living Dead, The Blair Witch Project, yet have been markedly absent in recent "horror" films.

I realize I haven't said so much about the film itself, focusing rather on the genre in which resides. Detailing the plot would do nothing but take away from that first viewing, so I'm not going to do that. I will instead say, if you're looking for something scary, looking for something in the vein described above, go see it. Neill Marshall (director of 2002's Dog Soldiers) will not disappoint you. If you're not? Well, Clerks II was also very good. :)