Line #33 YMMV/TheDescent


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Some see Sarah as a sympathetic and [[spoiler:crazy]] [[TheWoobie Woobie]], while others see her as a [[spoiler:evil psychopath who committed an unredeemable act.]] Some see Juno as a flawed but ultimately heroic badass, while others see her as the selfish bitch who [[spoiler:got all her friends killed by taking them to the wrong cave]] and practically [[spoiler:murdered Beth.]] WordOfGod states that Juno's character was deliberately created to make the audience flip-flop between loving her and hating her. Juno's determination to find Sarah and protect her could stem either from simply being a protective friend or wanting [[TheAtoner to make up for everything she's done to her already]].
3	** Question: What would ''you'' do if your home was invaded by a bunch of weird-looking giantesses with insanely advanced technology who were impossible to communicate with? [[spoiler:Especially after one killed a child?]]
4	** Another one for Juno, and whether or not if she is responsible (though indirectly) for the death of Sarah's husband and child. Seeing that it's clear the husband had something on his mind, especially after a brief moment of seeing Juno with Sarah not noticed, which in turn led to Sarah's husband to be distracted when Sarah asked if something was wrong while he was driving.
5	** Here's one for Beth. She tells Sarah that [[spoiler: Juno killed her]] but is very deceptive when she says this - leaving out the fact [[spoiler: that it was an accident]]. She also says "don't trust her" and then gives Sarah the "love each day" pendant. It's presented as a warning to Sarah about what Juno might be capable of, but what if it's a petty last ditch attempt at revenge - trying to make it look like Juno is unstable and going to murder everyone (when in actuality she stays level-headed for the majority of the disaster).
6	** And did Juno and Paul ''actually'' have an affair? The sequel confirms it yes, but all we see are a couple of {{Held Gaze}}s and the pendant she wears with a quote of his on it. Could they have been together briefly before he and Sarah married? Or did they just develop feelings for each other but never acted on them?
7	* AlternativeJokeInterpretation: On whether it was a joke in the first place. Beth comforts Sarah when she gets stuck crawling through a passage, saying "the worst thing that can happen to you has already happened". Is she referring to the worst case scenario of getting stuck? Or is she actually talking about the loss of her family, as a way of reminding Sarah how much she's suffered and overcome?
8	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Juno was intentionally written to be divisive. It worked. [[GoneHorriblyRight Maybe a little too much]].
9	** For some audience members, ''she'' is the real BigBad, who point out (correctly) that the whole situation is her fault given that she explicitly went against the rules without telling Becca for instance, who clearly would've stopped her; she kills Beth (accidentally) but then abandons her to a slow and painful death; and, before all of that, she slept with Paul, betraying her supposed best friend Sarah, then ditched her after his death.
10	** For others, she's a DracoInLeatherPants at worst, who point out (also correctly) that she is extremely badass and brave; she refuses to leave without Sarah and even makes a point of trying to grab Holly's body back from the Crawlers at a risk to her own life.
11	** And then there's a [[TakeAThirdOption third party of belief]] that sees Juno as a realistically flawed human. Yes, she brought the girls into an unexplored cave which was an unwise choice, slept with her best friend's husband, and left Beth to die alone and refused to tell the truth to anyone else. However, they also point out that Juno couldn't have known about the real danger in the crawlers, she still cares about Sarah, refuses to abandon her or anyone else still alive, with her leaving Beth being a moment of extreme weakness born of the trauma that she had killed, something she understandably wouldn't want to tell the others when they're already in dire straits.
12	* BetterOnDVD: There is a lot of detail and scenes that you can't really enjoy as much unless it's on a huge high def cinema screen.
13	* BrokenBase:
14	** Disagreement about whether [[spoiler: the crawlers are real or Sarah is the one killing her friends]] can get ''very'' heated and supporters of one interpretation often flat-out refuse to accept that the other is even remotely possible.
15	** There's the matter of [[spoiler: Juno's AccidentalMurder of Beth. On the one hand, yes she killed her friend and lied about it. On the other, Beth approached her from behind in the dark without giving any indicator of who she was]].
16	** Some don't like how Juno is the only woman of color in the group because the cast could be more diverse. [[spoiler:Made more problematic by how Juno is the one who sends everyone into the wrong cave, accidentally kills Beth, and has an affair with Paul. She makes it near to the end of the movie only to get attacked by the white female lead, Sarah, and left to die while Sarah escapes. Although the UK ending hints that Sarah is doomed too.]] This tends to ignore that while there is little diversity in race, there is in accents, which is definitely a talking point in UK film (which tends to [[IAmVeryBritish emphasize RP]] and [[BritainIsOnlyLondon southerners]]); Beth is the only one fitting that description, with Sarah being Scottish, Holly being Irish and Becca and Sam are Dutch. The first two also avert [[ViolentGlaswegian many]] [[{{Oireland}} stereotypes]] associated with their nationalities.
17	** Which is better, the UK or US ending? Back in 2006ish when it was first released in America, it was generally regarded that the UK ending was far superior.
18	* DelusionConclusion:
19	** The sudden introduction of cave-dwelling monsters has resulted in some viewers theorizing that Sarah suffered a psychotic break from the stress of being trapped underground, and is actually killing her friends. The evidence consists of the trauma Sarah suffered in the car crash that killed her husband and daughter, and the fact that she is seen taking pills before leaving the cabin. Admittedly, Sarah does suffer SanitySlippage, [[spoiler: {{Mercy Kill}}s Beth and later cripples Juno so she can't escape]], but her friends also encounter the Crawlers long before she rejoins them, so it's a bit of a stretch. The sequel thoroughly debunks this idea.
20	** Other viewers go even further and speculate that Sarah was left comatose and fatally wounded in the car crash at the start of the film, and the rest of the story is just a DyingDream that only ends when she finally accepts her fate - as "symbolized" by [[spoiler: her calmly sitting down with a hallucination of her daughter and waiting for the Crawlers to find her]]. Again, debunked by the sequel.
21	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
22	** Despite being arguably the most underdeveloped of the group except Holly, Rebecca gets a lot of love for her climbing feats and BigSisterInstinct.
23	** A minor example because she is a very important character, but [[spoiler: Beth dies second in the film (only to Holly)]] and is often discussed, including on Website/ThisVeryWiki, as much as Juno or Sarah. Despite not being around anywhere near as long as them, it's clear she made a pretty big impact.
24	* EpilepticTrees:
25	** Some view the film as being [[spoiler: ThroughTheEyesOfMadness - that Sarah is imagining the presence of the Crawlers and is the one killing her friends, having completely lost it.]] This idea is suggested, but is ambiguous at best (and the sequel pretty much kills the idea).
26	** Another theory is that [[spoiler:Sarah also perished in the car crash and the rest of the film is a DyingDream.]]
27	* FanonDiscontinuity:
28	** It can be tempting to try and start ignoring everything that happens around [[spoiler:Juno accidentally stabbing Beth]] and/or [[spoiler: The sisters falling to the crawlers.]]
29	** There is a [[Film/TheDescentPart2 sequel]]. Even ignoring the various issues it has on its own, fandom denies its very existence, since it is CuttingOffTheBranches and in rather contentious way, too.
30	* FridgeBrilliance: The reason why Beth is the most level-headed and reassuring of the entire group is ''because'' she's [[MemeticMutation an English teacher, not fucking Tomb Raider]]. Her literal job is to look up for a group of school kids and make sure they are safe, so she's doing the exact same thing with her friends when spelunking and facing various dangers of the cave.
31	* FridgeHorror: Imagine how horrifying it must be for Sarah to watch [[spoiler:Beth die after being stabbed with a sharp object]] after how her husband died.
32	* HesJustHiding: [[FanonDiscontinuity if you ignore the sequel]] it can be possible to hold out some hope for [[spoiler:Juno]] and [[spoiler:Becca]] who have both just taken bad injuries but aren’t dead yet when the camera leaves them.
33	* HarsherInHindsight: The scene of Juno coaching Sam dangling from the rope above the drop can be rather eerie if you know that Juno's actress Natalie Mendoza would be on the other end of that in a real life situation. She was part of the Broadway cast of the infamous ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'', playing the villainess Arachne. The character was supposed to swing out on a web above the audience, and of course the mechanism malfunctioned, leaving the actress dangling above the crowd for eight minutes. She left the production after suffering a concussion.
34	* LoveToHate: Juno. The filmmakers even said they wanted the audience to be divided between loving and hating her from scene to scene. See BaseBreakingCharacter for why.
35	* MoralEventHorizon:
36	** For some others, [[spoiler:Juno crossed this when she left Beth for dead and lied about it.]] It's kind of a touchy, but much-brought up subject amongst fans. One could also argue that [[spoiler: Juno did this much earlier by tricking her friends into the wrong cave, including a novice, or that her affair with Sarah's husband qualifies.]]
37	** For some, [[spoiler:Sarah]] crosses this when she [[spoiler:impales Juno's leg with a pick and leaves her for dead, after learning that the latter not only left Beth for dead and lied about it, but she was also having an affair with her late husband]]. (Although, to be fair, [[spoiler:Sarah]] ''had'' become rather batshit by that point.)
38	* NauseaFuel: [[spoiler:Holly]] breaking her leg, resulting in the splintered bone poking out of the wound - and having to have said bone pushed back in minutes later.
39	* ParanoiaFuel: You probably shouldn't watch this film if you're planning on going caving any time soon.
40	* PresumedFlop: The film is remembered for coming out after the London 7/7 bombings, and largely believed to [[NeverAcceptedInHisHometown have flopped in the UK]] due to "nobody wanting to see a film about a group of women trapped underground", released only one day after over fifty people had been killed by being trapped on the London Underground. Especially unfortunately, this poster was on the very bus that blew up. However, the film itself was actually very successful (making over £50 million worldwide on a £3.7 million budget). Partly, this can be attributed to the fact that this is extremely cheap, but they also replaced the poster campaign, so it may be a case of misremembered controversy (and it's possible that it could have done even better - or worse - without the controversy.)
41	* RealismInducedHorror: One major reason for how unsettling the film is comes from the first half portraying just what dangers there are when going caving alone; cave-ins, being cut off from exits, running out of supplies, accidental injuries and being separated. A good chunk of viewers find that aspect even scarier than the Crawlers.
42	* RetroactiveRecognition:
43	** Beth might be better known as Sally, the probation worker from ''{{Series/Misfits}}''.
44	** Sarah is [[WesternAnimation/DangerMouse Professor Squawkencluck]].
45	* SignatureScene:
46	** Sarah walking through a pool of blood and rising from the water, torch and weapon in hand.
47	** Sarah’s final scene with Juno, and both of the endings.
48	* SpecialEffectsFailure:
49	** While most of the effects are [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome extremely convincing]], at least one of the Crawlers [[spoiler:coming towards Juno]] towards the end is very blatantly a CG effect.
50	** The shot of the cast descending down into the cave system looks jarringly cartoony because it's against a green screen, as do the bats that fly at them shortly afterwards.
51	* {{Squick}}: Falling into a pool of blood. The sequel managed to top it: Falling into a pool of blood [[spoiler: and crawler shit.]]
52	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[spoiler: Becca]], whose death is one of the most senseless and tragic in terms of plot impact. Also [[spoiler: Holly]], who could have been a HandicappedBadass in her own right.
53	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
54	** The movie makes the standard DevelopingDoomedCharacters segment more exciting by having the characters spend it trapped in a cave. [[PrimalFear A dark cave, filled with narrow passageways barely large enough to crawl through and gaping chasms that they have to cross by clinging to the ceiling.]] This is enough material to sustain a horror movie all on its own; having the cave also contain monsters on top of that was overkill and not necessary at all (although YMMV). Given how the cave and the monsters are equally dangerous, it could also be TheyPlottedAPerfectlyGoodWaste.
55	** [[spoiler: Holly]] could have lasted a little bit longer, especially once the Crawlers showed up. It would have added significantly ''more'' tension to have her isolated from the group, especially with her leg injury.
56	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: ''Yikes.'' This trope applies in an oddly different manner than most horror movies, it's not hard to watch because the characters are [[DevelopingDoomedCharacters so awful]] [[EightDeadlyWords it's impossible to care about the plot]], but because they're so relatable and sympathetic all the horrible things that happen to them are that much worse. Let's just say that the title is very accurate - this is a film that ''[[TraumaCongaLine only goes down.]]''
57	* TooCoolToLive:
58	** [[spoiler: Holly, the bad ass tough girl who loves thrills, is the first main character to die. Her broken leg sort of made her an easy target.]]
59	** And even more so after that, [[spoiler: Juno and Sarah]]. These two especially establish their badass credentials by hitting beating several Crawlers in fights.
60	* ToughActToFollow: Was something of one for Neil Marshall in terms of film. His debut feature ''Film/DogSoldiers'' was a hit, but this really set the bar high in terms of production values and critical acclaim. His third feature ''{{Film/Centurion}}'' was well-received but was his first to actually flop. ''The Descent'' is the most highly regarded of his films, and the only one popular enough to get a sequel. Thankfully, he still managed to helm some of the more beloved ''Series/GameOfThrones'' episodes.
61	* TheWoobie: Everyone gets their moments, although the most prominent example would be Sarah, [[spoiler:pre-AxCrazy.]] The poor woman loses her husband and daughter in the opening moments of the film, and said husband was possibly cheating on her with one of her best friends (who avoided her for a year after the accident too).

Context YMMV / TheDescent