I wrote about The Descent last year, and its premise of a bunch of girl-jock spelunkers getting into horrific trouble deep below the surface of the earth. Well, the movie has been released on Region 1 DVD and I had the opportunity to see it last night. It scared the crap out of me, but I was also entranced by the physically competent actresses in the film, and how convincing they are in their roles.
Most impressive was Natalie Mendoza, who in addition to being an obvious real-life jock is also stunningly beautiful. (I am definitely putting her on my list of women with whom I would like to play patty-cake.) The fact that she's very feminine-looking and curvy but also somewhat muscular makes her tremendously appealing to me. And she's very convincing in the role, playing a kind of extreme sports guru to a large circle of friends. When asked "What was the physical aspect like? You seem to be involved in a lot of the fighting?" by indieLondon, Mendoza responded that:
It was difficult because I was actually wrestling a guy and that was hard work. I have lots of bruises and burns to prove how difficult it was.
It has been pretty harrowing. I have not had to fight a man like that before and literally throw him. We didn't have enough time to really rehearse because of the hectic schedule, so the direction was basically to just go for it.
So he went for me and I went for him and I have never felt that much rage, having to throw him was so grueling and fighting on the sand was like glass cutting your skin.
I generally don't like horror movies but The Descent is tops. The Descent is available at Amazon.com.
The producers apparently reworked the film pretty extensively for the US release - including changing the setting from Scotland to North Carolina. One thing that couldn't be changed was the British Commonwealth origin of all the actresses - they all sound either English, Irish or Australian.
I don't really understand when film producers do something like this in half-measures. For TV (and maybe film) it makes sense to do a strictly-US version because the entertainment industry in the US is both incredibly competitive and very lucrative - even a slight edge can pay off tremendously. But to jury-rig a film to make it slightly American seems a bit silly.
is available at Amazon.com.
