Abismo do Medo

An interesting and differentiated horror movie in the "gore" style. It is above average for the genre. It started slowly, but after half it became interesting, maintaining a tense atmosphere, a little frightening and claustrophobic. The atmosphere is good. It can be divided into two parts: before and after the cave. You sit on the armchair during the exhibition with that feeling of agony and distress. It escapes from the usual clichés to the genre, having an unconventional and surprising ending. There are some logic flaws in the plot and the characters, but nothing that compromises the story. The curiosity is to see the cast practically all feminine. It's worth as entertainment. I recommend it to all lovers of horror art.

With Dog Soldiers, Neil Marshall created a tight and claustrophobic atmosphere then added the scares to create a very good horror film. However, the tension was often released with humour and the audience were allowed to catch their breath and relax. At no point in The Descent are you allowed to relax as Marshall grabs your attention within the first few minutes and doesn't let go until the credits roll at the end.

With the film set almost entirely underground, the lack of light is used to wonderful effect and Marshall keeps you on edge for 100 minutes; if you liked Dog Soldiers, 28 Days Later and/or Haute Tension and are sick of the formulaic rubbish being pumped out of Hollywood then The Descent is likely to be right up your street.

Regular readers of my comments know I am interested in cinematic architecture.

There's built space of course, but much cooler is when a filmmaker deals with the non-physical: architectural fire or water. Smoke.

And then there's perhaps the hardest of them, architectural darkness. Form of the formless, containment by absence, the pressing in of the absence of light.

"Ghosts of Mars" did a bit of it, poorly, and it is exceedingly rare overall. That's why I celebrate any attempt. This isn't great, but it has some competence and lessons.

If you don't know this little film, it has a long setup period where we have a group of young women — not girls, surely — who arrange to be stranded in a cavern with a threat.

There are monsters but the threat is the dark. This isn't terrific cinematic engineering, that part all seems to be hit and miss. But it does have terrific pacing overall and that attention to pacing extends to the use of darkness and the various lighting devices they have at their disposal.

Much use is made of the point of view nature of the lighting: flashlights and cameras and even after they are gone much of the blocking uses those sensibilities. Its a subtle fold, but so very effective. It makes us see what these women do and joins us to them in terror.

There's an effective plot device that pings off this. One of our women has visions, which we follow until we have our legs pulled out from us and her. The ending has one of these — two endings — where we aren't quite sure which is real and which imagined. The idea that both are true is the most unsettling.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Focusing on the fear of claustrophobia with the simple dread of the unknown, The Descent puts likable characters in frightening situations. As a horror fanatic, this film floats at the top of my list of best scary films in recent years. The setup feels like it moves quickly and seamlessly into the main storyline, but that's because it's so beautifully shot, well-acted, and scripted so that we know and care enough about the characters to worry once they belay down into the dark cave. This character knowledge carries weight throughout the movie, as the group variously splinters and works together to escape. Shocks and jolts start before the central scare appears. And props to an all-woman cast that feels totally natural and not slapped together to achieve cheap feminist self-congratulations. Well-acted and atmospheric, I recommend this movie to anyone wanting to see a solid, scary horror movie that doesn't reinvent the genre, but definitely strays from the norm.

The concept of crawling through tight, winding, unfamiliar tunnels is scary enough. But, of course, this movie moves far beyond that.

This movie has a great setup with a close group of long time friends having fun and reuniting for different outdoor adventures.

From the beginning the directing is great. You really get a sense of adventure and the anxiety/excitement that goes into exploring a cave. It portrays it well and brings home the endeavor that cave exploration is.

The story is engaging as it builds. They run into natural trouble that's bad enough. But then the dire situation becomes far worse.

This movie is genuinely suspenseful. The gore is well done. The characters are sympathetic. The emotion builds to a fever pitch.

There are some shocking elements to the ending.

It is a great movie and there is no way it should be rated anything less than an 8 out of 10.

It really is well done. With relatable characters you can actually care about. It's considered a classic by many for a reason. It's legitimately uncomfortable, suspenseful and scary. And well directed. It's just a great movie.