Film Theory: The Crawlers Weren't The REAL Killers In The Descent

Sarah creates these monsters as a delusion from her own murderous tendencies that she gives in to as the film progresses, losing her mind and her humanity as she creates a vicious, terrifying horde to take place of her emotional instability. The crawlers are a reflection of her own self image, lost and alone in the dark after her family has been so cruelly taken away from her.

But why would she want to kill her friends? Well, we know Juno was involved with her husband and that his wandering mind whilst driving thinking about her is what cost both him and Jessica their lives. The other members of her group could be projections of her emotions as well, if Juno takes the role of sexuality, then the rest can be other facets of her personality and mindset she wants to erase. The innocence that was taken away from her in Sam, the responsibility she no longer has in Rebecca, her sense of adventure she's lost in Holly, and the embodiment of her friendship and support that's been wrenched away from her in Beth. Sarah wants to get rid of these in a psychotic rage to reach her true animalistic potential - she has no need for these people or their representations any more.

Josh Grimm also brings up the interesting angle of seeing faces throughout the movie as if being watched, or as if different perspectives are being offered up from Sarah's fractured version of crawler 'reality' and her own violent actions as 'reality' too. The most appropriate moment that links these two is Sarah's own scream after killing off some of the crawlers in the blood pit - one that transforms to the screech of a crawler when heard by the other members of the group. Pretty conspicuous, right?

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