The Descent

The Descent is wonderful adventure film akeen to the likes of REC and Splinter whose initial draw is in its action-packed narrative that borders on horror with horrifying situations and elements interspersed. This quality is what made me doubt The Descent's inclusion into the catalogue of films shown in class initially, a doubt which I have in time come to terms with upon reflecting on the images presented in the film.
The Descent's portrayal of abjection, from bat poop to a gigantic pool of blood and creature feces, certainly identify it to the horror genre together with the inclusion of humanoid creatures the protagonists stumble upon deep in the cave system. Above these categories however, the remarkable way by which The Descent is a horror film is the source from which the horror and dread comes from--the tension of relations between the completely human and normal female protagonists. The true horror of the film is the raw presentation of the breakdown of a tight group's friendship strained externally by their stressful, dangerous, and hopeless circumstance but more so internally by what each harbors against another in the form of secrets, frustrations, etc. Beyond the lasting images of those horrible cave-dwelling creatures captured on camera by night vision and that one particular shot of one of them actually mounting the main protagonist who remains motionless and calm to ward it off, the most effective and perhaps the most significant horror the film delivers comes in the decision and action of the same main protagonist when finally confronting her former friend whom she discovers had accidentally killed one of their buddies in the cave and have been fooling around with her newly departed husband. In that climactic exchange of words in a flurry as sounds of the creatures draw louder and nearer where they stand, the main protagonist raises her pick-axe and stabs her double-crossing, friend-killing, husband-robbing companion with it. Just the finality, decisiveness, and satisfaction the act brings to the main protagonist is haunting as she leaves her Lara Croft-esque companion behind with a gut-churning smile on her face to offer up to the mercy of the creatures.

The Descent is in one helluva film a creature feature, a feminist approach at portraying the dynamics and complexities of relationships between women, and an action-adventure survival horror flick that satisfies, even with its future-bleak not-so-happy twist ending.