Did the film successfully change the representation of women in horror films?

The Descent has an all female cast playing and acting out the main roles in the film. The director of The Descent, Neil Marshall, did this so that the horror film is original and one of a kind. The Descent in having an all female cast is also important because it changed the representation of women in all horror films, because in most horror films females tend to play promiscuous roles, and are stereotyped as such, for example in Texas Chainsaw Massacre the females in the cast play promiscuous roles. The Descent has therefore changed this stereotype of female roles, as the female cast play all the male and main roles in the film. Also, in The Descent, the women are represented as being strong and empowered, for example Juno being the leader of the group in the film, is represented to be a manly and strong character, as she leads the girls into the cave and battles the crawlers.

Consider the purpose of the film; did the film achieve its intended purpose?

The Descent had a purpose of entertaining the viewing audience, whilst making a substantial profit. The Descent had a budget of 3.5 million and made total worldwide box office receipts of 57 million, therefore The Descent raised a substantial profit. Also, The Descent met its purpose to entertain, as it horrified and gave the audience pleasure from the torturing of the cast from the hands of the crawlers. The director met this by applying the element of gore to the film.

Did the film change the horror genre?

The Descent has played its impact on the horror genre and has made a substantial change to it, as there were no horror films, which had an all female cast, before the Descent was produces. Therefore, this means that the Descent was original and a completely new concept to horror films. The all female cast has become commonplace to the horror genre, as there was a sequel to the Descent, The Descent 2. Moreover, The Descent has changed the horror genre by having an all female cast, as the stereotypes of women is not standing in this film, therefore this means women are considered to be more empowering in this film than in the past.

How successful at the keeping the audience’s interest was the content and the narrative form of the film?

The Descent has changed the sub-genre of horror, because by The Descent having an all female cast, the stereotypes of women in horror film being the promiscuous no longer stands, as in this film and the sequel The Descent 2, the women are represented to be strong and empowering, as they play all the main male roles. The Descent was successful at keeping the audience’s interest at hand, as the director delivered a horrific and gory film to the audience in order to shock and scare them. The aid of the gore and the crawler’s allowed the audience to gain horrific pleasure from the film. Furthermore, the director adds realism to the movie by the main aspect of the horror being in the cave system, this adds

realism to the movie, as it can be a realistic situation the girls find themselves in, the situation being trapped in the cave system due to a cave in. Moreover, the director also adds to horror of the film by using the crawlers as the monsters. The appearances of the crawlers work significantly, as the viewing audience has never seen anything like it. In addition, the appearance of the crawlers works significantly, because they are made to be human like figures, but also represent an alien like appearance. As a result, the crawlers make the movie more horrific and more effective.