The Descent (2005) on Netflix
R20051h 39mAdventureHorrorSci-Fi
After a car crash kills her husband and daughter, Sarah joins five friends on a caving trip in the Appalachian Mountains. A rockfall blocks the way back, trapping them deep underground.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.2/10277,103 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes87%
Trailer
Plot summary
Sarah is picked up after a whitewater rafting trip by her husband Paul and their daughter Jessica. Driving home, Paul is distracted and the car crashes, killing him and Jessica. A year later Sarah reunites with Juno and Beth for a spelunking trip in the Appalachian Mountains, joined by sisters Sam and Rebecca and by Holly. They hike to a cave entrance and descend, squeezing through narrow passages. Sarah becomes stuck in a tunnel and frees herself just before the passage collapses, closing the way back. Juno then admits she brought them into an uncharted cave system rather than the surveyed one registered with local officials, so no rescue party could locate them. Searching for an exit, the group finds old climbing gear and a cave painting.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Descent (2005)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Production designer Simon Bowles built a network of caverns and tunnels at Pinewood Studios. Much of the cave system was made from self-expanding foam, which gave a rock-like surface texture and could be cut away to give the camera and lighting crew access.
- The UK marketing campaign was disrupted by the July 2005 London bombings: posters on public transport, including on the bus that had exploded, carried the quote "Outright terror... bold and brilliant". Distributor Pathé recalled them from the Underground and reworked the campaign to exclude the word terror.
- Production of The Descent competed with a big-budget American film with a similar premise, The Cave, which began filming six months before it. The Descent had been scheduled for a UK release in November 2005 or February 2006, but the filmmakers fast-tracked production to finish by the end of February 2005 so they could come out first.
- The filmmakers originally planned for the cast to be both male and female, but Neil Marshall's business partner realized that horror films rarely have all-female casts. Defying convention, Marshall cast all women, and to avoid making them clichéd he asked his female friends for advice.
SPOILER
The Descent was released in North America with about a minute cut from the end, so that Sarah escapes the cave and sees Juno but the film does not cut back to the cave. Entertainment Weekly reported the ending was trimmed because American viewers did not like its uber-hopeless finale.- The 2013 Tomb Raider reboot drew on The Descent, which inspired in part the way its main character, Lara Croft, was depicted.
