Horror fans, see Descent!

Wacker

Okay, I normally stay well away from horror movies. I had serious trouble sleeping after seeing the Ring and Saw, and I walked out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, bu I clearly have not learnt my lesson, as I'm just back from Descent. It was awesome!
Brutal, terrifying, violent, a real horror roller-coaster. By the end, you'll really feel like you can't take much more. Definately see this film. Empie gave it five stars!

http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/incinemas/ReviewInFull.asp?FID=11243

Karl Hungus

I'll definetly be checking this out, even just on the virtue that it's Neil Marshall of Dog Soldiers behind the helm.

jcoote

dog soldiers was probably the best werewolf film i've seen and the decsent looks tremendous it will be seen this week...anyone who hasn't seen dog soldiers check it out

TerrorFirmer

Fantastic!

Am going to see it tonight, now you have given me something to seriously look forward to.

dudara

I'm not really a horror fan, but Dog Soldiers was really enjoyable, so I'm looking forward to checking this out. By the way, he described his next movie as a cross between "Die Hard" and "Remains of the Day"

TerrorFirmer

dudara wrote:

I'm not really a horror fan, but Dog Soldiers was really enjoyable, so I'm looking forward to checking this out. By the way, he described his next movie as a cross between "Die Hard" and "Remains of the Day"

Rofl

How an earth does that work out

very interesting

Juggalo

I saw it and can say it's nothing compared to dog soldiers. I hated the ending and the start. The middle however was fairly enjoyable, Too bad the whole movie wasn't like that.

Shewhomustbe...

I know what the film is about but I was wondering does anyone know if this was an 'artistic license' situation with Jeff Long's book.

TerrorFirmer

Just saw it.

Good flick overall. Fairly violent, but it relies more on sudden shocks then actual fear instilling tactics.

Some fantastic build up, especially the bits where they discover the old equipment and evidence of previous occupation, but I felt it was not expanded on enough in this area unfortunately. I felt the actual introduction to the enemy was also a bit shallow, but overall still enjoyable. Very dark, quite depressing, sense of hopelessness excellently portrayed.

Good, entertaining watch overall.

Tackle

Dog soldiers was an enjoyable film but this was top class horror. Apart from Batman, this is the best film I've seen this year. There's a few real jump out of the seat moments and it's even better as a pure action/adventure movie.

Retr0gamer

just back from seeing it. Enjoyed it. The Start however was a bit silly and didn't add anything to the overall plot. Some excellent claustrophobic shots at the beginning.

garred

Did'nt think much of it either. I know its shot around the fact they are in a cave but I found myself squinting too much to try and watch the film and so some of the action sequences I could'nt follow. There were a few other horror trailers before hand and "The Cave" looks good, a mixture of Pitch Black meets The Descent.

Lex_Diamonds

Ted the caver story + my imagination = ****ing amazing cave horror experience.

I *hope* this movie lives up to that!

Does this movie have decent POV shots of enclosed spaces, or is it all big caverns as in the trailer?

soma

I really enjoyed this film. Alot of the time it's wall to wall (excuse the pun!) cliches but they work because it's a simple horror, done well - all too rare current in cinema.

The development of the girls' behavour definitely requires the ol' suspension of disbelief, but it's key.

I actually missed the first few minutes - I came in where it was 'one year later' and they are driving down a rural road. Anyone wanna wrap up the begining in some spoiler tags and just fill me in..? I dont think I missed anything crucial, just curious, cheers.

PS - I thought 'Dog Soliders' was pants.

soma

Lex_Diamonds wrote:

Ted the caver story

What is the origin of this..? A guy with a clever way of self-publishing his fiction..?

nadir

A tale of two sisters is on in the IFI soon,
any horror fans should go see, if they havn't already.

TerrorFirmer

You didnt miss much by missing the start which was rather pointless.

Husband was killed in a car accident that showed his head being skewered by a large metal pole. Gory but utterly irrelevant and pointless in context of film.

Lex, it has some very claustrophobic shots. Make me feel uneasy!

Juggalo

MobileInfantry wrote:

You didnt miss much by missing the start which was rather pointless.

Husband was killed in a car accident that showed his head being skewered by a large metal pole. Gory but utterly irrelevant and pointless in context of film.

Lex, it has some very claustrophobic shots. Make me feel uneasy!

I thought the poll went through both her husband and her daughter.

TerrorFirmer

Juggalo wrote:

I thought the poll went through both her husband and her daughter.

Ah yeah both died etc etc

Point being it was pointless really. Thanks for the correction.

TerrorFirmer

bedlam wrote:

There was also

a hint of something going on between the husband and Juno, which was a catalist for the conversation in the car which resulted in his death. Possibly one of the reasons why Sarah was able to leave Juno for dead...

That was the reason actually. The necklace at the end was the reason, the dying one that Juno accidently throat-skewered with the rock pick told Sarah where it came from before she died.

ObeyGiant

Yeah,

in the cabin, she says that her husband used to say "Love each day" - that this was written on Juno's necklace suggested to her that Juno and her husband were having an affair

I thought the movie had a boring setup and a dreadful end, and only roughly 10 minutes of enjoyable action in the middle (from the first shadow to the first big 'reveal' on the video camera). Terribly forgettable and a perfect example of sophomoric over-indulgence.

But the plethora of good horror trailers before the movie was really encouraging - the next few months are going to be stellar.

TerrorFirmer

ObeyGiant wrote:

Yeah,

in the cabin, she says that her husband used to say "Love each day" - that this was written on Juno's necklace suggested to her that Juno and her husband were having an affair

I thought the movie had a boring setup and a dreadful end, and only roughly 10 minutes of enjoyable action in the middle (from the first shadow to the first big 'reveal' on the video camera). Terribly forgettable and a perfect example of sophomoric over-indulgence.

But the plethora of good horror trailers before the movie was really encouraging - the next few months are going to be stellar.

I thought the movie had some fantastic build up really, and some claustrophobic shots that really made me feel uncomfortable and really set the tone of the movie! It was all set up so beautifully, and although I liked the movie, the introduction to the core of the movie, the creatures, was disappointing. I was expecting something a little more alien and fantasical, more fear instilling, but instead they were the typical mutated human form beings reminesant from the movie "Creep" that provided some average action scenes with no real scary moments bar the occassional sudden shocks of something jumping on screen.

Still, some of the shots were great, some scenes that really made you think - "Damn, that WOULD be scary." Loved the entire idea of the pitch black, helplessness thing. The ending was a mixed bag - ultimately disappointing, but suitably depressing, in fact I would go so far as to say it was one of the most depressing endings I have seen in a long time.

ObeyGiant

MobileInfantry wrote:

I thought the movie had some fantastic build up really, and some claustrophobic shots that really made me feel uncomfortable and really set the tone of the movie!

Two things I'll give the movie credit for:

* When the main girl got 'trapped' in the tunnel. These types of things are always extremely effective with me, and I start having trouble breathing myself
* First real 'reveal' of the monster, on the video camera. It was so quick, so brief and so unexpected that it really made the entire cinema jump - beautifully done

captain P

i thought it was really good. pretty violent which is nice for a change these day. it was the second film ever that made me have to close my eyes in it. only briefly. for a certain leg bit.

eugh. i recommend to anyone who likes horror

Ramses

It's a great film, definately one of my favourites this year.
I've heard people bitching about it but I can't see how any horror fan wouldn't like it. It's so much better than most of the horror films released these days.

captain P

Ramses wrote:

It's a great film, definately one of my favourites this year.
I've heard people bitching about it but I can't see how any horror fan wouldn't like it. It's so much better than most of the horror films released these days.

i completely agree.
Devils Rejects and Land of the Dead should be good ones though too.

Juggalo

Land of the Dead is excellent.

Kevin_rc_ie

I went to see this, primarily because i say this thread bouncing around, thou I hadn't read any of it.

I missed the first 20mins! It was supposed to start at 20:40 and i thought 9 so i was in a bar til 9 then ran over (thought I'd miss credits) got there at 21:10, came in the door and it was completly packed. I'd booked my ticket earlier so I choose back centre of the cinema. So i couldn't go up but luckily, there was 1 seat in the front i squeezed into.


It reminded me too much of gollum but it was a good film. also, there were a few girls humming and hawwing and screaming at the back, which actually added nicely to the whole thing. also the two guys beside me kept hiding behind their hands, i found this funny. I'm very confussed about the ending, i'm not sure what to think. anyone want to help me out

Easily_Irritated

Im a horror film and was disappointed with this effort. Totally built up and not scary at all. I agree with Obey, those parts were scary but that was about it!

Wouldn't recommend it to any true horror fans

Kevin_rc_ie

Im a horror film and was disappointed with this effort.

you are scary. i was wondering why. now i know.

Ishmael

Seen it last night, Thought it was ok, seemed very short. Was nice and gorey.

the camera bit was deadly.

I probably would have found it better if the guy infront of me didn't stand up in the middle of the film for about 3 minutes to sort out his bag. I don't really like going to the cinema to watch horror films cause people screaming and stuff wrecks my head when i'm watching something.

Lafortezza

Didn't like it myself. The broken leg bit was savage, very nasty, couldn't watch much of it at all. Thought the creatures were a bit too Gollum, especially the early shots of them.
Good things were the suspense and chase bits, infra red camera bits.

What *exactly* happened at the end,

when she was in the car, then has flashback (?) to the cave where she's sitting with her daughter

?

TerrorFirmer

bedlam wrote:

it was the other way around, she dreamt she had escaped

Yep, thats right.

It was a very depressing ending I thought, very chilling as we saw exactly how far underground she really was, and that she was totally and utterly alone in the darkness and more or less without any hope.

Some reason, that last shot really struck me as the most terrifying thing in the entire movie...

gurramok

Yeh, recommend to see it as well, parts of it are so unexpected that you jump outta your seat, well whole cinema did on a few scenes!!
One of the better horror flicks of the year.

Maynard.

I love horror films, and IMO I think this one sucked. The Amityville horror was far superior and still my number 1 horror this year.
Monsters in this didnt seem threatening to me in the least, especially making the predator noises as they did. I agree with what sum1 said above, the girl getting stuck early on bit was the highlight of the film. IMO The gore was just there almost for the sake of it, and never helped with the atmosphere, the story and scares were predictable and the film brought nothing new to the table. excluding the end which I found pointless and poorly done. On the up side my friends and I had the time of our lives making fun of it afterwards.

I knew the film would have alot of people who would love it, and sum that hate it, its just depends what you find scary.

Pools of blood, bones, and frantic zoomed in action scenes just dont do it for me.

(Especially the zoomed in action scenes, regardless of genre, I find action scenes where its not exactly clear who is doing what due to zoomed in frantic movement and camera angle changes to be very tedious and frustrating. it nigh ruined batman begins for me)

Elmo

You wanted all of the characters to Die. Espically the Irish Girl.

Maynard.

Must resist rant on over the top preist dodging irish sterotype girl... :mad:

Altho I suppose she had us laughing at her hysterically at parts, much to the destain of the rest of the audience..

lando

Come on. This movie was a bit of a joke.

It looked cheap, and was totally predictable once they headed down into the Very Dark Caves. In fact it would have been more fun if they were menaced by Richard Wilson instead of those gollum creatures.

The cast was made up of a bunch of cheap actresses, the most recognisable being the girl from The Magdalene Sisters. She was saddled with the worst character of all, an over the top Dolores O' Riordan stereotype -- cue endless amounts of "bollocks/jaysus/me arse/shoite/etc"...

spooky donkey

Well id seen ads for this on ths side of a bus, dident know much about it. I want to see it now. Might be an excuse to get my arse off to the cimea now.

Elmo

Yeh, recommend to see it as well, parts of it are so unexpected that you jump outta your seat, well whole cinema did on a few scenes!!

The only reason it makes you jump is because it is terrible boring up to the scare.

Dreadful.

The Idea that these women are mad adventures goes out the window in the first few scenes.