I went to see The Descent knowing as little about the storyline as possible and that really made for a fun and at times unpredictable experience. The Descent is a fun little trip to the Appalachians that turns into one of the most thrilling and terrifying horror films that I have seen in quite some time.

Soon after enjoying an outing of whitewater rafting with her family and friends, Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) ends up in a horrific car accident. The crash claims the lives of both her husband and her beloved little daughter. After a period of recovery her friends decide to take her on a little trip to help her have fun again. Where they go is a little bit of a mystery. It is supposed to be the Appalachians, and yet all of the women on the trip are English. The whitewater rafting adventure at the beginning seems to be in the English countryside. But as the adventure moves to the US it is amusing to note some of the geographic discrepancies. The imagination of the film, however, conquers these minor details with aplomb.

If the rafting seemed like a bad idea, wait until the ladies descend by ropes into a cave that takes them as far as two miles underground. There are plenty of hazards down there, including having to find a way out since the hole that they dropped into is way too high and far too steep to climb back out of. Not a problem…or so the girls think, since they assume that their friend Jude (Natalie Jackson Mendoza), who organized the trip, knows what she’s doing. As they eventually discover however, Jude left the guidebook and maps in the car. They would have been little help anyway, since Jude decided to surprise her unsuspecting girlfriends and wound up in a cave system that was completely uncharted.

This revelation only comes to light after falling boulders suddenly seal off the tunnel. That detail, however, soon becomes the least of their problems when Sarah suddenly sees what she thinks is a very pale looking man feeding on something at the far end of one of the caves.

As it becomes evident that they are not alone, and that what Sarah saw was no man, getting out of the caves suddenly becomes a frantic race for their lives. There are some terrifying moments and great surprises throughout the movie. My favorite is the shot when you first get a clear look at one of the creatures. They are a race that has evolved over thousands of years and has adapted over that time to living in total darkness¾ and the end result is not pretty. The tension created here reminded me a bit of the film Signs. However, none of the actors in this film are well known and that adds to the excitement and unpredictability of it. In the end it turns out that the pasty, foul-looking creatures may not be the only beings to be wary of during the escape.

I give this film such high marks not because I expect that it will be reaping awards come Oscar time, but because it is so good at what it sets out to be. This is, simply put, a fantastic thriller and a really fun horror flick.