Descent, The (2005)

This British psychological thriller from writer and director Neil Marshall is chock-full of merciless, pulverising, nerve-frying shocks.

Unlike Marshall’s Dog Soldiers (2002), which focused on guys under pressure, The Descent is all women facing the freak side of Mother Nature and themselves.

Led – or in this case, misled – by know-it-all Juno (Natalie Mendoza), the spelunking sextet decides to go caving in North Carolina, a sport unsuited to the weak of heart. Sarah (the excellent Shauna Macdonald) qualifies in that department, having suffered a family tragedy a year earlier, leaving her with lingering resentment toward Juno.

Marshall takes his time at first, letting us watch the dynamic among the women, who all have issues with one another that aren’t on the surface.

Once lost inside the cave – and they’re lost big-time – violence manifests itself in the form of blind, milky-skinned. male predators who attack them out of nowhere with bone-crunching zeal.

Are they inbred mutants, or the longtime grudges among the women made creepy flesh?

Until an overwrought finish out of Carrie, Marshall keeps you guessing with nightmare-making skill. Prepare to be scared senseless, and then, when you think you have it figured out, your certainty will be shaken by scenes built to scare you even more.

Shot entirely in the UK, Neil Marshall credibly recreates the Appalachians and manages some impressive cave sequences considering he was working on a tight budget, with money enough to only build six cave sets that were revamped over and over.

Sarah
Shauna Macdonald
Juno
Natalie Mendoza
Beth
Alex Reid
Rebecca
Saskia Mulder
Sam
MyAnna Buring
Holly
Nora-Jane Noone
Paul
Oliver Milburn
Jessica
Molly Kayll
Crawlers
Craig Conway
Leslie Simpson
Mark Cronfield
Stephen Lamb
Catherine Dyson
Julie Ellis
Sophie Trott
Tristan Matthiae
Stuart Luis
Justin Hackney

Director
Neil Marshall