Summer Movie Olympics, Part 14: Fear in the Dark

It's been another long delay between posts- I'm sure many people are on pins and needles waiting for my latest entry.
I went to see "The Descent" last week, and now I'm finally writing about it. Part of the reason I've waited so long is probably because the movie was so traumatizingly scary that I neded a few days break before revisiting it again.

This is simply one of the scariest horror movies I've seen in years. It takes itself dead seriously, not resorting to forced humor or pop culture references that have plauged modern horror films for the last ten years. The movie made me jump out of my seat and yell out in terror a few times. Which may make me a wimp, but I think having that reaction is exactly what makes a horror movie so fun and visceral. If, by the end, the movie is imperfect, I'll forgive the flaws- because it was one of the most effectivley scary movies I've seen in so long.

Horror is one of the most purely cinematic of genres, and "The Descent" is no exception to the rule. The basic story is about a group of women who go on an adventure trip to explore a deep, unmarked cave system and find more than they bargained for. Deep caves are such a scary environment, it's shocking that there haven't been more scary movies set inside them. I don't want to reveal much of what happens, because that would ruin the pleasure in the shocks and scares. The ladies find something they didn't expect, something terrifying, get split up, and begin to fall apart- and, of course, die, one by one. The simple story is well paced and directed, keeping us on the edges of our seat at every moment.

Honestly, that's all I really have to say about the movie. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it. Is that a cop out? Sure, maybe. It's a damn goood movie, and fans of horror should rejoice at something so scary, atmospheric, and actually intelligent coming out in the genre in this day and age.

"The Descent" is an artfully crafted nightmare that plays on our deepest childhood fears of things that lurk in the dark. See it, but don't say I didn't warn you when you have nightmares about being stuck in a cave with...something awful.