There’s always two movies about topic “X” in any given year. It’s like the movie studios have spies to find out who’s making what and then they go and make the same thing. Just off the top of my head, you got:
Bug’s Life and Antz
Volcano and Dante’s Peak
Armageddon and Deep Impact
Those are the ones that stick out, but it seems like not a year passes that two studios don’t put out two movies that happen to be about the same broad topic.
Also, Wyatt Earp and Tombstone.
Also, Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont. Like certain twins in the womb, there’s usually one which turns out to be superior and subsumes the other, leaving just vestigial memories of something that could have been in the good movie, but wasn’t.
I read somewhere that one of the Die Hard sequels (2 maybe) was supposed to be set on a boat, but Under Siege had them scurrying back to the typewriters.
Isn’t it pretty common for two studios to have very similar films in production at a given time?
“A Bug’s Life” vs. “Antz”
“Vice Versa” vs. “Big”
The Prestige and The Illusionist
Training Day and Dirty?
Worth a shot.
Step it Up II vs. How She Move
I just checked this movie out, I didnt really like it at all. The beginning part was pretty scary, as cave exploration is something Ill never want to do ever (that scene where she`s stuck was the scariest moment of the film for me). But once the monsters show up, meh.
Infamous and Capote
To be fair, Dreamworks is quite deliberately trying to parrot Pixar – there’s been some documentation of that in the entertainment press. (Shark Tale vs. Finding Nemo, e.g.)
Not just Pixar but Disney on a whole. They’ve been doing this since… jeez, almost since Dreamworks Animation’s inception, to release competition–any kind of competition–in conjunction with or before Disney releases.
— Alan
The Descent is one of my favorite scary movies, for many of the reasons you guys have mentioned. The overall atmosphere is genuinely creepy. I’ve seen it several times, and love watching it with someone who hasn’t seen it.
Plus, it made my fiancée jump, and that’s no small task.
I really like this director, and I’m sorry I waited so long to see the film.
The reason I liked this film is because it earns its fear honestly, outside of the monsters, before it adds in the fantastic elements.
The cave (and Juno) are the disasters of this film. The monsters are just extra. It’s lot like an Aliens film in that way.
It’s a damn neat trick, because it makes the monsters a lot easier to swallow if you’re already tense when they show up. And the movie has already proven that it can have you on the edge of your seat without them.
What’s great about the caves is that they feel so otherworldly. It’s like you’re literally walking into an underworld. It’s much easier to suspend disbelief when they are shot that way. It’s evocative akin to folklore, like watching out for faeries when you go deep into the woods.