Cave paintings: The art of 'The Descent'

Not comparable to those you posted, but one image I thought of briefly was this Batman Begins poster. It's not something Neil Marshall obviously references (seeing as it came out last summer in the UK), but it popped in my mind and stayed there anyway. Not only the obvious cave correlation, but the bats, and Batman. The bats in the film are a forboding precurser to the crawlers' eventual apperance, and the crawlers are in some ways bat-men and women (without the capes or the nipple suits of course). I'm just coming down from the movie now and there's so much to think about.

Hi Jim,
I'm really enjoying your commentary on "The Descent"... I saw the film last night, and wow! I'm a 21-year-old cinema buff and local film critic, and I've been quite disappointed with a lot of recent horror films... "The Hills Have Eyes", "Hostel", and "Saw II" all made me sick to my stomach with their sheer mindless cruelty and lack of artistic integrity. But you're absolutely right about "The Descent", it's a fascinating film, ranking right behind "United 93" and "The Proposition" on my "best of the year" list so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing where Neil Marshall's career is going... he cited "Deliverance" as his primary influence for "The Descent", but I think he actually exceeded the quality of that film. he says his next film is inspired by "Escape from New York" and "Mad Max"... hmm. Anyway, thanks again for all your thoughts on the film.

First I'd like to thank you for recommending this film, which now ranks among my favorite horror films of all time.

Watching the Descent last night, one of the things that hit the strongest chord with me was how the cave seemed almost biological with their red-lit chasms and dripping water. I was reminded of the landscapes of H.R. Giger, which is fitting considering the similarities to the film Aliens whose creepy-crawlies were designed by Giger.

I'm unaware of anyone -- film critic or fan -- who has made what seems to me an obvious visual reference in Marshall's film... I'm referring to the similarity of appearance (baldness, pallor, pointed ears, the teeth) between the creatures in "The Descent" and the vampire in "Nosferatu." And, of course, references to bats throughout the film reiterate this: Marshall's use of bats to foreshadow the violence that is yet to come; at least one reference within the film to the creatures' apparent use of echolocation for hunting; etc.

JE: Right you are, Nathan! I didn't want to mention "Nosferatu" in my review because I didn't want to say anything about the "crawlers." But I'm planning a feature showing some of the visual "quotes" "The Descent" uses from other movies, and "Nosferatu" is certainly one of them. (It's OK to discuss it here, because it's after the jump and the spoiler warning...)

I thought that the most obvious "image quote" (given that The Descent is mainly a pyschological horror film) are the aerial shots that follow the two cars with the characters along the mountainous scenery that augur the isolation trip and insanity that Sarah will undergo in some ways thanks to the nature of the baleful location where she and her "family" will be changed, and where she will (perhaps metaphorically) dwell eternally in surrounded by demons. Just like Jack Torrance in The Shining. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but the maze-like nature of the cave could also serve as well as the prison in the labyrinth of the Overlook in Kubrick's film, only that snow is changed by the bloody mangrove swamp.It is the perfect setting to confine Sarah to the sinister rocky dungeon and keep her from getting rid of the traumatic death of her husband and daughter.

JE: "The Shining," definitely. There are so many deliberate quotes from movies that one can't be an accident. It's even shot the same way (perhaps with a wide-angle lens), so that the trees point up like stalagmites.

You're right about the visual homages. I myself was most struck by the seemingly plagarized sound of the crawlers. It feels lifted wholesale from the Predator. It's such an iconic noise that I was a little shocked to have heard it appropriated so unabashedly.

Visually, the eye gouging shots during the final battle come from "Blade Runner." I can't remember such graphic eye-gouging scenes in any other movies.

Incidently, "Blade Runner" featured the actor Joe Turkel, who also made an appearence in "The Shinning" as the ghostly bar tender. As another reader pointed out, "The Descent" quotes liberally from "The Shinning."

JE: Yes!

I was reminded of "The Shining" as well, from the opening shots following the trek up the mountain to the literal and metaphorical descent into madness. "The Descent" also vividly recalls "Carrie", almost exactly in a few scenes toward the end (angry blonde covered in blood, hand reaching out of underground). Not sure what all this means but I thought I'd point out some of the references I caught and maybe see what you had to see about them.

Hey, man, you've really gotta show images at their correct resolution. Otherwise, you get ugly aliasing artifacts.

JE: I noticed that, too, but I'm not sure why it happened. I think it had something to do with the site from which I took the Dore engravings (which are very detailed, anyway). If you click on the "view image" link it opens another window with the original resolution.

I went with my friends, who aren't as "into" cinema as a I am, to see this movie - after it was over, one of them said that this (being a genre movie) was not the kind of film he expected me to reccommend. I loved how it offered little cinematic gifts for those of us who are knowledgble about older horror movies (I especially enjoyed the Psycho homage, in the begining when the girl is taking a shower).

A previous poster saw the eye-gouging scene as a reference to "Blade Runner".

Personally, I thought it was a hat-tip to Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later", particularly since they are both products of the UK.

Further, Jim's gradual descent (pun intended) into madness at the end of "28" is almost identical to the descent into madness that Sarah takes. Both become lone soldiers fighting an endless army of demons/zombies, and both leave victorious.

I'm impressed by the kind of imagery people have picked up on. Myself though, the most obvious thing I noticed was a visual reference to Carrie. At the end Sarah, like Carrie during her rage after getting pig's blood dumped on her, is shown covered with blood from head to foot with her huge eyes staring out in a not-quite-all-there way. They've both been pushed to their breaking point and moved beyond it to become a true force to be reckoned with and are both ultimately doomed.

One visual reference that jumped out at me was a night-vision close-up shot of a crawler, that looked very similar to Chris Cunningham's short film/video "Rubber Johnny" - a wonderfully disturbing little piece in its own right.

JE: I'll have to look for that Cunningham movie!

I guess I should save this until you put up your visual references. In addition to the "usual suspect" horror films that are referenced in "The Descent" I was picking up on many in the B movie realm.

The eye gouge immediately made me think of Lucio Fulci. Especially in the context of the film, the attempted escape from the caves, recalls the climax to "City of the Living Dead" where our heroes make their final stand underground only to escape to an above ground that is not quite the salvation they expected.

In addition to the obvious Carrie nod in in Sarah's "baptism" in the blood pool you can also see (escpecially in her, um, coming to terms? with Juno) a nod to I Spit on Your Grave. I hate to say that on a Roger Ebert affiliated site but the iconic image of the vistem/avenger in ISPONYG (sorry, couldn't resist) is echoed in Sarah's matted, wet hair and her pose with the pick (as an axe stand in).

Marshal clearly knows horror films and is blissfully playful with them. Its not just visual either. The narrative of Dog Soldiers largely propped up by the fact he knows his audience will default their minds to tropes he borrows from. All of the expected cliches from Aliens, Night of the Living Dead, etc, are then systematicly tweaked and subverted without stooping to winking, self mocking "postmodernism" (my vote for the most misused term since Quantum Leap).
My taste in Horror films tends to run in a polar fashion. I either like really bold, thought provoking movies that use the fantastic as an opprotunity to engage the uncanning ( Cronenberg) or absolute, on the other side pure rollercoaster, cartoon thrills. Neil Marshal is the only Director since the Itallians of the 70's that's been hitting bullseyes right in the middle.

Thanks,

Allan

What about Apocalypse Now? You know, with the head peaking out of the water or, um, fluid...

Yep, I thought of Apocalypse Now immediately in that scene. And, further out in left field, anyone get The Killing Fields from the scenes of crawling over bones?

At the risk of stretching this comparison to the snapping point, I think Sarah's lit-up bonepath scramble is reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch's painting, The Ascent of the Blessed, where the dark background is dominated by a bright tunnel that rises toward a brilliant light, which humanoid figures approach in hope of reaching the Empyrean or highest heaven (believed by the ancients to be a realm of pure fire or light).

In Sarah's case, however, despite the fact she's climbing a similar lit-up tunnel toward a heavenly light, if you will, the bones subvert the imagery and turn it upside down, making me believe she's actually one of damned who is destined to arrive in purgatory instead.

(Not that I'm particularly religious or anything. I just enjoy films that foster speculation, and The Descent certainly does that.)

Good thread!

(Ditto for the other thread dealing with The Descent's ending.)

Thank-you, Mr. Emerson, for getting all this interesting talk going.

Jim, I finally caught up with The Descent last night and I have to say, it's been a long time since a horror film held in this kind of grip, with such a deft mixture of foreboding, dread, gradually settling (or descending, if you will) fear, rattled nerves, unexpected turns of character (involving six particular well-drawn characters) and, finally, pure panic.

I think the last time I can remember feeling a similar sense of being under the spell of a genuine cinematic nightmare was probably Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and that's where The Descent makes one of its most resonant movie references for me. I like the observations above in their pointing out allusions to Carrie, Apocalypse Now and even Lucio Fulci, but from the minute Sarah emerged from the rooted-over entrance/exit of the cave system and began her hysterical path to the SUV and then down the road, right up to her encounter with the logging truck, and her breakdown afterward, I was thinking about Marilyn Burns and her agonizing escape from Leatherface in TCM.

Sarah, hair matted with blood, eyes wild with hysteria, even looks like Marilyn Burns, and the way she careens almost out of control away from the site of this subterranean horror, we're glad she's out (even after the horrific mistake she makes in crippling Juno), but there is no way we can ever believe she has truly escaped. Just like Burns as she cackles with disbelief that she was able to hop in the pickup truck and just barely outrun the swinging blade of Leatherface's chain saw, Sarah is doomed to an aftermath of escalating madness-- the combination of her daugter's death, the horror of the caves, and what she had to do to get out (including the fate she deals Juno) will ensure that she never spends another restful moment in her life, awake or asleep.

Now I'm off to read the rest of your great accounting of this movie-- all about the British ending, and more about those spectacular paintings that, though I didn't know them specifically, must have resided somewhere in the part of me that has access to the collective brain, because the movie absolutely felt like them, felt like hell, to me. And I'm looking forward to finally reading your review too. I'm glad I stayed away from reading too much about this one!