Common Sense Media Age: 18+ Violence 5/5 Language 5/5
My Age Recommendation: 16+ (Due to strong bloody and gory violence throughout, disturbing imagery, and pervasive strong language throughout).
On the list of 'scariest movies of all time according to science', The Descent is marked pretty high on this list. Considering I've seen most the movies on this list (Sinister being the scariest movie according to science), I wanted to start going down the list to see how scary these actually are, and this movie definitely got to me! The story is every claustrophobic person's nightmare in which a group of female cliff divers go into an unexplored cave (with extremely claustrophobic sequences) with no way out, and they discover violent creatures deep inside that show little chances for their survival. I can't really reveal anything else due to it being a spoiler, but I can say the story was really good and I was amazed at how good a horror movie could be. The story was compelling and moved at a constant pace, which doesn't always happen for horror movies. I am not claustrophobic at all, however the scenes of the cliff divers getting stuck in insanely small spaces in the cave did have me sweating for a bit and my heart was pounding. The characterization of the group of divers were really good, and this made the scarier scenes with the monsters really hard to watch. The filmakers did a good job with making the audience feel like they too are trapped inside this cave with the cliff divers, and the dialogue of despair between the characters were really hard to watch. What I was not aware of when I watched this movie was that there are two endings depending on which country you are in. There is a 'sadder' and more depressing ending that leaves you shook, and this one is considered the U.K. ending. The other ending removes the depressing part of the ending entirely and ends it a couple moments before this, making it more open ended and less scary (U.S. ending). Unfortunately, my streaming service got the U.K. ending and I was left with a very bleak and depressing ending that made this movie much scarier for me. In general most people have a fear of being trapped, and this film showcases this in realistic detail, from the conversations with the cliff divers and with the depressing ending, and I will say this has to be the scariest thing I've ever seen! I do recommend anyone who wants a scare to watch this as they will be left shook, and definitely watch the U.K. ending for the full effect!
