Synopsis:

After a tragic accident, six friends reunite for a caving expedition. Their adventure soon goes horribly wrong when a collapse traps them deep underground and they find themselves pursued by bloodthirsty creatures. As their friendships deteriorate, they find themselves in a desperate struggle to survive the creatures and each other.

Brian's Rating: B- : I wish I could have rated this movie higher, but there are too many things wrong with it.  First, the praise.  Perhaps I am becoming desensitized to the horror genre, but its getting harder and harder to find a movie that truly gives you the psychological suspense elements that keep you on edge as to what will happen to the characters.  This movie does accomplish that, and after the cave collapses on them there are moments where the movie reaches across the screen and gives you a bit of the feeling of terror that one would experience if they were trapped underground.  I am not claustrophobic, but I would still be freaked out if I did not know how to reach the surface.  The movie also has more then a few good jump instances--surprise elements usually preceded by quiet background music then followed by a loud noise and an something abrupt and unexpected happening on screen causing you to jump a bit in your seat.

There are also problems with the movie.  In the beginning the daughter of one of the characters dies unexpectedly.  This seemed like it was setting something up where the mother was going to have some sort of other-world contact with her daughter, but aside from a couple bad dreams, this ends up going nowhere.  Another issue I have with movies, even horror movies, is when the story is written such the characters do things that make no sense at all.  An example of this in the film is leaving a climbing axe (weapon) behind, when that is about the stupidest thing one would do given the context.  There are also a couple of other extreme stretches in plot structure that I will not go into to avoid the spoiler that would entail.  Suffice it to say, they were enough to bother me into lowering the rating from an A- to a B-.

I just do not see many good horror genre films anymore.  Scott gave this one the thumbs up, and so I was hoping this would join the ranks, but it did not.  It had some decent action, and a few good jump moments, but aside from that it failed as a movie I would strongly recommend.  It still ekes out a recommendation from me though because in the end, it was entertaining.

The Freak's Rating: A- : Crisp cinematography and some of the most claustrophobic shots ever made make this one a fun ride.  The Descent goes nearly half an hour before the monsters appear and by then the mood is set perfectly for being stuck underground with very few options available.

Acting is mediocre, but never a necessary part of a good horror movie, which this is.  For the budget alloted, the production team should be patted on the back.  Special effects are crafted well, lending Stan Winston style effects, requiring no CGI whatsoever, a refreshing change if you ask me.  Add a hot little Asian girl and a Kelly Ripa lookalike and you have enough eye candy to make the time fly by.  With the torture-porn style of horror films wearing increasingly thin with each release, this is a welcome foray into the genre and worthy of checking out.

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