The Descent (film): Difference between revisions

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'''''The Descent''''' is a 2005 British horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall, director of ''[[Dog Soldiers]]'' and ''[[Doomsday]]''. The film follows a group of six women who embark on a caving expedition and become trapped underground after a cave-in. Things go from bad to worse when they discover that the cave is home to predatory, humanoid creatures (known as "Crawlers"). As the Crawlers hunt them down, the girls embark on a struggle to survive and escape the cave - but that's not their only problem, as the friends' trust in each other slowly begins to deteriorate in the tense, claustrophobic environment. A sequel, ''The Descent Part 2'', was released in December 2009.

Has nothing to do with the video game series ''[[Descent]]''. Nor the novel ''[[The Descent (~~Literature~~)|The Descent]]'' by Jeff Long, although there are certainly similarities.

Has nothing to do with the video game series ''[[Descent]]''. Nor the novel ''[[The Descent (novel)|The Descent]]'' by Jeff Long, although there are certainly similarities.

[[Dueling Movies|Was released almost simultaneously with two nigh-identical films]]; ''[[The Cave]]'' and ''[[The Cavern]]''.

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* [[Badass]]: Almost everyone has their moments, but Juno and {{spoiler|Sarah}} especially apply for this trope.

* [[The Bechdel Test]]: With a cast of almost only women, there is almost no mention of men or their love lives except for an offhand reference by Sam of her boyfriend, and {{spoiler|Sarah finding out Juno was having an affair with her late-husband.}}

* [[Better to Die Than Be Killed]]: {{spoiler|Beth [[I Cannot Self Terminate|begs Sarah to kill her]], rather than leave her to die slowly from her neck wound, or end up as food for the Crawlers.}}

* [[Better to Die Than Be Killed]]: {{spoiler|Beth [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|begs Sarah to kill her]], rather than leave her to die slowly from her neck wound, or end up as food for the Crawlers.}}

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: {{spoiler|Sarah}}.

* [[Big Brother Instinct|Big Sister Instinct]]: Becca is very caring and protective towards her sweet little sister Sam, and to a lesser extent, the rest of the less-experienced caving group. Also, it's fairly subtle, but Beth displays [[Big Brother Instinct|Big Sister Instincts]] towards anyone in the group who needs it - she's constantly looking after the emotionally fragile (due to the death of her husband and child) Sarah, she gives her jacket to Holly after she breaks her leg and helps her stand and walk (along with [[The Medic|Sam]]) and she goes back to help Juno in the crawler fight.

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** Also the climbing picks. In [[Real Life]], those are only used to climb frozen waterfalls, but they're necessary to the movie as weapons.

** Averted, however, with the massive drill that Becca has attached to her belt (most prominently seen during the scene where she crosses the crevasse). This is pointed out in the director and cast commentary.

* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: A rather odd aversion. Extreme-sports expert Becca is able, with a great amount of difficulty, to climb across the roof of a cavern using a long rope and several [~~http~~:~~//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/~~Carabiner carabiners.] This is set-up for later when the much less experienced Sam has to do it with about three feet of rope and one carabiner. Realistically, she can't, {{spoiler|and then a crawler comes.}}

* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: A rather odd aversion. Extreme-sports expert Becca is able, with a great amount of difficulty, to climb across the roof of a cavern using a long rope and several [[wikipedia:Carabiner|carabiners.]] This is set-up for later when the much less experienced Sam has to do it with about three feet of rope and one carabiner. Realistically, she can't, {{spoiler|and then a crawler comes.}}

* [[Covers Always Lie]]: One version of the cover is a fan servicey pose of all girls forming a skull while wearing tight revealing outfits, (an ode to Salvador Dali's Skull Women.) Most of the girls were wandering in the dark covered in blood and wearing full protective gear, anyone expecting hawtness to occur would be mildly disappointed.

* [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]: Poor {{spoiler|Becca}} arguably recieves the slowest, most painful death in the film (not counting {{spoiler|Beth}}, who was grievously wounded and left in agony until she gets [[Mercy Kill|mercy-killed]]) - a Crawler rips open her stomach and starts devouring her innards while she is still alive. ''Ouch''.

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* [[Dwindling Party]]

* [[Enforced Method Acting]]: Intended, atleast. Neil Marshall attempted this by not letting the main cast see the crawlers until they were revealed on camera. However, it backfired when they got such a fright they all ran away for real, out of the shot and across the set. Even long after the first encounter the actresses hated being around the crawlers in costume.

* [[Eye Scream]]: Between this and ''[[~~Twenty Eight Days Later|~~28 Days Later]]'', killing an enemy by pushing its eyes in with your thumbs has apparently become the British horror symbol for "I've turned {{spoiler|psychopathic and metaphorically become one of the monsters."}}

* [[Eye Scream]]: Between this and ''[[28 Days Later]]'', killing an enemy by pushing its eyes in with your thumbs has apparently become the British horror symbol for "I've turned {{spoiler|psychopathic and metaphorically become one of the monsters."}}

** Earlier, {{spoiler|Sarah}} takes out the female Crawler by stabbing her in the eye with a sharp piece of bone.

* [[Face Revealing Turn]]: One of Sarah's nightmares has her daughter being seen from behind, who suddenly turns around to reveal the face of a Crawler.

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* [[Fan Disservice]]: Sarah spends a good deal of the last part of the film in her tight vest top after shedding her other layers, and covered in sweat. She also happens to be covered in blood from head to foot. (Others may see this as [[Fan Service]], if you're into that kind of thing...)

* [[Final Girl]]: Until the sequel changed the canon, Sarah {{spoiler|made herself into the [[Final Girl]]. And then died, as a consequence of not having Juno around to help her, snap her out of her crazy hallucinating reverie, or rage-fuel her badassery and survival instincts. Oops.}}

* [[Freak Out]]:

* [[Freak-Out]]:

** Happens to {{spoiler|Sarah}} ''twice'': first time is when {{spoiler|she loses her husband and daughter in a horrific car accident one year prior to the caving trip}}, and the second is when she [[Ax Crazy|completely snaps]] after being attacked by the Crawlers, being forced to watch said Crawlers partially devour the corpse of {{spoiler|Holly}} directly in front of her, and then granting {{spoiler|Beth's}} [[I Cannot Self Terminate]] request by {{spoiler|bashing her head in with a rock}}. Then there's the small fact that she mistakenly believes that {{spoiler|Juno deliberately stabbed Beth through the throat}}...

** Happens to {{spoiler|Sarah}} ''twice'': first time is when {{spoiler|she loses her husband and daughter in a horrific car accident one year prior to the caving trip}}, and the second is when she [[Ax Crazy|completely snaps]] after being attacked by the Crawlers, being forced to watch said Crawlers partially devour the corpse of {{spoiler|Holly}} directly in front of her, and then granting {{spoiler|Beth's}} [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]] request by {{spoiler|bashing her head in with a rock}}. Then there's the small fact that she mistakenly believes that {{spoiler|Juno deliberately stabbed Beth through the throat}}...

** Following Sarah's claims ([[Cassandra Truth|initially dismissed as hallucinations by the rest of the group]]) that she saw "a man", Becca has a smaller-scale [[Freak Out]] when the girls stumble across {{spoiler|the Crawlers' feeding ground}}, declaring "Oh, '''fuck it!'''" and hysterically screaming out for help on the off-chance that someone else may be down there to help them.

** Following Sarah's claims ([[Cassandra Truth|initially dismissed as hallucinations by the rest of the group]]) that she saw "a man", Becca has a smaller-scale [[Freak-Out]] when the girls stumble across {{spoiler|the Crawlers' feeding ground}}, declaring "Oh, '''fuck it!'''" and hysterically screaming out for help on the off-chance that someone else may be down there to help them.

* [[Freeze Frame Bonus]]:

* [[Freeze-Frame Bonus]]:

** One of the first sightings of a Crawler is {{spoiler|right after the tunnel collapse, on a ledge when Sarah is sweeping the cave with her flashlight.}} It's visible for barely one second.

** The ''very first'' sighting of a Crawler can be seen very, very briefly in the scene where {{spoiler|Juno lights up a flare for the first time and throws it into the middle of the cave}}. It is very difficult to spot without pausing and looking closely. According to [[Word of God|Neil Marshall]], this is actually a continuity error - the Crawler is one of the film crew. When this mistake was spotted, rather than remove it digitally, [[Throw It In|the crewmember's face was deliberately whitened to bring it out more]], thus making him look like a hiding Crawler.

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* [[A House Divided]]: The whole group is somewhat mad at Juno for lying to them and bringing them down to an unexplored cave that was much more dangerous than they were expecting. However, it's water under the bridge once they meet the crawlers. That is, until Sarah {{spoiler|finds out what Juno did to Beth, and she doesn't know it was an accident, plus a recent discovery of Juno's extracurricular activities with her husband, and she's also feeling a bit [[Ax Crazy]]... The result is not pretty.}}

* [[Howl of Sorrow]]: {{spoiler|Sarah}}, after she has well and truly [[Heroic BSOD|lost it]].

* [[I Cannot Self Terminate]]: {{spoiler|Beth}}, after being {{spoiler|accidentally stabbed through the throat by Juno}}, begs {{spoiler|Sarah}} to kill her, lest she die slowly and painfully or be ripped apart by the Crawlers.

* [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]]: {{spoiler|Beth}}, after being {{spoiler|accidentally stabbed through the throat by Juno}}, begs {{spoiler|Sarah}} to kill her, lest she die slowly and painfully or be ripped apart by the Crawlers.

* [[Idiot Ball]]: Subverted. Almost every named character makes at least one mistake leading to their own death or someone else's. Usually, it's only one mistake, and it's pretty believable given circumstances. The only named character who doesn't do this is {{spoiler|Jessica, Sarah's daughter}}.

* [[Hot Mom]]: Sarah.

* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: {{spoiler|The Crawlers could technically be considered cannibals, as they are, according to [[Word of God|Neil Marshall]], evolved cavemen}}. There are several hints of this throughout the film.

* [[Impaled ~~With~~ Extreme Prejudice]]: {{spoiler|Both Paul and Jessica get this courtesy of some poorly-tied-down metal poles at the beginning of the movie. Later, Sarah has a nightmare in which a metal pole suddenly flies through the cabin window and through her head.}}

* [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice]]: {{spoiler|Both Paul and Jessica get this courtesy of some poorly-tied-down metal poles at the beginning of the movie. Later, Sarah has a nightmare in which a metal pole suddenly flies through the cabin window and through her head.}}

* [[Infant Immortality]]: Brutally averted near the beginning of the movie. Also, the death of {{spoiler|the child Crawler}} may also count.

* [[It Gets Worse]]: And it never really stops.

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** There's an even earlier one when Sarah has her nightmare in the cabin.

* [[Kill the Cutie]]: {{spoiler|Sam}}.

* [[Kill Em All]]:

* [[Kill'Em All]]:

** {{spoiler|Everyone who gets a speaking part dies, two of them within the first five minutes. To be fair, there are only eight people in the whole cast. Playing people, at least.}}

** That is, until the sequel changed this. {{spoiler|Sarah gets it together enough to stagger out of an entrance to the cave, albeit with amnesia about the last two days.}}

* [[Left for Dead]]: {{spoiler|Beth}} and {{spoiler|Juno}}.

* [[Let's Split Up Gang]]: Subverted, as it's not intentional and done in a moment of panic. {{spoiler|Later averted, as everyone gets back together at some point, though not all at once.}}

* [[Let's Split Up, Gang!]]: Subverted, as it's not intentional and done in a moment of panic. {{spoiler|Later averted, as everyone gets back together at some point, though not all at once.}}

* [[Mama Bear]]: The first female Crawler seen in the film appears shortly after Sarah kills the Crawler's child. Upon learning that her child is dead (after a surprisingly sad moment of the Crawler desperately and pitifully nudging the body), she immediately goes berserk.

* [[Matchlight Danger Revelation]]: It is only when {{spoiler|the night vision on Holly's camcorder is switched on}} that a Crawler is seen up close for the first time.

* [[The Medic]]: Sam, who is a med student. Because of this, she can help treat injuries the best she can, and also examine the crawler's biology and try to recognize how they function.

* [[Mercy Kill]]: {{spoiler|Sarah}} does this to {{spoiler|Beth}}, after the latter [[I Cannot Self Terminate|begged to be killed]].

* [[Mercy Kill]]: {{spoiler|Sarah}} does this to {{spoiler|Beth}}, after the latter [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|begged to be killed]].

* [[The Mistress]]: {{spoiler|Juno}} is deeply implied to have been having an affair with Sarah's husband. When {{spoiler|Beth handed Sarah Juno's necklace}} she whispers that is was from him, as it has his personal motto engraved in it.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: The opening. It goes from Sarah, Juno and Beth white water rafting and having a great time, to less uplifting when Sarah wondering why her husband is acting oddly, to downright horrific when {{spoiler|the car crash happens.}}

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** [[Scenery Gorn]]: The Crawlers' chambers.

* [[Shoo Out the Clowns]]: One of the first characters to go is {{spoiler|Holly, the crazy awesome chick.}}

* [[Shout Out]]:

* [[Shout-Out]]:

** "[[I'm a Doctor Not A Placeholder|I'm an English teacher]], not fucking [[Tomb Raider]]."

** "[[I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder|I'm an English teacher]], not fucking [[Tomb Raider]]."

** The music in the scene where Juno and Sarah move through the caverns by flare light bears unmistakable resemblance to Morricone's theme from The Thing.

** The scene where the team climbs the rockface into the feeding chamber is an almost shot for shot replication of the scene in ''[[Alien]]'' where Lambert and Kane climb up to meet the Space Jockey.

* [[Shown Their Work]] / [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: Extremely subtle cues exist to foreshadow plot points.

** {{spoiler|The first crawlspace is clearly limestone, notoriously treacherous for cave-ins if not reinforced by more stable minerals. Given the close proximity to a riverbed, it's not unreasonable to assume it's just a thin coating... in a level 2 cave.}}

** The Crawlers have the auditory [[Shout Out]] to the ''[[Predator]]'' series. {{spoiler|They're similar to the clicks dolphins make, and are a very early tip-off that they use sonar.}}

** The Crawlers have the auditory [[Shout-Out]] to the ''[[Predator]]'' series. {{spoiler|They're similar to the clicks dolphins make, and are a very early tip-off that they use sonar.}}

** Also noteworthy how no one stops to [[As You Know|exposit on]] how various caving techniques work, e.g. the use of a lighter to find air currents.

* [[Team Mom]]: While Juno leads the group, it's Becca who reassures them and makes sure they're doing everything safely.

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* [[Vasquez Always Dies]]: {{spoiler|Holly. Though as everybody dies, it's more like Vasquez dies first.}}

* [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot]]: Happens towards the end when {{spoiler|Sarah unwinds the car window to vomit on the road.}}

* [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong]]: The [[Rock Bottom]] example above, and also Juno's comment about how the girls needn't worry about getting lost because she (Juno) has "never been lost in (her) life".

* [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]]: The [[Rock Bottom]] example above, and also Juno's comment about how the girls needn't worry about getting lost because she (Juno) has "never been lost in (her) life".

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* [[Cruel Twist Ending]]: See [[Shocking Swerve]].

* [[Deleted Scene]]: A handful, mainly setting up the rescue team of cavers. Oddly enough, all of the scenes are included as a single continuous chapter with no commentary.

* [[Downer Ending]]: {{spoiler|[[Kill Em All]], much like the original.}}

* [[Downer Ending]]: {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]], much like the original.}}

* [[Hollywood Darkness]]: The sequel forgoes pitch-blackness for silhouette shots in most cases

* [[Never Found the Body]]: Exploited to <s>not</s> explain {{spoiler|Juno's}} survival after the events of the first movie.

* [[Not Quite Dead]]: Much like Beth in the first movie, {{spoiler|Greg}} proves to be not quite dead when he grabs {{spoiler|Juno}} on their way out.

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Sarah and Juno}} have learned from each other that the easiest way to survive is to make sure that the others die. By the end of the film, they've both executed self-sacrifices to allow others to live.

* [[Revised Ending]]: Based on the [[DVD Commentary|Director's Commentary]] and an [http://hubpages.com/hub/THE-DESCENT-2-coverage early script review], the ending may have originally lacked its current [[Shocking Swerve]]. If so, it was definitely a failed [[~~Authors~~ Saving Throw]].

* [[Revised Ending]]: Based on the [[DVD Commentary|Director's Commentary]] and an [http://hubpages.com/hub/THE-DESCENT-2-coverage early script review], the ending may have originally lacked its current [[Shocking Swerve]]. If so, it was definitely a failed [[Author's Saving Throw]].

* [[Senseless Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Greg}} tackles one of the Crawlers into a chasm to give {{spoiler|Cath}} a chance to get to the other side whereupon she's killed by a Crawler on the other side. Admittedly, he was probably dying at the time due to having had the side of his neck torn out.

* [[This Is a Drill]]: Greg uses a power drill in his kit to kill one of the crawlers by drilling into its head.