The Descent

The Descent

A woman goes on a break with her family and friends, this was water rafting trip. Her husband and daughter watched as her and her friends blazed down the deadly water/ Later on her husband and her daughter encounters a tragic accident. One year later her and 5 of her close friends decided to go on an adventure which consisted of caving. Due to one of her friends taking them to the wrong cave they don’t have a map to find where to go. Meanwhile the cave collapses and they are trapped leaving them with a handful of supplies. They are unaware of the dangers that lure in the shadows. Trying to find a way out they are pounced upon by creatures. There fight for survival is vital, the creatures kill everyone but Juno and Sarah. Later on Sarah discovers that Juno killed one of her friends leading to devastating actions. Sarah hits her with a hammer believing she is dead. Later on Sarah finds an escape route, her devastation is shown through her emotions. She gets into her car to find that Juno is sitting in it.

The film the descent could have been based on the novel The Descent which was released in 1999. The novel was a science-fiction/horror novel and produced by American author named Jeff Long. British people can relate to this film because there are individuals and group of people that go caving a do it as a hobby.

This film can fit into the horror genre for many reasons. Firstly because there is plenty of blood and gore, this is vital in any horror film. This is produced by the both thee bats and the humans. The humans attack the bats to save there lives but blood is produced through the humans wounds. Also the cave is a location in which they shouldn’t be. The cave has yet to be named but no one has named it , this could hint why because no one has returned. One of the codes and conventions are that the victims are usually on there own, in this case in the film the victims are the women cavers and they are left on there own with no protection. The killer which are the bats are already in the cave , the women become trapped leading to no way out for the women cavers.

Again the film received mostly positive reviews they critics believed that the film “Exceeds 'Dog Soldiers' is toward the end, as Sarah comes to grips with what it will take to survive her ordeal and gets in touch with her feral side” . Also that “ Once it gets going, it shakes you and keeps shaking you”.  But others believed that “For my money, [the] first 20 or so minutes are the best in the film. Once the real adventure gets underway in the cave, things get less interesting.” Also that  the film is  “Essentially a more grave, and less unintentionally hilarious, version of The Cave.” To conclude the film received 84% from 164 positive reviews this shows that more people liked the film and they probably would watch it again.

The key scenes in the film firstly are when the audience discovers that Sarah’s husband and daughter die. This is important mainly because it then creates empathy for the audiences and they understand how Sarah feels. Also when the women discover old pegs in the ceiling this creates tension and also an understanding that something bad could happen in the time to come. This is because the pegs are not used at the present time meaning that people have previously been into the cave. This could create an enigma of what happened to the previous visitors? Another major scene is when the women discover the creatures this is because the audiences wonder the fate of the women and what could be in store for them. The last major scene I believe is when Sarah escapes; this creates hope and belief that everything is going to be ok.

The reason I which I believe this is a distinctive British film is down to British people being able to relate there own lives to film. British people travel all over the world to explore caves and to try ad discover new things, the British public are able to empathise the adrenaline and the physical tiredness  that they could be experiencing. Also that that after a tragic or bad experience people like to get away or go on holiday to take there mind off the bad experience.