The story of an all-female caving expedition gone horribly wrong, The Descent (2005) is arguably the best of the mid-2000s horror entries to return verve and intensity to the genre. Unlike its peers (Saw [2004], Hostel [2011], etc.), The Descent was both commercially and critically popular, providing a genuine version of what other films could only produce as pastiche. For Mark Kermode, writing in the Observer, it was "e;one of the best British horror films of recent years,"e; and Derek Elley in Variety described it as "e;an object lesson in making a tightly-budgeted, no-star horror pic."e; Time Outs critic praised "e;this fiercely entertaining British horror movie;"e; while Rolling Stones Peter Travers warned prospective viewers to "e;prepare to be scared senseless."e; Emphasizing female characters and camaraderie, The Descent is an ideal springboard for discussing underexplored horror themes: the genres engagement with the lure of the archaic; the idea of birth as the foundational human trauma and its implications for horror film criticism; and the use of provisional worldviews, or "e;rubber realities,"e; in horror.