'The Descent': Packed with exhilarating scares
by Steve Murray

From the dual meaning of the title to its relentless pacing, "The Descent" is one of the smarter, scarier endurance tests to hit screens in a long time. Fair warning: If you don't like getting jolted out of your seat by sudden shocks and great, slimy lashings of gore, pick another flick. "The Descent" opens as a group of outdoorsy women friends come to the end of their white-water rafting trip. As they pack up their gear, British writer-director Neil Marshall sows the scene with hints of uneasy personal undercurrents. Before you get a chance to sort anything out, though — wham — the movie springs its first whiplash shock. Read the full review

TO SUM UP
Six girlfriends meet in a remote part of the Appalachians for their annual caving trip. Deep below the surface of the earth, disaster strikes when a rock falls and blocks their route back to the surface. The girls soon learn that something else lurks under the earth: a race of monstrous humanoid creatures that are adapted perfectly to life in the dark.

FILM FACTS ...
Lionsgate
'The Descent'

Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone
Run time: 99 minutes
Release date: August 4, 2006
Rating: R for strong violence/gore and language.
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READ THE REVIEW

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: B+
"Marshall wants his movie to drive you half insane with suspense — and mostly he succeeds."

Austin American-Statesman: 3 of 5 stars
"This taut British import preys on our most vulnerable phobias, from cramped, unlighted spaces to the idea of bogeymen crouched in the dark."


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