The Descent (2006)
The Descent answers the question: How tough can a woman be? Director Neil Marshall chose to make this movie with an all-female cast. The women depicted are brave to the point of being foolhardy nutcases, but that’s only my opinion.
The movie starts with three friends having fun while whitewater rafting in Scotland. Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) is host and her husband and daughter are along on the trip. On the way home in the car, her husband seems distracted while driving, and suddenly there’s a horrifying accident that kills the husband and daughter. Sarah wakes up in the hospital, traumatized for life. Still, after some recovery time, she decides to visit America where her friend Juno (Natalie Mendoza) has an all-woman adventure planned in the Appalachian Mountains.
What do Sarah, Juno, Beth, Rebecca, Sam and Holly all have in common? They are all athletic, adventurous women ready to have an exciting cave exploration weekend. Juno leads, and the five others are misled into believing they’re exploring a well-known cave system in the National Park. Juno decided, alone and on her own, to take them instead to an unexplored cave so they can have the honor of naming it.
They rappel into a huge open pit chamber, then make their way deep inside the earth. While crawling through a narrow passageway, Sarah gets stuck but Juno talks her out of her terror and rescues her just as there’s a cave-in. By this time the movie viewer is on edge. I was literally ready to pack up and run because horror movies that put me on edge are far from my favorites. My significant other, “The Mystic”, talked me out of it.
I’m glad I stuck around to see the beautiful cave painting that was in the next room they passed through. I’m one who appreciates great artwork, including movie-art, by the way. But when Sarah saw a strange white creature lurking in the distance I felt sure their troubles would multiply.
The main thing I got out of the film was the impression that some women are tougher than others. They have mental prowess, irrepressible bravery, quick instincts, and the guts to do the necessary things to survive. Others melt in the heat of battle, in varying degrees. The women who survived longer did so because they had those special qualities that belong to the toughest, bravest, most-courageous of all.
The Mystic was favorably impressed with this film - especially the acting talents of the women involved. They looked sincerely traumatized, claustrophobic, and frightened. The directing was flawless and I’ll admit the women were very talented.
If you like sitting on the edge of your chair, frightened half out of your skull, this is an excellent film. If however you are like me and prefer sweet love stories, this is not going to be your cup of tea.
The cast included Shauna Macdonald (Sarah); Natalie Mendoza (Juno); Alex Reid (Beth); Saskia Mulder (Rebecca); MyAnna Buring (Sam); Nora-Jane Noone (Holly); Oliver Milburn (Paul); Molly Kayll (Jessica) and Craig Conway (the underground creature).
The movie starts with three friends having fun while whitewater rafting in Scotland. Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) is host and her husband and daughter are along on the trip. On the way home in the car, her husband seems distracted while driving, and suddenly there’s a horrifying accident that kills the husband and daughter. Sarah wakes up in the hospital, traumatized for life. Still, after some recovery time, she decides to visit America where her friend Juno (Natalie Mendoza) has an all-woman adventure planned in the Appalachian Mountains.
What do Sarah, Juno, Beth, Rebecca, Sam and Holly all have in common? They are all athletic, adventurous women ready to have an exciting cave exploration weekend. Juno leads, and the five others are misled into believing they’re exploring a well-known cave system in the National Park. Juno decided, alone and on her own, to take them instead to an unexplored cave so they can have the honor of naming it.
They rappel into a huge open pit chamber, then make their way deep inside the earth. While crawling through a narrow passageway, Sarah gets stuck but Juno talks her out of her terror and rescues her just as there’s a cave-in. By this time the movie viewer is on edge. I was literally ready to pack up and run because horror movies that put me on edge are far from my favorites. My significant other, “The Mystic”, talked me out of it.
I’m glad I stuck around to see the beautiful cave painting that was in the next room they passed through. I’m one who appreciates great artwork, including movie-art, by the way. But when Sarah saw a strange white creature lurking in the distance I felt sure their troubles would multiply.
The main thing I got out of the film was the impression that some women are tougher than others. They have mental prowess, irrepressible bravery, quick instincts, and the guts to do the necessary things to survive. Others melt in the heat of battle, in varying degrees. The women who survived longer did so because they had those special qualities that belong to the toughest, bravest, most-courageous of all.
The Mystic was favorably impressed with this film - especially the acting talents of the women involved. They looked sincerely traumatized, claustrophobic, and frightened. The directing was flawless and I’ll admit the women were very talented.
If you like sitting on the edge of your chair, frightened half out of your skull, this is an excellent film. If however you are like me and prefer sweet love stories, this is not going to be your cup of tea.
The cast included Shauna Macdonald (Sarah); Natalie Mendoza (Juno); Alex Reid (Beth); Saskia Mulder (Rebecca); MyAnna Buring (Sam); Nora-Jane Noone (Holly); Oliver Milburn (Paul); Molly Kayll (Jessica) and Craig Conway (the underground creature).
