The Descent
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| The Descent | |
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| Directed by | Neil Marshall |
| Produced by | Christian Colson |
| Written by | Neil Marshall |
| Starring | Shauna Macdonald Natalie Mendoza MyAnna Buring Nora Jane Noone Alex Reid Saskia Mulder |
| Music by | David Julyan |
| Cinematography | Sam McCurdy |
| Editing by | Jon Harris |
| Distributed by |  Pathé Distribution Lions Gate Films |
| Release date(s) | July 8, 2005 (UK) August 4, 2006 (USA) |
| Running time | 99 min |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ £3,500,000 |
| Gross revenue | £57,029,609 |
| Followed by | De2cent |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Descent is a 2005 British horror film, written and directed by Neil Marshall. The story concerns a group of friends on a caving expedition only to find themselves trapped and hunted by inhuman creatures.
The Descent was released on July 8, 2005, having premiered at the Dawn Horror Film Festival on July 6, 2005. It has received a cinematic release in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Canada and the United States. The movie was both a commercial and critical success, with box office receipts from the UK alone totalling over £2.6 million and a total North American gross of approximately $26 million. The Descent received very positive reviews from many critics and a sequel is currently being planned.[1][2]
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[edit] Plot
After rafting, Sarah's (Shauna Macdonald) husband and daughter are killed in a car crash. A year later she and her friend, Beth (Alex Reid), are invited to the Appalachian Mountains by their mutual friend, Juno (Natalie Mendoza). At a cabin, they join up with Juno, Holly (Nora-Jane Noone), and two sisters, Sam (MyAnna Buring) and Rebecca (Saskia Mulder). As they reminisce over an old photo, Sarah is prompted to say "Love each day" explaining that it was a saying of her late husband's.
They drive to the caves and begin exploring. When a tunnel collapses behind them, it is revealed that Juno brought them to an unexplored cave system in a misguided effort to reunite the group. As they try to find a way out, Holly breaks her leg in a fall. As the others assist her, Sarah wanders off and sees a pale humanoid drinking from a puddle of stagnant water. It disappears into the darkness when it senses her. Sarah tells the others, but they dismiss it as a hallucination.
The creatures attack the group, and target the injured Holly. While the others scatter, Juno fights with one of the creatures over Holly, who is still alive. Juno kills it, but another creature drags Holly away, and Juno accidentally stabs Beth through the throat when Beth startles her. Beth grabs Juno's necklace as she falls to the ground, and Juno runs away. She eventually finds Sam and Rebecca, and kills another creature. They examine it, and theorise that the creatures hunt by sound, because they are completely blind. Sarah, who hallucinates about her dead daughter at several points, comes across Beth, who is mortally wounded. Beth gives Sarah Juno's necklace, which bears the inscription "Love Each Day", and thus reveals that Juno was having an affair with Sarah's late husband. At her request, Sarah euthanises Beth.
Sam and Rebecca are both killed by the creatures, but Juno manages to escape. Sarah finds Juno, who lies to her about Beth's death. The two make their way onwards only to find a group of creatures between them and a possible exit. A fight ensues, and the women kill the creatures. Sarah then shows the necklace to Juno, revealing that she knows about the affair. She cripples Juno, leaving her to be presumably killed by the creatures. Fleeing, Sarah falls down a shaft, and is knocked unconscious. She dreams of finding the exit to the caves and escaping. The sight of a bloodied Juno startles Sarah from her dream. She awakens, still in the cave, hallucinating that her daughter is there with her. The creatures' screams are heard as the film ends.
[edit] Production
Although the movie appears to have been filmed in an actual cave, it was actually filmed using elaborate sets, miniatures, and blue screen digital images.
[edit] Release
Pathé, the company behind the film, deliberately released the film early, forcing it to appear in theatres before another caving themed horror film titled The Cave. According to director Neil Marshall, this was "just to try and beat The Cave to the punch, piss on their chips a bit."
[edit] Promotional Image
The skull of women motif used in some advertising material is based on Philippe Halsman's In Voluptas Mors photograph.
[edit] Alternate ending
The Descent was released in North America with approximately a minute cut from the end. Sarah escapes from the cave and sees Juno, but the film does not cut back to the cave.
In the August 4, 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly, it was stated that the ending was trimmed because viewers didn't like its "überhopeless finale". Lionsgate marketing chief Tim Palen said, "It's a visceral ride, and by the time you get to the ending you're drained. [Director Neil] Marshall had a number of endings in mind when he shot the film, so he was open [to making a switch]." Marshall compared the change to the ending of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, saying "Just because she gets away, does that make it a happy ending?"
The North American Unrated DVD includes the original ending. Recently, the film has been airing on Canada's The Movie Network, which has the original ending.
[edit] Reception
The Descent opened on 329 screens in the UK and received limited releases in other European countries, eventually earning more than £6 million in box office receipts. It has received many positive reviews in the UK and the USA, with 129 out of 153 critics on Rotten Tomatoes giving positive reviews, resulting in an 84% freshness rating. On its debut weekend in the US, The Descent opened with a three-day gross of $8.8 million, and finished with $26,005,908. Total worldwide box office receipts are $57,029,609.
Roger Ebert's editor, Jim Emerson, reviewed the film for Ebert's column when Ebert went out for surgery. He gave the film four out of four stars. He wrote, "This is the fresh, exciting summer movie I've been wanting for months. Or for years, it seems."
[edit] Sequel
Due to the film being a commercial and critical success, it was decided that a sequel would be produced. Although Marshall has no plans to direct the film, he told Bloody-Disgusting.com, "A treatment is in the works, I’m not directing it, but I will oversee it and want to be a part of it."[3] According to Rotten Tomatoes, the sequel will be called De2cent.[4]
Marshall received the first draft of the film in late July 2006, with no directors or cast in mind. He has made it clear that this film won't be a "rehashing of the first" and that he wants this film to incorporate more of the feeling of claustrophobia like that of a particular scene in the previous film. Marshall tells Bloody-Disgusting.com about new ideas for the film, "The monsters they can deal with, and a bit of the claustrophobia, they can deal with, but the combination is definitely something we want to incorporate that into the sequel, by putting the monster and the girls in a really tight spot."[5]
When The Descent was released in 2006 in the United States, Lionsgate picked up the film as distributor and edited the last few minutes of the film, changing the ending. When Dreadcentral.com asked Marshall which of the film's two endings would the sequel would be picking up after, he said that it won't be known until he approves a script.[6]
[edit] London Terrorist Bombings
During its prerelease advertising campaign a number of billboard style ads for The Descent were placed on buses throughout London. One of these, the Number 30 bus, was destroyed by a bomb at Tavistock Square during the July 2005 terrorist bombings of London. The bus was carrying a placard for the movie depicting a bloodied Shauna MacDonald staring out of the darkness with quotes from several positive reviews of the film. Part of the quoted review by Total Film magazine that read, "Outright Terror, Bold and Brilliant", was clearly visible in several photographs taken of the bus (example. Neil Marshall stated in a review "Shauna was pretty upset about it; it was on newspapers all across the county" and cites the attacks as harming the film's box office, as "people were still trapped underground in reality, so no one really wanted to go see a film about people trapped underground..." [1]
Many commentators, including writers for Variety and The Times, remarked on the rather unfortunate coincidence.
Due to these events there was some initial concern that the film's release might have been delayed out of sensitivity for the tragedy but Pathé ultimately chose to release the film on schedule with a slightly retooled advertising campaign; However, the US promotional campaign managed by Lionsgate Films was significantly different from the original European version.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "Comic Con '06: Neil Marshall Hints at 'Descent 2'", Bloody-Disgusting.com, 2006-07-22. Retrieved on 2006-08-15.
- ^ Butane, Johnny. "Marshall, Neil (The Descent)", Dread Central, 2006-07-30. Retrieved on 2006-08-15.
- ^ Bloody-Disgusting.com
- ^ ROTTEN TOMATOES: Weekly Ketchup: Damon to Be Bourne Again, Statham to Make Another Trip as The Transporter
- ^ BD Horror News - Exclusive: Marshall on Zombie Sex, Descent 2 and More!!
- ^ Dreadcentral.com
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Official American site
- Official South African site
- Official trailer
- The Descent at the Internet Movie Database
- The Descent at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Descent at Metacritic
- The Descent at Box Office Mojo
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