The Descent details
Movie Details:
- Director: Neil Marshall
- Produced By: Northmen Productions, Celador Films
- Year: 2005
- Run Time: 99 minutes
- Country: UK
- Language: English
- MPAA Rating: R (for strong violence/gore and language)
- Category: Feature
- Genre/Type: Horror
- Filmed In: Color
- Release: 2006 08 04 (USA), 2005 07 08 (UK)
- Key Cast: Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring, Oliver Milburn, Molly Kayll, Full Credits
- Awards: Breakthrough Filmmaker (Online Film Critics Association 2006), Film Presented (Sundance Film Festival 2006), Best British Director (London Film Critics Association 2005), Full Awards
A group of close female friends on a yearly adventure vacation find themselves trapped and hunted in a series of caves by an unknown force that lurks in the shadows in The Descent, the second horror feature from Dog Soldiers writer/director Neil Marshall. After suffering a devastating car crash one year before, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) is lured to the States with her friend Beth (Alex Reid) to a special spelunking trip by the fearless Juno (Natalie Mendoza), who abruptly fled from the U.K. after Sarah's accident. Along with two old friends and a new acquaintance of Juno's, the group embark on a cave expedition that takes a turn for the worse after a rock fall leaves them stranded in an uncharted cave with no map and only a handful of supplies to last them the rest of the trip. As tensions arise in the group, they are faced with another danger -- one whose love of the dark is as strong as its lust for blood. Opening to rave reviews in the U.K. in July of 2005, the creature-feature went on to show at the Venice Film Festival and garnered the top prize for Euro feature at Sweden's Fantastic Film Festival. The Descent was picked up for future U.S. distribution by Lion's Gate, whose work was cut out for them considering the tame opening of the similarly-themed stateside production of The Cave in late-August of the same year. by Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Keywords:
- cave
- cave-dwellers
- underground [below earth]
Themes:
- Mutants
- Nightmare Vacations
- Trapped or Confined
- Survival in the Wilderness



