The Masters University’s New Movie, Review of “The Descent”
By Elizabeth Prata
“The Descent” follows the story of a small, tranquil community suddenly grappling with a series of horrifying attacks from mysterious creatures that have emerged from the depths of darkness.
The Great Tribulation of Revelation is one of the next prophetic events on God’s timeline. Many Christian filmmakers have made movies about this period in Earth’s life. Some were fairly successful, others not. The main issue people usually have with these kind of movies is the poor production values make some of these films nearly unwatchable. The Descent’s production values are excellent, stunning in fact.
The main issue with movies based on events in Revelation is that the prophesied events are so horrific, the worst of the horror genre movies cannot capture them realistically. Nor would we want to. Even Jesus said in Matthew 24:21,
For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.
The Descent is a film made by the Department of Cinema and Digital Arts from The Masters University, a Christian University. Its premise is that the Tribulation had begun three years ago, and now the Great Tribulation is beginning with the opening of the abyss to let out the demon horde. Here is the passage, which is read to several characters in a pivotal scene in the movie:
Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke ascended out of the shaft like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the shaft. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death will flee from them!
Movie Recap (skip down to avoid spoilers)
The movie opens in stunning scenes of a spacewalk, displaying the Milky Way, the universe, and the Earth, the blue marble that sustains the only life. The character says in communication with ground control at Houston he is looking forward to returning to earth in a few days. As he is speaking, static enters the communication lines and soon all communication is lost. On Earth we see with numerous bombs going off that global war has erupted. The movie later calls this ‘Red Friday.’
The tension building in the cold open is excellent, as are the visual effects. Next we see a slick advertisement for the Unity program, “working toward the greater good” in a push for a rebuilding earth’s damage.
We see a montage of chaos and war and death in quick-flashing fashion. All the things you’d expect to see if the earth was at war with itself. It’s explained that though the world’s social and civic infrastructures were crumbling, there were small pockets of relative normalcy, and we soon join the characters in the US Northeast in one of those pockets.
The characters are meeting with an older man who is a leader in this global party called Unity. He is singing its virtues, and there is one character, Wyatt, who is hesitant to join, though his girlfriend Mia is all-in.
As they conclude the meeting the couple go outside to dispose of trash and they see a man sitting on his porch, whom they get a weird feeling about and try to avoid. This is Markus, a Tribulation saint (played by Jubilant Sykes). He later explains that his wife tried her best to evangelize him but he rejected her push to convert and didn’t listen. “The she was gone” he said, in a moment the earth’s remaining unsaved call “The Abductions.”
As characters in the neighborhood go about their business this night, they hear strange chattering sounds and the music builds the tension. One by one, ‘something’ takes them, and there are some scenes of screaming, and some blood, though the rating is (if I remember correctly) TV-14. Nothing gory is shown. Only parts of the creatures are shown, leaving the rest to the imagination. The tension builds as the creatures stalk and drag away characters, and this is effective. I did slide forward a bit, myself, to relieve the tension.
Jubilant Sykes is ‘Markus’, the tribulation saint who later explains to the curious (and wounded) characters what is happening and what will happen. The leader of Unity slowly descends into madness, the unsaved entrench further into their deception, and the fence-sitter Wyatt eventually parts with his stubborn girlfriend, and walks over to Markus’ house, presumably to learn more about Jesus.
The movie ends with ‘Wyatt’ deciding to join with Markus, not with Unity.
My Review
A critic who reviewed the movie was perplexed as to why the producers chose to call this movie The Descent. I was quizzical about that myself. He said that there is another, more famous horror movie with the same title, and people no doubt would get the two mixed up. Additionally, he said he didn’t see what the title had to do with the movie. Me either. Unless, since I know about the events in Revelation, that the world descends into chaos and sin?
Anyway, I am not a cinephile but I thought it was pretty well acted, and also the shot composition, camera placement, and pacing were good. Some complaints I have read say it has a lot of talking in rooms, and it does, but the conversations are interspersed with outside scenes of the creatures and other goings on.
My Conclusion
Rating: Cinematically: B+. Good job on the first feature length movie!
Rating theologically: F. There was a glaring error, omission, and flaw in this film. It is Gospel-less. None of the scenes where Markus is talking about his conversion or what was happening to the world contained the words sin, repent, wrath, grace, nothing.
Markus’ first conversation with seeker Wyatt was that Markus’ wife tried her best and she read the Bible and prayed every day, but Markus would not listen. After the ‘Abductions’, AKA the rapture, Markus read the Bible “and it all made sense.” WHAT made sense?
In another conversation Markus had with Wyatt and his girlfriend, he said the Bible is the “very word of God” and that these events are ripped straight from the Bible, “I heard the truth. I hadn’t listened to it. The Bible changed my life, man.” The Bible doesn’t change your life, it changes your position in front of Jesus the King from wrath-bound sinner to saved penitent rightly worshiping the Savior. It changes your eternity, your soul, and then, yes, your life.
“It’s all real, it’s all foretold,” Markus said. He said he’s “a Christ follower” but he never says what it takes to become one, nor WHY these events were happening (wrath for sin).
When Wyatt seemed ready to convert, that would have been the moment, but Markus simply gives Wyatt a Bible to read. It wasn’t even open to the Gospels, but to Revelation.
I didn’t hear the Gospel and this is a heinous omission. Even the self-identifying atheist reviewer I listened to gave the movie props for acting and a good job on a limited budget for its production values, but he said the the movie “doesn’t really give you a lot of context about what’s happening.” I agree. And who better than an atheist to hear the Gospel in context?
The movie is here at Tubi (it’s hard to find there if you search, but here’s the direct link: https://tubitv.com/movies/100034175/the-descent. It will also be on Amazon later, they say.
I recommend it as a watchable movie in itself, and as a well done thriller. The movie does a good job of showing the unsaved’s reactions to the events unfolding in front of them, and giving very plausible reasons, too. But theologically there is no excuse for the lack of gospel. For all the ‘talking in rooms’ in the film, just once I’d liked to have heard the gospel and the biblical explanation for the events happening. Shame on TMU for leaving this out.
