...the technical merits and first third of the film are simply among the best available on the format.
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The absolutely most horrific moment of the Neil Marshall directed "The Descent" happens quite early in the film. In fact, it occurs before the monsters crawl from the darkness of the caves. The moment I speak of is when the film´s central character, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) becomes wedged in a narrow ´tube´ within a cave and is unable to free her arms and move out of her claustrophobic situation. I´ve been in this sort of situation before and I know how frightening it can be to be stuck. Panic sets in. It becomes difficult to breath and rational thought is quickly replaced by fear. She is then freed by Holly (Nora-Jane Noone) and facing a cave-in within their confined quarters. It is during this early scene that "The Descent" shows promise and threatens to make the caverns of the film a formidable foe and menacing villain.
Then, the filmmakers introduce the crawlers. These vampiric, man-bat creatures have a very humanlike silhouette, but are a pasty-white skinned menace that is unable to see, but can move about any surface within the cave, quickly and dangerously. The crawlers are teased by Marshall shortly after Sarah and Holly escape their predicament in the collapsing tunnel. Part of the fun of a horror film is the slow reveal and unknowing of the monsters. Once an evil creation is revealed, a horror film loses some of the dangerous mystique that maintains a level of chilling suspense. "The Descent" puts another foot forward in the proper direction by showing a glimpse of a crawler and having it quickly scuttle out of the way of the camera´s lens. It was at this point of the film, that I was starting to believe that "The Descent" was moving towards being a modern horror classic.
It could have been and it should have been. However, shortly after the crawlers are revealed, they start to dominate the screen and any creepiness or unknowing fear based upon these dark dwelling creatures is quickly lost. "The Descent" starts to become a scream fest between a collection of very pretty leading ladies and no longer becomes a film of fear, but a fairly predictable blood bath where the Crawlers slowly reduce the number of girls who still have a breath to breathe. It becomes all too clear that the Crawlers greatly outnumber the lost spelunkers and that it is highly unlikely that many, if any, will survive their carnivorous attacks. There is hardly any suspense of a Crawler coming out of the shadows to score another kill, as the Crawlers are given so much screen time, that you know exactly what is going to happen.
Though much of what happens is telegraphed to the viewer before it happens, there are still a couple minor plot twists that provide alternate means of death and demise for the girls. This unrated version of "The Descent" does place into question the predictability with its alternate ending, as the film brings a heavy question to the viewer on what has actually been seen in the film´s ninety-nine minutes. The unrated version ponders whether or not the main character was imagining much of what happened during the film, or if everything seen actually happened. However, once the viewer can comfortable settle on their feelings towards this ending, the twisty ending starts to feel slightly disappointing.
I enjoyed "The Descent" and felt the first half of the film was brilliantly done. However, once the trapped sequence happens after the first forty-minutes, things start to become mundane and typical. "The Descent" could have done to spelunking what "Jaws" did to swimming in the ocean – after seeing the film, you don´t want to enter. Dark and confined caves would have provided an amazing setting for a horror film, but this villain is forgotten after the Crawlers take over the screen. The cave becomes a whole lot easier to traverse and is no longer much of a danger after the Crawlers attack. This film could have been a classic horror film had the Crawlers appeared briefly during the moments of attack, or as occasionally teasers and jump frights. The film was still a lot of fun, as far as horror films go. The concept was still there and the panicked group of girls gave "The Descent" a very fresh feeling. Typically, horror films are not completely comprised of female characters. If they are, it is usually for gratuitous nudity. Surprisingly, "The Descent" does not contain a single bare breast. My hats off to the filmmakers for braking conventions with this film, but I feel they went off path and instead of becoming a scary movie in a cave, it became a far more common monster movie.
Video:
The film is presented in a very nice 2.35:1 widescreen transfer. It is mastered with AVC MPEG-4 compression and formatted for the full 1080p resolution. Colors are sparsely used due to the nature of the film. However, when there is color present onscreen, it is masterfully presented. The green foliage of the film´s exterior scenes during the first act are quite lifelike and deep in their green hues. The colorful outfits worn by the girls show bright reds, blues, yellows and oranges of the transfer. The film is dark, but has great black levels and incredible shadow detail. For a film that takes place mostly in darkness, the video quality is amazing. The source materials used for the film appear to have been in pristine condition. There are a few scenes with noticeable film grain, but this is commonplace during any film with this many dark sequences and when you compare "The Descent" to other films with a higher-than-average amount of dark sequences, it is easy to see this film is actually light in the amount of film grain present. Detail is extremely strong. Even during some of the darker scenes, the textures of the cave walls, the Crawler´s flesh and other items is highly detailed.
"The Descent" was originally titled "The Dark." This would have been a far more fitting title, as the characters had descended rather quickly into the cave, but remained in the dark for much of the film. This is a very dark film and for most of its length, shadows and darkness populate much of the screen. The lighting is low and if you had to pick a dominant color for "The Descent," it would surely be black. I honestly would have been quite satisfied with a lesser quality transfer than what was provided with "The Descent" solely because of the dark nature of the film. Credit must be given. "The Descent" is absolutely stunning in spite of the constant barrage of shadow and darkness. Some of the more colorful scenes in the second half of the film are entirely under the lighting of a red flare or a green night-vision camera. Regardless, the film has amazing depth and detail; thanks to some of the best shadow delineation I can ever remember seeing.
Sound:
Lionsgate has released their best sounding Blu-ray title to date with "The Descent." The film contains a 6.1 channel Uncompressed PCM soundtrack. I´ve been a huge supporter of Uncompressed PCM since I first experienced "The House of Flying Daggers" and while "The Descent" won´t dethrone that from the top of my list for best sounding Blu-ray titles, it is definitely the best effort from the studio and an above average entry for the high definition format. The visual benefits have been the selling point thus far for the new format, but the audio capabilities of Blu-ray (and HD-DVD) is just as impressive with a solid soundtrack. Many studios have not elected to supply an Uncompressed PCM mix or Dolby TrueHD and I´m happy to see Lionsgate on-board. In addition to the PCM Audio, a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX Audio mix is included for those who cannot utilize the uncompressed signal. English and Spanish subtitles are provided.
"The Descent" cannot be called aggressive because of the nature of a quiet cave. However, the sound mix is quite impressive, with wonderfully detailed audio. The film´s opening whitewater sequence sets the stage for the soundtrack and from that moment, until the closing credits, the film is filled with great sounding moments. Once the characters reach the cave, whether the sound is that of sloshing water or the closing of a lighter, the sound is crystal clear. Bass in the .1 LFE channel is deep and menacing. What is a horror movie without loud and booming bass? Every possible sound that breaks the darkness and quiet caves is delivered through the speakers and all channels help to deliver this sound. When the Crawlers attack, they can be heard in every channel. This soundtrack is just as impressive as the visuals and "The Descent" is easily the best release Lionsgate has presented us with on the Blu-ray format.
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[release]20128[/release]