There Are No Walls in the House of Jearl - Mystery DVD #146
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Mystery DVD #146
The Descent
Seven friends who enjoy dangerous outdoor activities meet to explore a cave in the Appalachians. They have emotional baggage and interpersonal tensions. The cave adventure goes terribly wrong, with injuries and getting lost and things happening that you really don't want to happen while caving. AND THEN THEY FIGHT CHUDS. WOOOOOT CHUDS.
Only. It's not that awesome.
The seven main characters are distinguished mainly by accent, and are rather tough to tell apart. I had learned their names and A-Team-like specializations only after about 60 minutes into a 99-minute film. They take FOREVER getting to the actual story.
I'll say this - there's a great atmosphere of dread during the pre-chud caving adventure. For me, personally, that sort of thing is really hard to watch. I have broken my arms and various fingers a number of times, and even though that was a long time ago, to this day my hands hurt if I see someone about to fall hard. So freaked-out characters stumbling around in the dark was really rough, never mind the possibility of drowning or dying of starvation.
One problem I had was that they set up a bunch of interpersonal backstory that never got resolved, or really even explained. My Chick Flick receptors were activated but never got the appropriate molecules delivered. There was also a distracting contrast between the horror effects and the emotional impact the actors were going for. There's one truly horrible, wrenching death scene, where two of the actors are just staring at each other with all this huge unspeakable emotional weight, and then a second later it's all back to strobe lights and a troglodyte comically spurting bright red blood. Unfortunate.
Anyway the film does set up one vital Image of Pure Badass where the most emotionally wrecked character gets the horror-movie baptismal scene and stands on a dead cave-thing looking calmly deadly while you hear the faint, musical sound of her urge to do anything but kill shattering on the floor. I will forgive a bad movie a lot for providing a really convincing Image of Pure Badass.
And I salute the makers for creating something I don't think existed before: a horror film where women fight chuds that is not the slightest bit exploitative. I mean, they're in big heavy gear almost the whole time! I also liked that there's no 'flail, scream, die.' The ladies fight hard. Can't be helped that the odds are really badly against them.
I think I've talked myself into thinking it was kinda good. It's just that getting to the cave was very boring, and never finding out what the emotional history was was very unsatisfying.
Tags: dvd review
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![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/38555899/9011917) | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dulinor |
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| Date: | December 23rd, 2008 03:35 pm (UTC) |
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I saw this one in the theater and have to agree with your basic points - very slow beginning but some sassifying badassery once you get there.
Plus I like hints of backstory that a movie is comfortable never really exploring and fully beating to death. The whole history of the CHUDs - have they been out in appalachia before? That kind of thing.
Still think it could have used your salt shaker of, um, subtext.
I have to say that after being snowed in, you really deserved better than a movie with CHUDs that never delivers the goods. That's like going to your doorstep and pouring out the eggnog on the ground whilst you watch. Uncool.
| | From: | jearl |
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| Date: | December 29th, 2008 04:30 pm (UTC) |
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You don't even know the half of it. Wait for the next review.
To be fair, The Descent certainly delivered the CHUDs. |
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