The Descent: Difference between revisions
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It has received a theatrical release in [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Ireland]], and [[Spain]], with a release date in the [[United States]] set for [[2006]]. |
It has received a theatrical release in [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Ireland]], and [[Spain]], with a release date in the [[United States]] set for [[2006]]. |
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Though it shares a name and loose premise, it is unrelated to the book [[ |
Though it shares a name and loose premise, it is unrelated to the book [[The Descent (novel)|The Descent]] by [[Jeff Long]]. |
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==Cast== |
==Cast== |
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Revision as of 08:21, 10 April 2006
| The Descent | |
|---|---|
| File:The Descent film.jpg The Descent film poster | |
| Directed by | Neil Marshall |
| Written by | Neil Marshall |
| Produced by | Christian Colson |
| Starring | MyAnna Buring, Nora Jane Noone, Alex Reid |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Films (USA) |
Release date | 6 July 2005 |
Running time | 99 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ £3,500,000 |
The Descent is a 2005 British horror film, directed and written by Neil Marshall, known for the film Dog Soldiers (2002). It was released in the UK on 8 July, 2005, having been premiered at the Dawn Horror Film Festival on 6 July, 2005. Box office receipts during its U.K. run totalled over £2,600,000.
It has received a theatrical release in France, Germany, Ireland, and Spain, with a release date in the United States set for 2006.
Though it shares a name and loose premise, it is unrelated to the book The Descent by Jeff Long.
Cast
- MyAnna Burning as Sam
- Natalie Jackson as Juno
- Shauna Macdonald as Sarah
- Saskia Mulder as Rebecca
- Nora Jane-Noone as Holly
- Alex Reid as Beth
Plot
- Tagline: Face your deepest fear.
The film follows a group of six women on a caving expedition in the Appalachian Mountains. One of the women, Sarah, is still recovering from a car accident the previous year in which her husband and daughter died. The leader of the group is Juno, who abandoned Sarah after the accident and is trying to make amends. The other four are; Beth, a schoolteacher and friend of Sarah, Holly, an extreme sports enthusiast and the Van Ney sisters, Rebecca and Sam.
After a night spent partying in a cabin, Juno leads them to the entrance of an unexplored cave system. They descend, and after exploring for a while and getting deeper and deeper inside the cave system, they pass through a very narrow tunnel. After the rest of the girls have gone through, Sarah gets stuck and has an attack of claustrophobia. Beth goes back for Sarah and soothes her, but the tunnel becomes unstable. Beth manages to get Sarah out before the passage collapses, but a rope bag is left behind.
Trapped and under pressure from the others, Juno admits they are in an uncharted cave system. Their only choice is to find an exit on their own.
They proceed deeper into the caves until they reach a chasm. They cross it and Juno finds an old piton stuck in the ceiling of the cave, evidence of previous explorers that clearly didn´t manage to get out, since the caves are unnamed and uncharted. They continue onwards, and Holly breaks her leg while foolishly running towards what she assumes is daylight, but turns out to be phosphor in the rock. The girls follow carefully, and set her broken leg. Very close to the place of the accident, Sarah finds an old helmet, and also sees what seems to be a naked man drinking from a puddle. She tells her friends, who refuse to listen, preferring to believe that she is hallucinating.
Continuing on, they find a cave painting which shows that the cave system has two entrances, giving them renewed hope carry on. They reach a large cave and light a flare. The cave is littered with bones and the group are attacked by a creature akin to the one previously seen by Sarah. The creature attacks Holly, and then attempts to drag her away. Juno resists as the other member of the group run. She fights with the creature but is attacked by another from behind. She manages to kill the second creature with her ice axe, but the first drags Holly away. Juno hears movement behind her and lashes out. Unfortunately, it's Beth, who has come back to help. Beth grabs Juno´s pendant before falling to the ground, and Juno leaves her for dead.
Following the confusion, the group is split. Sarah is on her own. She sees several creatures feeding on Holly's corpse, and narrowly avoids being killed. Rebecca and Sam are together, being stalked by another of the creatures. Juno finds an arrow chalked on the wall, presumably indicating an exit, and goes back to find her friends. She reunites with Sam and Rebecca, killing another creature in the process. The three discuss the creatures, and Juno states they have to go back for Sarah.
Meanwhile, Sarah finds the mortally wounded Beth. Beth tells her that Juno wounded her, and gives her Juno´s pendant. The pendant is inscribed with Sarah´s husband's favorite saying. This is one of the few indications that Juno's relationship with Sarah's husband may have been adulterous. Beth, too wounded to move, pleads with Sarah to kill her, and Sarah reluctantly carries out the request.
Moving on, Sarah is attacked by a smaller creature. She kills it only to be attacked by a female creature and falls into a pool of what appears to be blood. Sarah kills the female and crawls out of the pool, only to hear another creature approaching. She plays dead until it passes, and then kills it brutally.
Juno, Rebecca and Sam are discovered by a group of the creatures and flee. They come to another chasm, and as Sam climbs across she has her throat torn open by a creature. She wounds it in return and drops the creature into the chasm. Rebecca is dragged away and devoured. Juno jumps into the chasm and lands in a pool of water, struggling with the creature wounded by Sam before climbing out. Sarah meets up with Juno, and asks about Beth, specifically if she saw Beth die. Juno nods, and accompanies Sarah. Before reaching the supposed exit, they encounter a number of creatures. Both girls fight brutally, and slaughter the creatures in graphic, gory fashion. Immediately after, Sarah shows Juno the pendant Beth took from her. Juno realises Sarah knows about the affair with Sarah's husband, but before she can say or do anything, Sarah stabs her in the leg and runs off. Hobbled, Juno pulls the ice axe from her leg, only to be faced by more creatures. Sarah hears Juno scream, presumably dying, shortly before she falls down a hole and is knocked unconscious.
Sarah awake to see daylight pouring in from a hole in the ceiling. Scrambling up a pile of bones, she reaches the hole and pushes out into the open. She runs through the woods, back to the 4x4s they used to travel part of the way to the cave system, and drives away.
Upon reaching a road, she stops the car and weeps hysterically. An oncoming truck roars by and after vomiting out of the window, she turns to find a ghostly Juno smiling at her from the passenger seat.
She awakes again, in the cave, indicating that the escape was nothing but a dream. Looking around, the light of her torch is transformed into the flickering light of candles from her deceased daughter's birthday cake. Hallucinating, Sarah sits in the cave, and the film ends with the creatures screaming.
Trivia
- The American version of this movie cuts the final moments in the cave. In that version, the movie ends after Sarah sees Juno´s ghost.
- There are many references to other films in The Descent, including The Thing, Deliverance, Carrie, The Evil Dead, Apocalypse Now, and Alien.