The Descent
I am of course talking about the uncut, British ending to Neil Marshall’s terrifying film. As many of you may know, the final 90 seconds of the film was deleted from the version shown in American theaters because the studio thought it was too depressing. They were right about that, but it severely diminishes the impact of the film and the dual meaning of its title. You see, The Descent in the films title describes the women’s descent into the cave, but it also describes Sarah’s (Shauna Macdonald) descent into madness as she fights for her life, only to end up left in the cave, staring at a hallucination of her deceased daughter as the screeches of the crawlers grow louder and louder. It’s a rather poetic ending, just forget that the subpar sequel was made and undid everything about it.
Them
Also known as Ils under its true French title, Them is essentially a precursor to Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers, in that it follows a young couple that suffer a rather terrifying home invasion. Both films also share rather depressing endings. Yes, both Clémentine (Olivia Bonamy) and Lucas (Michaël Cohen) are murdered by the time the credits roll, but the culprits are revealed to be children in their early teens (as in 12 or 13 years old). The last shot of Them shows the children walking to the school bus after having just murdered Clémentine, ready for another day at school.
