Often I'll have it in my head that within the first 10-minutes of a films running time, I know whether or not I'm going to like it. It's actually quite terrible to be honest with you, I mean, who the hell wants to have that decision made so early on? Especially with most films running well over two hours these days? Although I'll quite often find that I'm switching gears throughout the film, when it can go either way. But, when I know I'm going to like a film, and I mean really like a film, I can usually tell you this within these crucial first 10-minutes. The Descent is just one of those films I knew that I was just destined to love nearly the moment it started. The experience was made all the more sweet because of this fact. The Descent is without a doubt, one of the best modern horror flicks that I've seen in the past decade...easy.

The real beauty of The Descent is the fact that it's not a new concept. Very few, if any of the ideas presented here are all that original. I mean hell, there was a film released stateside not too long ago called The Cave and without even having seen it I can easily say that it doesn't look much different from The Descent. Often people think I'm too harsh on modern horror films, not enjoying them for what they are (or what they could possibly be) and I'm often given a hard time for ragging on remakes or movies that borrow too heavily from films of the past. Not for nothing, but this review is going to prove the naysayer wrong! So screw you! Turns out that I was just in need of someone to finally get it right! And with The Descent, someone finally has. So, It's not that I don't LIKE films that borrow heavily from the genre etc. I just don't like BAD films that borrow heavily from the genre! So there!

Written and directed by Neil Marshall whose previous effort, the much-applauded Dog Soldiers, didn't sit to well with me. Now to be fair, I've only seen Dog Soldiers once, and I should probably revisit it, because I don't remember much if anything about it. My point being, the fact that 'the director of Dog Soldiers' has come out with a new horror flick was really not much of a selling point for me and just left me feeling indifferent about the whole thing. Adding to this, the fact that this new flick is set in a cave with shades of Alien, Raw Meat (along with countless others, including the inferiorly recent Creep) and I'd be surprised if I didn't beat you to the door. In the end, I'm certainly glad I gave The Descent a shot, because it'd be a real shame to have missed this one.

The story is quite simple. Six female friends go on a spelunking journey deep within a cavern located in the Appalachian Mountains. Once below, they have to deal with the perils of a journey in an unexpectedly unmapped cave. But more so than this, they are not alone. Strange creatures live below the earth. Normally hunters, today their food has come hand delivered. Now these six friends must work together to not only find a way out, but also to survive. At the same time, friendships are tested and secrets are revealed, all the while these bloodthirsty creatures are hungry for flesh...and they're not waiting for anyone.

Through exceptional (yet quick) scenes of character development, Marshall is able to set a tone to carry us to the bitter end. If we didn't know and/or care about these characters we're about to spend the next 90 or so minutes with, then it wouldn't even matter. Let them all die; fuck 'em, you'd say. But we do care. Early on in the film we experience tragedy with these characters, we know that these are strong women who want to prove themselves. We also know that there may be some rocky waters ahead, and that each of these characters whole story will eventually be revealed. We are here with them because we want to be here with them. Unlike a lot of recent horror films, the story is not written around the horror elements, or if they are, Marshall does a fantastic job of disguising this. It's not like "Let's make a horror movie about a cave...so what happens and who gets trapped in it?" The characters appear to have come first, which is crucial and makes this film all the more effective.

Despite its mostly solitary location and minimal amount of characters, The Descent remains an intense experience throughout. Excellent use of locations and confined spaces. A barrage of close up shots taking up the entire scope frame helps in giving audiences a real claustrophobic feel. However, once it's time to open up the shot in the frame, the scope of the underground cavern is revealed and in this instance, so much space, feels like so little. And you won't hear any complaints out of me about the fact that the creatures don't even show up until nearly an hour into the film. Because when they do, the gore gushes furiously. The Descent is expertly executed and timed, there's just as much (if not more) tension even before the creatures make their first appearance. So many levels, and each either work on its own, or stand to compliment another.

The anamorphic scope image look spectacular. This film is dark and dimly lit all the way through. Black levels remain solid throughout and while the extras and feature could have probably fit onto one disc fairly easily, considering the multitude of audio options and tricky dark images, I'm glad they went to two discs. Both DTS and 5.1 options offer impressive range. It's obvious that a lot of care went into the audio presentation here, as it's a very important part of the film. Excellent use of surrounds and directional effects, great score too.

In addition to the feature itself, Disc One features two full-length feature commentaries. The first for the cast, the second for crewmembers. Director Neil Marshall sticks around for both. While people tend to get lost because of all of the participants, both commentaries are fun to listen to with people chiming in left and right, laughing and cracking jokes. It's evident that the making of this film was as close to a family affair as one could get. Disc Two features the remaining extras. A 40+ minute behind-the-scenes documentary covers nearly every aspect of the production and features many of the film's participants. 9 extended/deleted scenes are next, but I would have preferred commentary to these as well in order to put them in their proper context. Next is a 5-minute outtake reel, which features a lot of goofing off on set. BIOS, a few still galleries, storyboard comparisons a teaser and full-length trailer round things off.

In my mind The Descent is a great success and a must for fans of the genre. Intelligent, scary and bloody, The Descent is extremely well executed in just about every way possible. Highly, highly recommended and this import 2-Disc set is definitely the way to go.

Buy it at Xploited Cinema!