The Descent (2005)

[AmericanDragon 0]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/

 

Just plain terrible. I don't understand the gushing reviews about this "horror" film. If constant Boo! type moments are considered scary, then yes, it was "very scary." Also, the ending will undoubtedly cause people to make up theories about what "really" happened. Bullshit. It was a straight forward movie about monsters killing people in a cave. It's nothing more than that.

[razazteca 0]

Is it now called The Cave?

[AmericanDragon 0]

Is it now called The Cave?

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It's a different movie.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Aren't "Boo" moments pretty much a horror staple? If you don't have them then what's the point of ever building tension? But anyway, it's an ok movie. More scary if you're claustrophobic I'd guess.

[AmericanDragon 0]

Aren't "Boo" moments pretty much a horror staple? If you don't have them then what's the point of ever building tension?

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Not if that's all there is to a movie. I prefer horror movies to use set design, camera movement, and sound to create a sustained state of tension and to use a few Boo! moments to top that off. The Descent was basically constant Boo! moments as soon as they got into the cave. Almost every minute one character would start walking slowly and be "ambushed" by something accompanied by a high pitched sound. They also made the huge mistake of having characters sneak up on each other for no god damn reason. They abandon all logic and have the characters sneak up on others and stand there for no reason other than to create a Boo! moment when one of them turns around. Am I the only one who seriously can't stand that type of shit? To me, just having one moment like that completely ruins a movie. I can understand having the monsters sneak up on them, but since all the cave explorers are as scared as they are, why the fuck would they play "games" with each other by doing shit like that? It just goes against all logic. It reminds me of the scene where Truman's best friend in The Truman Show sneaks into his house in what is a tense moment only to bring him some beer. But that was a comedy, and there was nothing wrong with that. Also, he was probably instructed by Ed Harris to try to diffuse the situation so there's actually logic to it. When characters start sneaking up on each other in horror movies just to create a scare for the audience, that's just bullshit.

 

edit: I was just talking about serial killer movies with a friend and it gave me an idea for an example of the kind of moments that really piss me off. Just imagine a scene in Se7en where Pitt and Freeman are investigating a crime scene in a very darkly lit house. Freeman disappears for a while and Pitt starts walking around calling out for him. Then the camera stays close to him and his front side while he's constantly calling out for Freeman's character. He then backs away from the camera into Freeman's character just standing there right behind him. You then hear a loud sound when they bump into each other and Freeman's character says something dumb like "I brought you some coffee." That's the kind of shit that I can't stand in a film. When you just throw away all logic just to try to get a cheap scare. Since they're partners, Freeman would have obviously answered Pitt's first call and wouldn't have just stood there while Pitt slowly backed into him. In a normal film, Pitt would have walked around, called out Freeman's name, and Freeman would have just shown up. That's it. It would have just been a normal scene and transitioned into something else. In a cheap horror movie, that's the basis for all the "scares." They use characters who are friendly with each other and make them play games with each other. If you set up one of the characters to be a prankster or something like that, then it's justified. But the characters in The Descent were presented as a very close group of friends yet they still did stupid shit like my example.