Not since James Cameron burst onto the scene with “The Terminator” has a director crafted as deliriously kinetic a calling card as writer/director Neil Marshall does with his new horrific subterranean adventure “The Descent.” Following up his 2002 giddy soldier vs. werewolf B-movie “Dog Soldiers,” the filmmaker has created one of the most deliciously terrifying adventures as any I’ve seen in years. This is a beautiful movie, a sublimely eerie meditation on why we’re all afraid of the dark and an examination of why the deepest fears aren’t the ones attacking from the outside, but the ones gurgling up from within.

After Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) loses her husband and child in a devastating automobile accident, a year after that tragedy her friends take it upon themselves to get the grieving woman out of the house and back into the wilderness she’s always adored. The team of six is lead by the strong-willed and highly impetuous Juno (Natalie Mendoza), Sarah’s best friend who feels partly responsible for the tragedy which befell her comrade.

Together, these six women make their way into the mysterious caverns of North Carolina, heading underground to experience one of the many rich natural adventures the outdoors can offer those daring to experience them. But things go wrong. Soon the group finds themselves trapped and lost two miles underground, quickly losing faith in both themselves and in their own sanity.

Yet this isn’t the worst of their problems. Unknown to them, this abyssal trench of a cave is filled with humanoid life, and this life isn’t at all friendly. Cut off one from the other, the group battles for survival as best they can. These creatures move fast, however, and their numbers don’t ever seem to dwindle no matter how many of them are brutally dispatched. But the real danger isn’t from them, but from each other, each woman’s base instincts driven to the surface as each glint of light – and hope – begins to fade like the flickering of a dying candle.

Simple premise and an even simpler movie, Marshall has crafted what is easily the most thrilling, pulse-pounding and gruesomely perfect thrill ride released so far this year. All the big budget spectaculars; “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “The Omen,” even “Miami Vice” and “Superman Returns;” pale in comparison to this little low budget wonder, the filmmaker amping up the thrills and chills to such spectacular levels if I could have taken the time to catch a breath I probably would have been suitably impressed.

Sure the whole thing is remarkably thin, and yes Marshall’s script doesn’t exactly go in a direction we haven’t seen a time or two before, but originality and daring come in the execution and on that front “The Descent” succeeds in spades. The script crackles with tension and electricity, building both the scenario and the characters with spellbinding ease. Sam McCurdy’s (“Dog Soldiers”) cinematography and Jon Harris’ (“Layer Cake”) editing work in beauteous synchronicity, while Simon Bowles’ (“Dog Soldiers”) production design and David Julyan’s (“Insomnia”) score just add to the freakishly unnerving tension.

All six of the actresses are great here, but this is without a doubt Macdonald’s show right from the very start. Playful, coy, sad, reserved, loving; every facet of her character is displayed to varying degrees upon the actress’ lovely face. Yet as things fall to pieces, a steely resolve comes to the fore, an almost petrifying rage against the machine that signifies the tortures and hellish pain she went through after losing her family. But the cost to Sarah is staggering, and like a Kubrickian nightmare (think “The Shining”) come to life this newfound belief in her own power could end up having demonic consequences damning her to a life lost amidst the inhuman shadows.

Plain and simple, I loved this movie. What Marshall has crafted is easily the type of exuberantly horrific wonderment that can get me yammering about its virtues until the cows come home and the chickens finally discover their roost. Shocking, scary, thrilling and so fantastic it can chill you to the very bone, “The Descent” is a free-fall into fear that simply cannot be missed.