The Descent (2006)

"The Descent" is a frighteningly good, nasty Scottish production from writer/director Neil Marshall, who made the recent and far less worthy "Doomsday."

This centers on a group of female friends from varying countries who meet for an adventure-vacation in North Carolina's mountains. The sextuplet drop into a cave for what should be a light, one-day natural exploration, but things go wrong fast: The group's leader lied about the destination, the strongest outdoors sport member is quickly injured and, near the one-hour mark, cannibalistic bat-like creatures attack.

It's a simplistic romp, really -- a knowing tip of the hat to "Alien," "Deliverance and even the lesser "The Cave," but it's smarter than 99 percent of the "trapped in" horror genre films. The violence is savage, but the all-female cast is never treated as mere meat who exist only for disembowelment. These women fight back from the start, and never let up, with a few exceptions. The tension also is different, and keeps the film glued together. The linchpin: Of the six women, the main hero (Shauna Macdonald) lost her family in an accident the year prior, and the group's lying leader (Natalie Mendoza) is harboring a longtime secret. When the (admittedly obvious, yes) secret is revealed, it sets off Macdonald on a rampage like Martin Sheen in full "Apocalypse Now" mode.

It's all great fun to watch, despite the occasional lapses in logic. (The creatures are blind, sure, but they can't sense heat?) Fact: Nothing stems or compares to a woman's rage, not even certain knowledge of having your guts ripped out and eaten whilst you're alive. European films have a knack for tapping into a woman' rage without making them into "bitches"; few American films do that. This alone puts this gory flick into a rare category: Horror you can proudly show your teen daughter. The ending is spectacular. B+