The Descent (2006)

I was already claustrophobic and really afraid of caves to begin with. Now I'm one step beyond whatever comes after that. No spelunking in my future. After seeing the initial preview, I quickly wrote it off as just another cheap horror flick.

That would have been the end of it had it not started showing up on many critics Top 10 list for 2006. Stephen King can't stop gushing about this movie. After surviving my first viewing, I can see why. We are spared another lame frat boy and ditzy girlfriend typecast session, where deplorable love spat dialogue is interspersed with cheesy jump cuts and meaningless gore.

No, the gore in Descent is meaningful, and doled out in massive, squirting doses upon the unsuspecting all female cast. Adding layers to their characters only makes things sweeter. I appreciated the hint of plausibility to the crawlers back story. It's things like that which separate the painfully average horror movies from the really good ones. This is a really good one.

Rating: A-