Descent - Loukussa, The

The characters and the conflicts between them are not great, but the horror storyline is excellent. Neil Marshall moves skillfully in the limited setting, conjuring from it a dense atmosphere of isolation and opening a new door every ten minutes. The scares are perfect, the “bad guys” are terrifying and repulsive, and the quick-motion filming is impressive. And the final action posturing is less awkward than you would expect. Plus a few nice nods to horror connoisseurs (music from The Thing, eye gouging from The Evil Dead...). The Descent is an above-average genre flick conjured up from an average screenplay and a big step forward for the director after Dog Soldiers. (12.02.2006)

Neil Marshall (watch out for that name in the future!) has undergone some mysterious reinvention and after the lackluster, if not bad Dog Soldiers. He has made a little genre treat, for the enjoyment of horror fans and for the sweating of claustrophobics. In the first half he builds up the tension with precision, with the help of great likeable and unknown actresses, thanks mostly to unpleasant claustrophobic feelings and the suspicion of something bad, and the second half turns into an uncompromising bloody carnage. Already in some scenes in Dog Soldiers, Marshall showed that he knows how to do jump scares, but here he developed this ability into complete perfection – there were a couple of times where I really had a heart attack. Yet the final impression is not perfect. There are a few fatal logical lapses, such as the fact that the blind cave creatures don't react to heat at all, even when they pass within inches of a burning torch. Also, the transformation of one of the heroines into some kind of terminator with a specialty in axe fighting is not very believable, and the trampling of the viewer catharsis in the final few seconds is almost a slap in the face. Still, I recommend it to horror fans and be warned, it is an absolute must to see this film in total darkness or you will get nothing out of it. (01.04.2006)

The simple premise incorporated into a meandering screenplay was used quite flexibly by director Neil Marshall to his advantage. Today, creating a well-blended mix of latex creatures, atmospheric emotions, and captivating soundscapes is almost impossible. What initially appears as a hopeless survival for the group of heroines brings something in the second half that perfectly glues you to your seat. I have no objections to the director's creativity until the end, which not only begins to rely on an overly "polished" plot but also pushes the lack of credibility of the characters to an unbearable extent. Indeed, the position in which the heroines are introduced at the beginning certainly does not correspond to the ending, where one of them stands majestically astride one of their "prey." Because of that, and also due to the contrived psychology, which is more detrimental and creates an unsightly mess among the relationships of the characters, I will refrain from giving it the highest rating. And I'm supposed to climb a mountain after this? (17.10.2005)

The best horror film of 2005. After an average werewolf flick, Neil Marshall took a step back and created a perfect combination of atmospheric tension and bloody carnage. If you want to see the monsters in person, I recommend a visit to the Rieseneishöhle cave in the Dachstein massif near Hallstatt, in Austria. On the walls of one of the chambers there’s a projection of one of those “Gollums” and it’s bloody realistic. (05.04.2007)

A super bloody film with nickel-and-dime morale and a very sexy, bloodied main heroine. Unlike the similarly tuned The Cave, here we have a great director, who did a great job with the underground atmosphere, as well as a decent script, which threw a group of women into a cave complex, exposed them to a bunch of hungry Gollums and didn’t bother to worry about anything else. The dialogues are thus limited to the necessary minimum, and you are able to survive even the most barren attempt to somehow exacerbate the relationship within the group. I really liked the stylish ending. I was expecting typical idiotic cliché, but despite the false hint, the end is... well, just as descent as it should be. Neil Marshall has it in hand, and The Descent is actually great horror B-movie with A-movie tone. Although the part before the appearance of the Gollum creatures is significantly more successful, overall, I enjoyed the emancipated murderer spree at the end. I also enjoyed the reference to Morricone's sounds from The Thing. I was not expecting this. (06.01.2008)