Most horror movies aren't scary. They're just not. Usually because they rely too heavily on blood and gore (or torture, just lately) or because they think loud noises are enough to scare you, or because they're just low budget trash that no-one cared about. The Descent is one of those movies that I will always list amongst those films which have really, really scared me.

It's just such a perfect premise: a team of potholers get lost in an underground cave. No-one knows they're there; no-one is coming to the rescue. They only have one another to rely on. Except that they're not very reliable. Plus, there's something else down in the caves with them...

Admittedly, a lot of people aren't fans of the monsters in this movie. And the film is plenty scary before the monsters even show up - there's a particularly tense moment in a tight spot which is scarier than anything fictional could ever be. But the monsters in The Descent gave me nightmares for weeks after I saw this movie ... and while I was in the middle of watching it for the first time, I felt as if I wasn't breathing. As if I was holding my breath the whole time, constantly alert and waiting for the next terrifying thing to happen.

Neil Marshall's previous movie, Dog Soldiers, is fairly well-liked, and there are a lot of similarities between that and The Descent, particularly in terms of structure. But by the time he made The Descent, he'd really honed his craft. This is a fucking masterpiece. And actually, it might be cheating a bit to include it in our list of recommendations, because it might manage to make even Channel 4's horror movie lists... but it's so good it deserves to be recommended again.

So there you go. Watch it.