The Descent | SPELUNK HEADS U.S. test audiences led to softening some of the intensity of The Descent , a wrong now righted on DVD
Image credit: DESCENT: Alex Bailey
SPELUNK HEADS U.S. test audiences led to softening some of the intensity of The Descent, a wrong now righted on DVD
DVD Review

The Descent (2006)

EW's GRADE
A

Details Release Date: Dec 26, 2006; DVD Release Date: Dec 26, 2006; Movie Rated: R; Genres: Horror, Sci-fi and Fantasy; With: Shauna MacDonald and Natalie Mendoza; Distributor: Lions Gate Films

U.S. viewers were robbed: British director Neil Marshall's spelunking shriekfest The Descent lost about a minute at the end, making its dark, trippy vibe less extreme. Now we get all the shadowy horror of six muscle-laced women's underground encounter with an infuriated clan of ''crawlers.'' Want the less-deadly theatrical experience? Stop the disc at 1:34:15.

EXTRAS The revise tested better in the States. Says Marshall: It ''offers a degree of hope,'' which seems less a comment on his creative compromise than on our tastes.

Originally posted Jan 05, 2007 Published in issue #915 Jan 12, 2007 Order article reprints

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