Chad

TheBigDave

I've seen this movie probably 5-6 times, and I always enjoy it. The tight, claustrophobic feeling really freaks me out.

I followed it up with The Descent: Part 2 which was a first time view for me. It was basically just more of the first movie.

numbercrunch

I agree. Neill Marshall has two real quality films - Dog Soldiers and The Descent. I was really impressed with the camera work in the cave settings

Trevor

I agree. Not sure if I've seen all his films, but some of his later-than-these films were pretty mediocre.

DVD Josh

It takes alot to creep me out from a movie but this did it. The ending (the real ending) is just heartbreaking and I think the film was well-acted and definitely claustrophobic.

Dick Laurent

Well put. Is part 2 worth seeing?

And I mentioned this in the discussion thread, but why exactly is this on the abandoned places theme day? Don't get me wrong, I love this movie, just confused me on what else to pick for the day's viewing.

TheBigDave

It's worth watching. It's basically another 90 minutes of people trapped underground and hunted by cave monsters. There's some pretty gruesome and gross stuff.

It's a direct sequel, with a rescue crew going in a couple days after the first movie. The connections to the first movie makes it interesting when you watch the two movies together.

WillieMLF

Definitely one of my favorite horror films. Can't wait to get home and get this one started.

Trevor

Thought I owned a multipack with Descent 2, but can't find it.

I'm a huge sucker for direct sequels. Start a sequel the minute the original ends and I'll like it almost no matter what.

OldBoy

I'm gonna try and watch these back to back this weekend. Love the original and own many different versions. Didn't hate the sequel.

pacaway

I've also seen this one a number of times and always enjoy it. I like the cast of strong women. Today will be the first time seeing it in HD, since I'm going to stream it instead of watching my DVD. I've been looking forward to this on all month. Going to start it any minute.

Undeadcow

My blu-ray of The Descent isn't working on either of my players and Alyxstarr's (who I'm very grateful to) link doesn't seem to stream... it's like evil forces are conspiring to prevent me from watching The Descent.

One cool thing I do remember about The Descent is that when is came out Alamo Drafthouse was doing a series where they played movies in relevent locations so they had a screening of The Descent in a cavern; I would have loved to make that.

pacaway

Wow! What a great movie, and even better in HD! Some of those claustrophobic moments really creep me out. I need to try and find the sequel and watch Dog Soldiers again!

Did anyone hear the punchline to "How do you make a lemon have an orgasm?"

rbrown498

I really, really like this film. I went to see it in the theater when it first came out, and the print I saw was just awful. Watching it on Blu-ray, it seemed like an entirely different movie.

Full disclosure: This movie has made me have a mad crush on Natalie Mendoza, who played Juno. Too bad that she has such a small number of credits on IMDB. Still, I'm looking forward to catching up with her appearance on Midsomer Murders.

It was something along the lines of "Just tickle its citrus."

TheBigDave

Do you have a BD drive on your computer? Convert it to Vudu HDX for $2:

http://www.vudu.com/in_home_disc_to_digital.html

WillieMLF

This is one of my all time favorites. Some of the claustrophobic scenes really make me squirm. This is one of those movies that makes me think twice about going into caves.

I've got to give the sequel a look as the discussion had piqued my curiosity.

I had the same problem, but it did give me the option of downloading. In the meantime we found my old DVD copy and watched it that way. I have it on blu, but it somehow didn't make it into the found pile.

Trevor

My Descent BD was a little glitchy to load, took forever but it finally loaded and played fine.

Shack

It was great to revisit The Descent again. I can still remember seeing it in the theatre and loving it then. Marshall does such a good job of setting up the characters and the environment, and it's an example of a slower burn which pays off wonderfully in the end. This time I actually let myself get so swept away that I forgot the details of the ending, so it hit doubly hard.

WillieMLF

I have a friend who used to swear up and down that Sarah imagined the monsters and just killed everyone.

Did anyone see the US theatrical vs unrated?

DaveyJoe

The Descent (2005)

I said this after watching it for last year's challenge, but I cannot think of a scarier post-2000 movie than The Descent. It features a group of thrill-seekers exploring a moderately dangerous cave, only to find out that they had been tricked into being stranded in a completely uncharted cave, and something is lurking in the shadows. I've argued that horror can be the most emotional genre of films, and the best examples take advantage of that more than relying on jump scares. This film opens with a tragedy, as the lead character's husband and daughter are killed in a car accident. This shapes her anxiety in the cave, and is an example of how well defined and developed the characters are in this movie. When she gets stuck in a tight passage, her friend reminds her that she's been through the worst thing anybody can experience, so she can certainly survive this ordeal.

This film triggers my claustrophobia so effectively. I'm extremely uncomfortable during the scenes of the girls squeezing through tunnels and getting caught in rocks. Once they get in the cave, the movie is very suspenseful, and it never lets up, constantly escalating the danger that these girls are in. Even having seen the movie before, I'm freaking out long before any monsters show up. This is a great example of a film with strong female protagonists, that are realistic and complex. The personal relationships are important to the story and how they each handle the predicament. I always hated Juno the first couple of times I watched the movie, but this time I felt oddly sympathetic for her. She does some terrible thing, but I couldn't help respect the way she handled herself when the bloody thirsty creatures show up. I don't think I'll ever watch the sequel, because I love this movie so much, it's just the perfect horror film.

Dick Laurent

This film deserves a quality re-mastering. I think this was just a port-over/up-convert in the early days of Blu-ray.

Bladz

One of my all-time favorite horror movies. First time I saw it was on a Virgin Atlantic flight, coming back home to NY from London, a year before it came out in the US. I only caught the second half of it and had no idea what I was watching, but I was intrigued and thought it was different from anything I had seen. I pretty much forgot about it until it was released here in the states, and I realized that this was the movie I had seen a year before.

This movie is scary on so many different levels and the idea of being in these women's shoes is terrifying. For me, the claustrophobia is the scariest element, even more so than the creatures. The soundtrack adds to the dread and tension and is also a highlight for me. I've seen The Descent about 5 times now and it's still just as effective as the first time I watched it.

clckworang

Usually when a subset selection is one that I've seen several times, I will listen to the commentary if it's available, but I was really excited to revisit this one. It had been a while. I still found it very effective. I was always a big fan of this movie.

I was going to bring up something that DaveyJoe mentioned in his review. I'm not saying that Juno was correct in her actions, but I didn't think she deserved what she got. I guess that's part of the point of the movie, though, how much they descended into animals just to survive. It just underscores what a bleak film this is.

OldBoy

The Descent...just a brilliant little movie from beginning to end. When she hobbled Juno and left her to die was so perfect. Forgot how much gore this one has.

DVD Josh

It's not out of the realm of possibility if you ignore the sequel as cannon.