The Descent is a bloody good time

By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
The Descent chronicles the story of a half-dozen adventurous female friends, but thankfully there's no sign of a shopping montage or a fashion makeover, and not a moment of Motown music mugging.
Director Neil Marshall gets points for true grit in making a gruesome chick flick. Actually, The Descent is not aimed at either gender. It's made expressly for fans of unmitigated gore.

Six friends get together for a weekend cave expedition in the Appalachians, hoping to cement their bonds a year after one of their number (Shauna Macdonald) suffered a terrible loss. Led by the brash and impulsive Juno (Natalie Mendoza), the women find themselves in a perilous, unexplored cave, and things go from bad to worse.

First they become trapped when there's a cave-in, then they can't find any way out. The friends grow desperate and turn on each other. Finally, creepy bloodthirsty cave-dwellers descend upon them.

The film opens in an outdoor natural setting, with three of the women rafting on a river. A palpable sense of impending doom settles subtly over them. For my money, these first 20 or so minutes are the best in the film. Once the real adventure gets underway in the cave, things get less interesting.

The British-made Descent is handsomely shot and has already proved a hit overseas. Fans of Saw and The Cave will likely find it more gripping than those movies, but it doesn't match the subtle horrors of 2003's Open Water.

When it comes to female bonding and physical exertion, one wonders, why couldn't the group have just passed on spelunking and spent the weekend attending yoga classes at a spa?