# The Descent



## kazzie (Jul 15, 2014)

So, *SPOILERS YEAH !*
I recently re-watched The Descent, a horror film (I guess?). I had watched it years ago and it had scared the shit out of me because I'm girly and scared and shit. 

I've seen both endings, the UK and US one, and I wanted to know which one you prefer and why. I know it's an "heh" movie, it's not super, but I did find it entertaining. I guess that means I like it. It still scared me, though.

Online I've seen people discussing that there were no 'monsters' in the cave at all, and that the whole time Sarah was going cray-cray and killing everyone, like a descent into madness of some kind. What do you think of this theory? 

let us talk


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## MoshJosh (Jul 15, 2014)

can you give me a refresher on the two endings its been so long since I've seen it, but I found the movie pretty entertaining.

Not sure if its true but I heard that the actresses screams in the part when the first encounter the monsters was real and they had no idea they were going to be there???


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## Captain Shoggoth (Jul 15, 2014)

English ending is infinitely superior, the US one only exists because American test audiences couldn't handle it.

Inferior US one also sets up the beyond shitty sequel


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## kazzie (Jul 15, 2014)

MoshJosh said:


> can you give me a refresher on the two endings its been so long since I've seen it, but I found the movie pretty entertaining.
> 
> Not sure if its true but I heard that the actresses screams in the part when the first encounter the monsters was real and they had no idea they were going to be there???



If I'm not mistaken: 
the US ending is where she gets up, leaves Juno in the cave, escapes and drives off and pukes out the window.

I think in the UK ending, this all happens, but she wakes up again in the cave and escaping was a dream.


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## Xaios (Jul 15, 2014)

kazzie said:


> If I'm not mistaken:
> the US ending is where she gets up, leaves Juno in the cave, escapes and drives off and pukes out the window.
> 
> I think in the UK ending, this all happens, but she wakes up again in the cave and escaping was a dream.



Pretty sure that's right. The UK ending is definitely better.

I really enjoyed this one, which is rare for me and a horror movie. The violence was extremely intense and yet never felt gratuitous, and the atmosphere was just spot on. Very well done. It's a shame Neil Marshal's future movies couldn't match up, but at least he gets the occasional gig directing awesome Game of Thrones episodes.


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## technomancer (Jul 15, 2014)

Actually saw this one in the theater. Indifferent on the endings, either one works


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## pestilentdecay (Jul 15, 2014)

UK ending is better IMO, it just gives a more eerie vibe as opposed to a measly jump scare at the end of the US one (ghost of one of the characters is sitting beside her in the car, forgot who).


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## fenderbender4 (Jul 18, 2014)

I actually thought it was a good movie. Hits on a lot of the tropes in horror movies but in a different way. I didn't know the second ending. Just saw the US one. To be honest, I jumped when I saw it, but afterwards I was really confused. It didn't fit at all with the rest of the movie. Are we supposed to believe the character was schizophrenic and now, after a traumatic event, is showing symptoms? Is the character real? Is this really supposed to be a ghost movie instead of mutated/evolved humans?

Overall, the rest of the movie is good. I saw the other, related one, "The Cave" I think? That one made me laugh and was thoroughly creeped out by the overtly sexual monster. Not in a, "great horror movie" kind of way, more like the creepy uncle vibe.


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## wankerness (Jul 18, 2014)

Where are people getting the schizophrenic "the monsters were never real" ideas? That seems like something that really isn't even hinted at in the movie at any point and people are just looking for cause they've seen too many other movies with that kind of gimmick.

The english ending is a bit better but I don't think either one really saves/ruins the movie. It's like a 9/10 with the english ending and an 8.75 with the american ending. I haven't seen the sequel, but I know the main chick's in it and it's in the caves again, does it fit with the english ending or the american one? Or both?

This is one of the best horror movies of the 00s for sure, the first segment when they're just exploring the cave freaked me out the first time I saw it even though i'm not claustrophobic and despite the rest of the movie being less scary than before the monsters show up, it's still thoroughly entertaining and the characters and acting are all a lot better than usual for this kind of thing. 

I'd say best horror movies of the 00s would be something like:

Let the Right One In
Mulholland Dr
Pan's Labyrinth
May
El Orfanato
[REC]
The Descent
Ginger Snaps
The Devil's Backbone
Ju-On: The Grudge (or The Ring remake)


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## wankerness (Jul 18, 2014)

Xaios said:


> I really enjoyed this one, which is rare for me and a horror movie. The violence was extremely intense and yet never felt gratuitous, and the atmosphere was just spot on. Very well done. It's a shame Neil Marshal's future movies couldn't match up, but at least he gets the occasional gig directing awesome Game of Thrones episodes.



I really enjoyed Centurion but it's not up to the standards of the Descent, it's just ridiculous. His earlier "Dog Soldiers" gets a ton of praise too but I didn't like it at all. I really enjoy how he now primarily has this rep as being some kind of badass that is the only man able to handle the really huge GoT episodes, hopefully he can leverage that into some more solid movies. He seems like a really cool guy in interviews and stuff.


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## pink freud (Jul 19, 2014)

If you liked The Descent and can appreciate weird movies, check out (if you can find it) Eden Log. It didn't get the greatest reviews, but go into the movie with zero expectations and it does suck you in to what it is trying to do.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 19, 2014)

wankerness said:


> I'd say best horror movies of the 00s would be something like:
> 
> Let the Right One In
> Mulholland Dr
> ...



Haute Tension needs to be on that list.


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## wankerness (Jul 20, 2014)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> Haute Tension needs to be on that list.



I would almost go so far as to say I hated that movie, which is pretty unusual for me, I usually am apathetic about stuff I dislike. The main problem was the "twist" was completely nonsensical as it directly violated the laws of physics multiple times during the movie (especially the tasteless opening with the decapitated head fellatio) And despite being completely impossible within the film's plot, you could still see it coming from a mile away! The best kind of twist, both predictable and filled with plot holes. And I actually watched this movie twice to see if I was wrong about the plot being a train wreck. 

Also, it seemed like an antiquated, reactionary LESBIANS ARE CRAZY!!! movie plotwise. I can usually deal with stupid themes like that as long as the movie is still well-done (ex, Basic Instinct), since it's not necessarily saying that about ALL lesbians obviously, but when it's such a mean-spirited, stupid movie as this, it gets no slack and I take offense to blatant homophobia like that.

The only positive about it at all was the massive quantities of non-CGI'd blood effects. I'm entertained by complex makeup effects and this definitely had some great ones.  That odd new wave of french horror that Haute Tension fit into was interesting to me but it was by far the worst example of it I saw. Martyrs was the only one with real artistic integrity, and "Inside" was far better for sheer entertainment/suspense value.


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## wankerness (Jul 20, 2014)

pink freud said:


> If you liked The Descent and can appreciate weird movies, check out (if you can find it) Eden Log. It didn't get the greatest reviews, but go into the movie with zero expectations and it does suck you in to what it is trying to do.



I've never heard of that movie, I'll check it out.


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## Duosphere (Jul 20, 2014)

The Descent - I don't even see it as an horror movie I mean, it's not scary in any level unless you're 8 years old or never watched any horror movie.A bunch of people lost inside a cave being attacked by another species = there are a hundred movies like that, some in different places but still the same plot.I don't see any difference between being attacked by animals(lions, tigers etc) or by mutants, zombies, aliens, vampires etc, the results are the same we die  
It's not a bad movie but still nothing new or scary, just funny.
To me the only scary thing is darkness, things we can't see, put yourself inside of an abandoned building at night then turn off your flashlight = your heart will feel like almost exploding cause darkness set our minds free so our worst nightmares "attack" us, imagination is a bitch 

Oh and calling Ginger Snaps by horror is beyond belief, if you didn't laugh when you saw Ginger's tail growing or those bizarre characters(family), damn anything can scare you  , I laughed from beginning till the end and yes I loved it


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## VBCheeseGrater (Jul 20, 2014)

I thought it was a great horror flick. Good with cool scary looking monsters - that's always a big plus for me. 

Not too bothered about the ending either way. I'll probably take the standard ending where she gets away.


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## wankerness (Jul 21, 2014)

Duosphere said:


> The Descent - I don't even see it as an horror movie I mean, it's not scary in any level unless you're 8 years old or never watched any horror movie.A bunch of people lost inside a cave being attacked by another species = there are a hundred movies like that, some in different places but still the same plot.I don't see any difference between being attacked by animals(lions, tigers etc) or by mutants, zombies, aliens, vampires etc, the results are the same we die
> It's not a bad movie but still nothing new or scary, just funny.
> To me the only scary thing is darkness, things we can't see, put yourself inside of an abandoned building at night then turn off your flashlight = your heart will feel like almost exploding cause darkness set our minds free so our worst nightmares "attack" us, imagination is a bitch
> 
> Oh and calling Ginger Snaps by horror is beyond belief, if you didn't laugh when you saw Ginger's tail growing or those bizarre characters(family), damn anything can scare you  , I laughed from beginning till the end and yes I loved it



I can't really understand a lot of your post, but are you saying something's not a horror movie unless it scares YOU, personally? Most horror movies aren't scary, even the good ones. Ginger Snaps isn't scary, it's a pretty gory werewolf black comedy with great characterization that ends up being a movie about decay and loss ala Cronenberg's "The Fly." It is very assuredly a horror movie!

Bragging about how something didn't scare you and thus is "really funny" and saying other people are stupid for liking it is like, the behavior of a 14 year old that listens to metalcore and plays magic the gathering in the high school cafeteria. Just, ugh, what are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to impress? Do you have to get scared by something for it to be good?

In summation, I think Duosphere is a pretty cool guy. he laughs at the descent and doesnt afraid of anything


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## mcsalty (Jul 21, 2014)

Duosphere said:


> The Descent - I don't even see it as an horror movie I mean, it's not scary in any level unless you're 8 years old or never watched any horror movie.A bunch of people lost inside a cave being attacked by another species = there are a hundred movies like that, some in different places but still the same plot.I don't see any difference between being attacked by animals(lions, tigers etc) or by mutants, zombies, aliens, vampires etc, the results are the same we die
> It's not a bad movie but still nothing new or scary, just funny.
> To me the only scary thing is darkness, things we can't see, put yourself inside of an abandoned building at night then turn off your flashlight = your heart will feel like almost exploding cause darkness set our minds free so our worst nightmares "attack" us, imagination is a bitch
> 
> Oh and calling Ginger Snaps by horror is beyond belief, if you didn't laugh when you saw Ginger's tail growing or those bizarre characters(family), damn anything can scare you  , I laughed from beginning till the end and yes I loved it



Do you not see the irony in criticizing someone else's fears while at the same time being afraid of something so trivial as the dark? 
That question might come off as me doing exactly what you were doing, but in a way that's kind of the point.


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## Duosphere (Jul 21, 2014)

wankerness said:


> I can't really understand a lot of your post, but are you saying something's not a horror movie unless it scares YOU, personally? Most horror movies aren't scary, even the good ones. Ginger Snaps isn't scary, it's a pretty gory werewolf black comedy with great characterization that ends up being a movie about decay and loss ala Cronenberg's "The Fly." It is very assuredly a horror movie!



100% agreed, still horror TO ME means it has to scare ME, that's my opinion, horror comedy it's another thing.Again it's my opinion, nobody has to agree...........or disagree 
Ginger snaps is more about all problems and changes teens go through.
Sadly the second part is terrible. 



wankerness said:


> Bragging about how something didn't scare you and thus is "really funny" _*and saying other people are stupid for liking it is like*_, the behavior of a 14 year old that listens to metalcore and plays magic the gathering in the high school cafeteria. Just, ugh, what are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to impress? Do you have to get scared by something for it to be good?



I never said that, you assumed it.I said I don't see Ginger Snaps as a horror but as a horror comedy so I can't see how people could think it's scary because it's funny, again that's my opinion about a movie and it has nothing to do with saying people are stupid or smart which was not my intention, I'm sorry if I sounded that way.


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## Xaios (Jul 21, 2014)

wankerness said:


> 14 year old that plays magic the gathering in the high school cafeteria.



Hey man, totally agree with everything else you're saying, but don't go there.


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## Animus (Jul 21, 2014)

The first Descent was brilliant. I totally subscribed to the idea that the main chick (forgot her character name) was doing the killing, there were subtle allusions to it through the whole movie. But they pretty much ruined that nice ambiguity by the god awful sequel. Perfect first movie though. Felt the same way about Rec, the Spanish horror movie. One of my favorites. The sequel was sort of a let down but nothing compared to the crapfest as the third one.


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## MFB (Jul 22, 2014)

wankerness said:


> I can't really understand a lot of your post, but are you saying something's not a horror movie unless it scares YOU, personally?



If that's the case, then 60 Minutes might just be the worlds longest running horror show. Have you HEARD the stuff they talk about on there?


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## pink freud (Jul 22, 2014)

About the whole horror thing: Maybe I'm jaded, or society as a whole is too desensitized to such things, but I'm confident in saying that horror doesn't exist in movies anymore. Suspense? Yes. Jump-scares? Tons of them. But actual horror, a movie evoking a sense of dread or an actual fear for whatever outcome happens? I've not witnessed that in a movie, at least not since I was a kid, and I don't know if it happen in this day and age.

Monster movies are incredibly played out. We've had so many variations of vampires and zombies and werewolves that the concept isn't scary anymore. Part of that reason is franchising. Alien was a good horror movie, because it let our own minds create the horror (until the reveal). But every sequel was an action movie, not a horror movie. There wasn't any horror, just a "let's see who dies next" mentality that action movies instill.

A lot of the best horror historically in cinema has been a visualization of societal fears. Zombies are the epitome of this, always representing some entity that ends civilization as we know it, be it communism or consumerism. Vampires have represented sexuality in sexually suppressed society. Mummies could be argued to represent the unending march of time, an unstoppable force that eventually always catches up. But the problem is we've seen these lessons. There's only so many monsters, so many murderous families living in the woods, so many jump scares or scenes of gore-porn before a viewer just doesn't care anymore. Such tricks in movies don't matter if they can't figure out the psychology of why something should be scary, and I maintain that the best lesson is that the human mind is better at scaring itself than some CGI or puppetry.


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## MFB (Jul 22, 2014)

> But actual horror, a movie evoking a sense of dread or an actual fear for whatever outcome happens?



I think there's been some of these lately, like The Purge, or specifically The Strangers that came out in like ...2006? Stuff where it's functioning members of society taking part in these gruesome, primal acts and knowing that at the end of the day someones lives are drastically effected by it. There was a movie last year called "You're Next" where for a good chunk of the movie, I was really disoriented thinking, "Yeah, they're just fvcking toying with this family while killing them even while the family tries to fight back." Now, spoilers: they didn't win, but it the ending wasn't by any means happy and chummy. It ended on a "Well, that's the lesser of two evils" ending and that was it.


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## narad (Jul 22, 2014)

wankerness said:


> Martyrs was the only one with real artistic integrity, and "Inside" was far better for sheer entertainment/suspense value.



Martyrs...man...nothing has topped that for me in recent years. Watched that on a plane and was feeling bad for all the little kids sneaking a peak at what the guy with the laptop was watching. Instant trauma.


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## Steinmetzify (Jul 22, 2014)

The Strangers was a terrifying flick to me...in the sense that I have a wife and kid and how far I'd have to step outside the boundaries of normal society to deal with something like this happening. I watched that movie in complete daylight with my wife and both of us were pretty much thinking the same thing, and were both scared shitless. 

Funny to me, what changes and scares you as an adult...when I was a kid it was Jason and Freddy, and as a (sort of) grown up it's something completely different. Weird.

On topic: gonna see if I have The Descent on demand and watch it in a bit.


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## Duosphere (Jul 22, 2014)

steinmetzify said:


> Funny to me, what changes and scares you as an adult...when I was a kid it was Jason and Freddy, and as a (sort of) grown up it's something completely different. Weird.



Weird?!
Now as an adult you know Jason and Freddy can't knock at your door and you know too at any moment a bunch of psychos can 
Beside that we(our tastes) keep changing during our entire lives because of new experiences and new knowledge.


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## wankerness (Jul 22, 2014)

pink freud said:


> About the whole horror thing: Maybe I'm jaded, or society as a whole is too desensitized to such things, but I'm confident in saying that horror doesn't exist in movies anymore. Suspense? Yes. Jump-scares? Tons of them. *But actual horror, a movie evoking a sense of dread or an actual fear for whatever outcome happens? I've not witnessed that in a movie, at least not since I was a kid, and I don't know if it happen in this day and age.*



Don't you have this reaction whenever you watch any movie about characters you care about that are drawn into something where they probably aren't going to meet a happy ending? I get upset every time I see the ending to particularly effective horror movies with tragic endings, I'd list them here but that would ruin them for anyone who hasn't seen them! It isn't scary exactly but it definitely evokes a sense of dread as soon as the wheels are set in motion, every time, because I like the characters so much that I don't want anything to happen to them even though it's inevitable! 

This is why movies like say, the Descent where they bother trying to set up the characters beforehand tend to be far more effective than movies like Hostel 2 where everyone's a cardboard cutout. You feel more like actual people are getting destroyed, you identify with them, and on some level it's horrific. Well, maybe, I know a lot of people just watch horror movies to laugh at the awesome violence. One of the worst experiences of my life was seeing Halloween 2007 in the theater - it seemed like half the audience was made up of extreme sociopaths. That isn't a particularly good movie, but some of the violence is utterly horrific without any sense of fun whatsoever (as opposed to cartoony stuff like The Evil Dead or The Loved Ones or something), and a bunch of people laughing while that goes on creeps me out way more than any movie has ever managed to!


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## pink freud (Jul 22, 2014)

wankerness said:


> Don't you have this reaction whenever you watch any movie about characters you care about that are drawn into something where they probably aren't going to meet a happy ending?



Honestly? No, because I'm usually too caught up in identifying all the tropes such movies usually rely on. I'm also of the opinion that too many movies end with a happy ending, and conversely too many horror movies have a "root for the villain" aspect. That's what made The Descent good. In that situation a happy ending is movie fantasy, and I prefer the harsher reality of being trapped in that cave.

In a way it's a bit of what is annoying me with the emergence of Cthulhu media now that the copyrights have expired. So much of the point of Lovecrafts "monsters" were that the very fact that beings existed that made our existence insignificant, and even more, these beings don't care about us any more than we care about an ant we see on the sidewalk. What drove Lovecraft's protagonists insane wasn't the malice of a demon but the realization of insignificance, yet now we have media where people _fight_ Cthulhu. Society demands that there be obvious heroes and villains, that "evil" to exist with malicious intent, and the outcome is either the hero prevails after losing most if not all of their friends/family or the villain wins and we as the audience wanted it that way.


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## Murmel (Jul 24, 2014)

pink freud said:


> About the whole horror thing: Maybe I'm jaded, or society as a whole is too desensitized to such things, but I'm confident in saying that horror doesn't exist in movies anymore. Suspense? Yes. Jump-scares? Tons of them. But actual horror, a movie evoking a sense of dread or an actual fear for whatever outcome happens? I've not witnessed that in a movie, at least not since I was a kid, and I don't know if it happen in this day and age.



Trust me bro, for us who can't watch horror movies because we get physically sick and pretty much just want to lay down and fade away, horror does indeed exist. You have a point though, we are very desensitized in this day and age.

It's funny though, I always want to watch them when I read reviews and such. But I know I wouldn't last 10 minutes


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## Grand Moff Tim (Aug 2, 2014)

wankerness said:


> I would almost go so far as to say I hated that movie, which is pretty unusual for me, I usually am apathetic about stuff I dislike. The main problem was the "twist" was completely nonsensical as it directly violated the laws of physics multiple times during the movie (especially the tasteless opening with the decapitated head fellatio) And despite being completely impossible within the film's plot, you could still see it coming from a mile away! The best kind of twist, both predictable and filled with plot holes. And I actually watched this movie twice to see if I was wrong about the plot being a train wreck.
> 
> Also, it seemed like an antiquated, reactionary LESBIANS ARE CRAZY!!! movie plotwise. I can usually deal with stupid themes like that as long as the movie is still well-done (ex, Basic Instinct), since it's not necessarily saying that about ALL lesbians obviously, but when it's such a mean-spirited, stupid movie as this, it gets no slack and I take offense to blatant homophobia like that.
> 
> The only positive about it at all was the massive quantities of non-CGI'd blood effects. I'm entertained by complex makeup effects and this definitely had some great ones.  That odd new wave of french horror that Haute Tension fit into was interesting to me but it was by far the worst example of it I saw. Martyrs was the only one with real artistic integrity, and "Inside" was far better for sheer entertainment/suspense value.



Now I remember why I try not to talk movies anymore .


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## flint757 (Aug 11, 2014)

MFB said:


> I think there's been some of these lately, like The Purge, or specifically The Strangers that came out in like ...2006? Stuff where it's functioning members of society taking part in these gruesome, primal acts and knowing that at the end of the day someones lives are drastically effected by it.



I thought the purge was alright. It wasn't all that scary though and the concept, to me, was stupid, but it made for a descent flick. 

The Strangers had me literally in terror for a couple of days though.  I was double checking doors and shadows, being cautious in the dark, etc.. I'm pretty sure if I had watched that movie by myself, in the dark and at night my heart rate would have been through the roof the entire time. It was so ....ing creepy. Probably the only movie to invoke fear during and after viewing for me in a long time.


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