The Descent

[ewx]

The Descent by Jeff Long concerns violent cave-dwellers (and their human foederati) who come into conflict with modern inhabitants of the surface. Much of the book concerns the descent of the title, a lengthy and bloody underground expedition to seek out the intelligence behind the subterranean masses. I enjoyed reading it some time ago, but it's not for the squeamish.

When I saw the trailer for the film The Descent I assumed it was an adaptation of the book. But apart from the troglodyte cannibals the two share little: the title is just a coincidence. Still, not one I regret.

The story is set in a cave system, in which a group of women cavers become trapped. The caves turn out to be inhabited by a rather disagreeable bunch of humanoid creatures who soon get down to the serious business of munching their way through the cast.

In some ways the action was a bit predictable - at one point I thought to myself that we were about due for another minor character to be bumped off, and sure enough they were. But other bits I found more genuinely surprising.

The monsters were done fairly well, particularly in their movement; I wasn't quite so sure about some of the close-ups. The fights were convincing (and some of them convincingly confused) - the creatures had the initial advantage of surprise and remained vicious throughout, but the tool-users usually won.

One thought struck me, was that if some strange new creatures turned up in your range, and succesfuly killed several of your kind while you were hunting them, and could turn invisible at will (the creatures relied entirely on sound), you'd probably learn to keep well clear of them. But as Ben pointed out, characters in films react to that situation by fighting their new enemy as a team, even if some of them get to die heroically along the way. There's a flip-side film to be made here.

But back to the film in hand. The motif of the film is the progression of hubris, ate and nemesis, and there is perhaps a pun to be found in there. The bad end unhappily and the good unluckily. The ending works well metaphorically.

Even before the gribblies turned up I was thoroughly convinced I didn't fancy going caving.

Comments

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Even before the gribblies turned up I was thoroughly convinced I didn't fancy going caving

My natural father used to go caving, along with mountain climbing, hang gliding and numerous other loony-bin pursuits. He says he enjoys staring death in the face.

Personally, I'm quite aware it's going to turn up to get me eventually anyway, I don't see why there's any point inviting it in any sooner..

[tienelle.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose you know where you picked up the word "gribbly", do you? I think I've only run into it among LARPers before.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I think I first heard it from damerell many years ago, probably in a conversation about DooM.