The Descent

release year: 2005
genre: suspense/horror
viewing setting: home DVD, 1/25/07

synopsis: Six action-oriented women go down into a cave system, but get trapped and then encounter carnivorous underground humanoids.

impressions: This was pretty good, and had the added quirk of an all-female cast. The caving scenes, especially the ones involving wriggling through tight spaces and passages, made me very claustrophobic, and I quickly realized that caving would not ever end up on my list of things to try. Unfortunately for these six adventurous women, they had no such reservations, and so they pretty much all ended up as a snack for this tribe of pale, blind, underground dwellers that reminded me of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. These Gollums, however, use their teeth and claws to wound, kill, and devour humans and they're a little more dangerous that you'd think. My main complaint was with the ending, which is a bit vague and makes you wonder what really went on in the movie. See it for yourself, I guess, and make your own call.

something this movie has that no other movie has: A flexible athlete-chick who can raise her leg all the way up so that her foot touches her head.

acting: Shauna Macdonald is the main character who we're supposed to sympathize with, but aside from that she does very little for most of the movie, before transforming into an efficient and ruthless survivor. Natalie Mendoza is the forceful gung-ho leader of the group. The others were okay, but hard to tell apart at times.

final word: Worth seeing, but the ending may throw you.

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