Comments on: “The Descent”: In the destructive element immerse… http://parallax-view.org/2008/10/24/the-descent/ Smart Words About Cinema Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:55:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bruce Reid http://parallax-view.org/2008/10/24/the-descent/comment-page-1/#comment-587 Bruce Reid Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:06:39 +0000 http://parallax-view.org/?p=726#comment-587 The Descent deserves all its praise, but I know I'm not alone in thinking Marshall's set-up is almost too strong; the grinding relentlessness drops off a bit when the monsters come along. As barely glimpsed beasties they're terrific, and our first full-on view in the video camera is one of the great moments in horror movie history. But as a threat and source of terror these pale, screeching fellows, however impressively fanged, can't compete with the brutality of the caves, dropping off to bottomless canyons or constricting to impassible canals with majestic indifference to the gnats crawling through their guts. Bit unfair to slag on a film for doing something so right it throws the rest off balance, I suppose, but nightmares are much less disturbing when the monster in the cellar proves less of a bother than navigating the rickety steps down. The Descent deserves all its praise, but I know I’m not alone in thinking Marshall’s set-up is almost too strong; the grinding relentlessness drops off a bit when the monsters come along. As barely glimpsed beasties they’re terrific, and our first full-on view in the video camera is one of the great moments in horror movie history. But as a threat and source of terror these pale, screeching fellows, however impressively fanged, can’t compete with the brutality of the caves, dropping off to bottomless canyons or constricting to impassible canals with majestic indifference to the gnats crawling through their guts.

Bit unfair to slag on a film for doing something so right it throws the rest off balance, I suppose, but nightmares are much less disturbing when the monster in the cellar proves less of a bother than navigating the rickety steps down.

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