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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Descent (2005)

The Descent (2005)

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Released 8-Aug-2007

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Audio Commentary
Featurette-Making Of
Deleted Scenes
Storyboard Comparisons
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2005
Running Time 95:23
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (73:23) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Neil Marshall
Studio
Distributor
Icon Entertainment Starring
Natalie Jackson Mendoza
Alex Reid
Saskia Mulder
MyAnna Buring
Nora-Jane Noone
Oliver Milburn
Molly Kayll
Craig Conway
Leslie Simpson
Mark Cronfield Mark Cronfield
Stephen Lamb
Catherine Dyson
Case ?
RPI ? Music David Julyan


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format ?
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, during opening credits

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Take a group of 6 attractive young girls and put them in peril, pitted against unknown terrors deep underground. Does it sounds like 6 times the fun of Lara Croft? Well...it's not quite. The Descent is a British film, from director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, Combat), in which 6 close friends in England decide to make their annual girls' getaway, this time to the US. They decide that an extreme adventure of cave exploring would be just the ticket to help one of them, Sarah (Shauna McDonald - Spooks, State of Play), recover from the deaths of her husband and daughter. The other girls are Juno (Natalie Mendoza - Moulin Rouge), Beth (Alex Reid - Ultimate Force), Rebecca (Saskia Mulder - The Book Group, Coupling), Sam (MyAnna Buring - Dr Who, Casualty) and Holly (Nora-Jane Noone).  

    After spending a night in a log cabin in deserted woods, the group makes their way down into an underground cave complex. This is when the real adventures start... First they're battling the cave system itself, then discovering that they have a lot more to fear than just Mother Nature!

    There were some genuinely suspenseful moments in which I actually did find myself holding my breath. There were also other scenes that made me jump in shock. The camerawork and lighting and sound design provided an effective environment in which the feeling of claustrophobia in the cave system was almost palpable. Most of these actresses are pretty inexperienced in big screen features, with most of their backgrounds being in TV. However, they do perform reasonably effectively within the somewhat limited scope required in this film. Unfortunately there was some clumsy dialogue and poor acting in parts, which let down the film just a little.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video transfer on this disk is presented in 1.78:1 ratio which is NOT its original ratio (2.35:1). This has taken a lot from the look of the film, and I guess was done to pander to those viewers who just cannot cope with black bars on the top and bottom of their screens!

    The picture was sharp, though not the sharpest, throughout. Shadow detail was good, which was just as well as most of the film takes place in near darkness.

    Some slight grain was visible against the sky in the few outdoor shots (eg at runtime 13:45)

    There was no visible low level noise.

    Colour was rich throughout, capturing the many and varied colour palettes chosen by the director and cinematographer. There was no oversaturation even in scenes with strong red lighting.

    This was a very clean print, probably a digital original, and was completely free of any film artefacts.

    The layer change was not so well done. It was at 73:23 and poorly placed during a closeup of a character's face, and resulted in a lockup on my player!  I had to tap the fast forward button to get it playing again.

    Surprisingly there were no subtitles at all.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The main audio track was Dolby Digital 5.1 and a very good one at that.

    The audio commentary was provided in Dolby Digital 2.0.

    Dialogue was clear most of the time, although there were some scenes in which I found it difficult to hear some softer dialogue. There were no problems with audio sync.

    The music, by David Julyan (Spivs, Memento), was very good. It built up the suspense when needed, often using deep synth bass to add to the feeling of unease. Occasionally I felt it was mixed a little too loudly, and became a little distracting.

    Rear surrounds were used well throughout the film, to carry discrete sound effects, ambient noise, and music.

    The subwoofer was very well utilised for deep music notes and sound effects. For example there was a really good deep bass rumble at around 29:00.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    For a single disk, the extras were pretty comprehensive, and worthwhile.

    Menu Audio

    The main menu and submenus had brief scary clips from the film.

    Audio Commentary

   The writer/director is joined by 5 out of the 6 main cast. Only Natalie Mendoza wasn't there, apparently already busy on other work. I enjoyed listening to this commentary track as there was plenty of information on the filming, including lots of trivia and the director's frequent references to his influences. The commentary was fairly well distributed amongst the 6 participants and they all seem to be having a great time!

    Featurette - Making of The Descent (runtime 41:18)

    A fairly lengthy documentary focusing on the making of this film. It features snippets of interviews with the director, production designer, producer and other crew, as well as with many of the cast. There are plenty of scenes from the film, presented in their original ratio of 2.35:1 (unlike the feature transfer on this disk!). There is also plenty of behind the scenes footage, including many scenes of cast and crew hamming it up for the cameras. Thankfully there's not much of the mutual admiration that often plagues these docos.

    Extended/Deleted Scenes (total runtime 10:04)

    These are scenes that were film

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    R1 appears to be well served with various DVD versions of The Descent. There appear to be separate releases to cater for those who prefer to see the film in its original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1, as well as a 'full screen' version for those who prefer the butchered appearance.

    The R1 'Unrated Widescreen Edition' would be my pick as it includes the correct aspect ratio for the video transfer, as well as these extras in addition to those on the R4 version:

    - audio commentary with director and crew

    - outtakes

    - English subtitles

    - interview with the Director

    - stills gallery

    - cast and crew biographies

Although keep in mind that the R1 version has the slightly shortened ending

There is also the R2 version which has been out for some time. This includes a DTS soundtrack in addition to the R1 extras listed above.

Summary

    Thankfully (?) director/writer Neil Marshall resisted the temptation to make the film a 'sexy' one with 6 Lara Croft clones. Instead he's selected a cast of pretty attractive and yet realistic looking young women, and pitted them against the terrors in the cave. As the film progresses, the characters get all bloodied, battered and bruised with nothing even vaguely titillating in any scenes. The film is far too 'gritty' for that.

    I felt The Descent started off well and actually was genuinely suspenseful and exciting until about two thirds of the way through. In that regard it was reminiscent of films like Alien. Indeed, the director admits to drawing inspiration from films including Alien and The Shining. Without giving away too much of the plot, I felt that the last part of the film became a little hard to follow with too much action and confusion, perhaps a little like Aliens.

    I liked the ending that was unusual and open to some interpretation.

    A pretty good horror film, best enjoyed in a pitch-dark room. Unfortunately it's presented in 1.78:1 ratio rather than its original 2.35:1 ratio. However the picture quality and audio quality are very good. The extras, especially the audio commentary, are worthwhile, though not as comprehensive as the R1 release.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Satish Rajah (don't read my bio!)
Monday, September 10, 2007
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-344 Multi-Region, using Component output
DisplaySony KV-XA34M31 80cm. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationDenon AVR-2801
SpeakersMain: Mission 753; Centre: Mission m7c2; rear: Mission 77DS; Sub: JBL PB10

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