Sorry, I used another side for the "worsening of condition" definition. M-W actually refers to it as "to degenerate through a gradual change or evolution."

Not meaning to pick a word war here, but M-W seems to include "devolve" as "a worsening of condition" as well as the transfer of responsibility.

I expected to get what the movie poster promised: Pure, unadulterated awesome.

Good question, but I'm not sure I know myself. I actually probably fall more in the "wuss" category, but, like urtext, like movies that actually focus on brooding terror ("Don't Look Now") versus stuff jumping out at you (whatever's playing at your local theater).

But removed from society, would everyone eventually (or immediately) revert to donkey punching?

Holy shit! I haven't seen that in years. Caught that on Bravo back when they had virtually no commercials in between their programming.

Hm. Just remembered the scene after the cereal that involves fisting. I kind of agree on that being utterly repulsive, and maybe sort of unnecessary.

Unforgivably flippant? That seems hard to believe—the whole film is about how these two individuals deal with a trauma that derails each of their lives.