Cinepals - THE DESCENT (2005) Reaction & Review!

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

Achara and Michael dive into the horror thriller "The Descent," where six women on a caving expedition find themselves trapped and hunted by monstrous creatures lurking in the uncharted depths. Written and directed by Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers & Centurion) & the film stars Shauna Macdonald (The Descent Part 2 & Filth), Natalie Mendoza (Moulin Rouge! & Hotel Babylon), Alex Reid (Life on Mars & The Facility), Saskia Mulder (The Beach & Storm) Saskia Mulder (The Beach & La Fille Sur Le Pont), MyAnna Buring (Kill List & The Witcher), and Nora-Jane Noone (Brooklyn & The Magdalene Sisters). Watch the cutdown reaction on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@cinepals or watch along with Jaby and Cortney on Patreon at www.cinejump.com SOCIAL MEDIA ~CINEPALS~  YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals ~CORTNEY WRIGHT~ Instagram: @CortneyScottWright

Senna. We're back with some more horror, you guys. Hi, it's Achara, joined by Michael Booth. Hello, hello. And we are watching The Descent. Yeatskeet a doodley do. Yep, that's what's happening. They go underground, and I'm sure a lot of unpleasantness befalls them.

If we learned anything from As Above, so below, nothing good happens underground. No, it does not. People stop going down caves. Let's jump into it. Here we go. Ah, ha! No! Oh, shit! Yeah, I was going to say, you're haunted now.

Like I said, the last photo of them seen alive. Ho-wee! Oh, my God. All right. This movie had, like, jump scares galore. See, I agree with you, but I think on the scale, of like spooky movies that made me feel like I was gonna die, it's a little lower down.

I think once I got over that initial, like, jump scare, and this is kind of horror theory 101, is the more you show the monster, the less scary it is. True, and so the fact that, like, the initial jump was one of the mutants behind everybody after she'd broken her leg, and then we just saw him kind of skibber-scabbering around and then turned into like an action fight scene

that took a little bit of the scary power away from the monster. And then they were really present throughout. Yeah. You know, it kind of became, it's like the difference between alien, which is a great horror sci-fi movie, and aliens, which is a great thriller action movie, where you've got a lot of aliens, but like a lot of the second half of the movie is fighting the aliens,

which is still fun and there's still thriller aspects for sure, but it takes away some of the weight of the, the jump scares, at least for me. Yeah, yeah, I mean, if we're going to compare it to alien and aliens, it's like, yeah, alien was a lot more atmospheric. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so, yeah, this one did have a lot of jump scares. And the thing is, they're always going to get me because I am that person that will literally

just scream at anything. Right, right. And so, like, so long as the jump scare is prepared correctly, as it's, were like for me it's i always get way more scared if there is a moment of calm or if i'm relatively calm beforehand and then something pops out and i will scream and poor jabby has had to deal with this so many times because you if you're afraid of loud noises don't silently walk up behind me and then tap me or walk up behind me and go hey you don't even have to say anything loud, you just have to go, hey, and I'll turn around and scream bloody murder at you because

I wasn't prepared. So this movie definitely did that to me. You know what? That's fair. And to that point, the lesson Beth learned far too late, always announce yourself. Always. Always. You see someone freaking out, stand far away and be like, hey. Don't immediately grab them. Hey, are you okay? You okay over there? Can I come over? Okay, yeah. And when they've acknowledged that it's you, then you can go in. Yes. Especially when they're wielding a climbing axe. Yes.

It's a rookie mistake. Rookie mistake. All around. Yeah, no, I agree. The jump scares were jump scaring very well. Very well. But like I said, it's like these first half was a very much atmospheric, like claustrophobic cave terror of a movie.

Yeah. And then the second half was like, all right, how many of these like mutants can we put in the dirt? Yes. Which I liked, I liked both parts. I think if it had been an atmospheric cave thriller the entire time, I was, like, that first scene where Sarah gets, like, stuck for a minute and panics, like, that got my heart rate going really bad.

Yeah, the anxiety. Exactly. And so I think if I'd had to ride through, like, whatever the runtime of this film is just with that, I would have been so much more winded by the end of it. But the switch to Let's Kill the Mutants was a nice change of pace. that still kept my heart rate going, my heart pumping, but was at least enough of a release

that I didn't feel the claustrophobic anxiety anymore. Yeah, yeah, no, that was cool. It was also fun to see the girls, you know, fight for their lives. Yeah, girl power. Yeah, that was fun. Although I kind of wish that they had done a little bit more with the whole Juno and Sarah thing.

Because they set it up in the, the beginning, right? And so I thought like, oh, is this going to be kind of like a psychological thing, you know, kind of like how we had that in Asababov, so below, you know, that's definitely something that you can explore.

It's fine, I guess, that they didn't. That was a choice not to, and like, I don't know when this movie came out, 2006. So, I can't remember when Asabov's So Below came out, but it's like, okay, so we're not going to explore this kind of like metaphysical or emotional thing of like diving down deep

and what that means to you on like a psychological level. Right. Right. Right. Right. Fine. But I just kind of wish that there had been a little bit more about like the whole thing with, what's her face? With Juno sleeping with Paul and having a relationship with Paul. I kind of wanted Sarah to just be like, I know it. happened. Like you wanted, you wanted an upfront, like, cathartic confrontation rather than what we got at the end where she reveals that, like, I know you've been sleeping with my husband and also realize that you straight up murked Beth and didn't tell me. So now I'm going to leave you

to be eaten by the monsters. I, I agree. I think that that little relationship was paid off too quickly. I think it did inform their character interactions a lot, at least, uh, Juno's character, because you, I think, hit it on the head when we were talking about how she really wants the moment of confrontation or she really wants to like make things better because in a way she feels guilty about what happened to her husband and things like that. And so it's very much within her character to be, I guess, pushing for her version of that cathartic release. and that's what she was trying to find in this cave exploration. Right. Naming the cave after Sarah and, you know, forcing these moments that were entirely for her ego versus, you know, actually being like, hey, Sarah, let's go get coffee in a normal circumstance.

Yeah. And talk about the elephant in the room that was my relationship with your husband. Yeah. So I think that was in keeping with character. but I agree I would have liked to see a little bit more interaction because a lot of what we got

was Juno heavily pushing trying to be like we're okay right, we're okay right everything's okay right this is gonna make everything better and then Sarah being like yeah I'm good right up until the end

but now that we're talking about it I'm like okay maybe that's the point maybe the point is that you don't always get that closure right and so us like Juno we're like yeah we want her to kind of like maybe maybe we want to see

Sarah yell at her and be like, how could you? You broke my heart and like, blah, blah, blah, blah. But in the end, it's like, whatever. You know, sucks to be you. You don't get that closure. Plus, I left you to die because you're a bitch. Right. So, you know, you got what you deserved.

But I've been holding back on this the entire time. I'm like, why did you have to make the cheating, lying lady, this, like, gorgeous, The token... Mixed Asian girl. The token person of, like, another ethnicity here. Uh-huh. And she's the bad guy. I did notice that.

Yeah. That is a little rough. I was like, why? I'm happy for the representation and so happy that she got to play, like, a big character, but also why should she have to be the bad guy? And she's the bad guy, but she's also, like, one of the strongest characters in the film. True. Like, Sarah comes into her own, like, towards the end a little bit.

after she has a knock on the head. But like, you know, she has the first moment of panic and she's kind of like one of the weaker links. Meanwhile, Juno's like the one. Yeah. Like the lynchpin in the group right up until the end. And she looked hot doing it too. Oh, my God.

I will say, like the outfit they put her in. Stunning. They referenced Tomb Raider and I'm like, I see it. She was definitely like giving Lara Croft the whole time. Speaking of video game parallels, I'm very curious. I'm sure you probably won't know what I'm talking about. But those of you who are watching, have any of you played The Forest or Sons of the Forest? Two of my favorite survival crafting games that have come out in the last decade.

Very, very cool. Very similar vibes where part of the game is exploring cave systems filled with gray-colored, hairless mutants that eat flesh. Yuck. And so I'm curious. If I'm curious, if anybody knows, let me know down in the comments. Did the developers watch the dissent? Was that a big inspiration into the development of that game? Because from the get-go, especially once we got into the cave systems and met the mutants,

all I could think about was the forest. And there's also, like, you use a plane axe when you initially get your first crafting gear and things like that that you use to help you explore the caves. The red flares are very cinematic and do a very similar effect to the ones in these caves. in these caves. Like there's so many stylistic parallels that I was just sitting here going, man, this reminds me of my first playthrough of the forest with my friends going through the caves and, you know, having a similar freakout experience when we first start meeting mutants. Oh God. And the even more terrifying mutants that exist deeper in the caves. So yeah,

let me know it down in the comments. I'd love to hear if like anybody knows if this was part of the development, if this is just one of those random happenstances of like parallel development entirely encased in one another. But that's, that's absolutely what this reminded me. of. Wow. Yeah, I don't, I wouldn't play that game. No thanks. It's a trip.

It sounds just anxiety-inducing. But before we wrap up, I do want to say, like, you know, props to all of the actors who were actually playing the creatures. Oh, yeah. The creature actors were incredible. Yeah, they were so, so good. Like, they moved so well. And it's also interesting to see, like, this was 2006.

And I feel like you can really tell that in the. effects because there were definitely moments when the scary monster people came out and they were moving kind of funny. I don't know if it was like a frame rate thing or just what they were doing. They just looked weird. But like

I feel like it you can forgive that in a horror movie because you're just so like wrapped up in the premise and the fear and the anxiety that you're feeling that you can kind of just push that.

to the side of like the strange looking effects and people kind of like moving at a funny. Because it's supposed to be weird. It's supposed to be inhuman. Yeah. Is the big idea with creatures. So I think, yeah, you're right. You can forgive a lot. We mentally can forgive a lot because it's not human.

Right. We get really specific about like, ah, that thing is human and it's not moving like a human. So that's ticking my brain weird. But when it's something inhuman, you're like, that's just how that works. That's just the thing. Right? It's just kind of strange looking and I'll go with that. But also, the makeup and everything that they did for the creatures was really great.

Yeah, the practical effects were phenomenal. So, so good. Again, a likening to alien or aliens where practical monsters are always going to be better. Yeah. Hands down. And hold up longer than CGI monsters. I think it was the CGI creatures because, like, as much. especially in some of the scenes where they had more of them

and they were trying to fill them in with like CGI ones. Those are the ones that you're like, eh, it looks a little bit, not good. But when it's just like the actors in the practical, everything, looking just horrible and gross and moving the way they do. Yeah. I'm going to nitpick on the monsters a little bit. And this is a nitpick I have with all monsters.

and like the Last of Us clickers and anything that hunts using sound, dogs and cats can hear your heartbeat, and they don't hunt using sound specifically. Something that is so in tune that it can move around its environment using sound can hear if you're alive or not. I'm almost certain.

So when you have moments, And I know it's to set up the stakes and, and, you know, you got to suspend your disbelief. You do. When you have moments where the two sisters are sitting there like, and the monster is right over them, it can hear them easily. I'm almost certain. It's not based on movement. It's not like a T-Rex. So these are my little, like, nitpicks that I have to suspend my disbelief anytime we get a monster like that or things like that.

But that is, that is the one problem I have with these things. But it does work really well for the suspense of the moment. You're right because you do have to suspend your disbelief there because I agree with you. If you can, if you're living underground, your senses have been honed to death. And so you can probably hear like the smallest thing and someone going, you're going to hear that, you know. Yeah, exactly. But for the suspense in that moment and when you're really rooting for the characters to survive, it works really, really well

when they do that in movies. They are excellent film moments and it still gets my blood pumping but there is a small part in the back of my brain that's like, it hears you, it knows you're there, you're done, you're dead. You're dead. It should have just like, when it came close,

just eyeballs. Exactly, yeah, right? There's one. You're like, you've got the climbing ice. Yeah. But anyway. Kill them all. Those sisters were not the badass warrior women

of the party, so that's okay. Sadly. I mean, the younger one, went out kicking. Yeah. That's good. The older one. The older one, no.

She really was like, well, I'm going out. Yeah, you're not representing the rest of us well. The older sister crew. Anyway, this was a really fun movie. Very, like, entertaining, I guess, is the word that I'm looking for. Scary, fun, all of that stuff. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And I'm very sorry if you were listening with headphones,

and I blew them out. at any moment because stress. Love you. See you next time. I'm a Chara Cook. This is Michael Boose. Ciao.