2K Replay: THE DESCENT

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best British Film” at the Empire Awards UK. It lost to Pride & Prejudice.

• Best Scene/Moment: The final shot in the Unrated cut of the movie is really terrific. I don’t want to spoil it. It’s unfortunate that it was removed from the theatrical cut for being too depressing.

• Best Song: There aren’t any songs in the movie, just a score (by David Julyan). The score I guess is effective, but I don’t really remember it either.

• Best Merch: A set of “10 Collectible Pins SDCC 300/The Descent/Iron Man/Etc. Various Sizes” for only $19.95. I’m not a pin collector but $2 per pin ain’t bad. To be honest, I don’t really care about The Descent pin but there’s one with Elvira and a pumpkin in this set that’s cool so I could keep that one and maybe sell the other nine??? You know…making moves, making deals…capiche.

• Director Grade: The Descent was directed by Neil Marshall.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Tales from Halloween - “Bad Seed”
OK Movies: Doomsday
Bad Movies: N/A
Unseen By Me: Centurion, Hellboy (2019), The Reckoning, The Lair, Duchess, Compulsion
Overall Grade: B

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Silent Hill

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Pan’s Labyrinth, See No Evil, Turistas

• Ella McCay or The Descent? I might want to revisit Ella McCay over The Descent, but The Descent is clearly the better of the two movies.

• Mall Movie? Yes. It’s kind of a classier horror movie built on suspense but it’s Lionsgate and there’s cave creatures so this would have to play at the mall.

• Only in 2006: I thought Neil Marshall would be the next Tobe Hooper or Wes Craven.

• Scene Stealer: Natalie Mendoza.

• I Miss: When horror movies that had a lot of festival buzz ahead of their theatrical release most often delivered on their positive word-of-mouth. It still happens occasionally but it doesn’t seem like as often as it once did.

• I Don’t Miss: The old Saw-influenced Lionsgate aesthetic (e.g. the studio logo). It made me feel dirty like all their movies were truck stop cinema or something. It makes sense in my head.

• 2006 Crush: MyAnna Buring.

• 2026 Crush: Saskia Mulder.

• What I Thought in 2006: I liked it. I remember seeing The Descent on opening night and thinking it was scary but didn’t watch it again after that until this recent viewing.

• What I Think in 2026: It’s still good. I prefer the first half when it’s claustrophobic and about getting lost in a cave. Once the creatures (called The Crawlers) show up it’s not as good, but still pretty good. The creature design is neat. It’s a little odd how easy they are to kill off, though. It seems like you could take one out by pushing it to the ground basically. I really love the ending in the Unrated version, which makes you leave the movie with kind of a haunting feeling. The Descent isn’t one of “my movies’ so to speak but it’s still an effective, creepy horror movie worth revisiting.