Descender
Starbuck [19:11]
Comments: 1
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Fans of the work of VSX's freewheeling freelance writer Stuart ("he may be a master in gonzo journalism but its more Muppet Show than Hunter S...") will probably, like me, have his 28th July review of Brit horror flick The Descent framed on their toilet wall. Great stuff.
And in support of his ravings, Usher Extraordinaire Rich had this to say:
"Descent is the scariest film I've ever seen. Nearly had to leave because I was too scared. Ending was crap as well though."
Which has got me all a-quiver (apart from the bit about the end), 'cos I'm off to see it at my local picture house tomorrow night.
I'm looking forward to the bit where they blow up the nuclear core of the spaceship, and they have to try to painfully negotiate a maze of glitching Doom-style tunnels in three dimensions.
(Some notes I jotted down after the film, carved in electricity a month later... includes SPOILERS)
Truly fantastic! Scariest film ever! Especially when sitting next to some stranger with really heavy breathing - it was like I was in one of the cavers heads...
Descent of Man? Or Descent into madness?
Caveats (geddit) - the medication, plus all of the other warnings (dehydration etc)... hallucinations? whether (Sarah) killed them all? Not likely.
When the chips are down we are just as savage & ruthless... the creatures were the innocents.
All they wanted was to eat, to survive... e.g. the mother & son creatures...
A perfectly crafted horror film... so tense, claustrophobic, I had to keep focussing on a point in front of the screen to distance myself...
Disagreeing with Rich I thought the ending was good... it gave the audience the necessary reward of relief following the escape, especially when followed by the near-truck shock ("could the director really kill off his only survivor?") followed by the realisation upon seeing dead daughter that she was dreaming it following her fall... of course she can't escape... miles down... you can't ignore the hopelessness of the situation...
