Written by: Susan Granger
SusanGranger.com

I was curious about this horror film because, at last year’s British Independent Film Awards, its 35 year-old writer/director Neil Marshall copped top honors, beating Fernando Meirelles’ “The Constant Gardener,” Stephen Frears’ “Mrs. Henderson Presents” and Michael Winterbottom’s “Tristan Shandy.” Now it’s here – with a revised conclusion that I’m told is more upbeat than the U.K. finale.

The creepy story begins with a gruesome car crash in which Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) loses her husband and kids. A year later, still grieving and plagued with nightmares, she decides to join her bossy, yet resourceful pal Juno (Natalie Mendoza) and four other women (Alex Reid, Nora-Jane Noone, Saskia Mulder, MyAnna Buring) on a spelunking expedition in the Appalachian Mountains, supposedly to restore her confidence. Problem is: they get lost in a cavern that’s populated by slimy, ravenous, vaguely humanoid, demonic mutants. Forced to crawl through dark tunnels, squeeze through tight crevices and cross deep chasms, some of the women make it, others don’t.

Filmmaker Neil Marshall (“Dog Soldiers”), who described this as “’Deliverance’ goes underground” in interviews, relies on calculated shocks and sudden, superficial scares. His strong female cast is basically interchangeable and often indistinguishable – in the darkness. While the concept has promise, the execution turns into a predictably gross, gory bloodbath once the carnage commences. Although some exteriors were filmed in Scotland, most of the claustrophobic scenes were shot at Pinewood Studios – and that restriction shows. On the other hand, the blind, slithering, carnivorous, cave-dwelling creatures bear a remarkable resemblance to the Gollum in “Lord of the Rings” and, on such a low-budget, that technical achievement is remarkable.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, The Descent is a mindless, tense 4 – a fright-fest.