In 2005, I was new to Hollywood. I always wanted to see the next big, scary movie. At the time, I was working with the director of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and reading a lot of scary screenplays and watching random submissions. I was on the hunt for the next big indie project. Then, one Thursday night after working too hard, I went to see the scariest movie of 2005 – THE DESCENT. I had zero expectations, and it scared the sh*t out of me. The setup has all the basic horror trappings. A group of women goes spelunking in a cave, only for everything to go wrong.
When I look back on my time spent looking for the next big horror director, I believed that Neil Marshall would be it. Then he did a bunch of subpar films (DOOMSDAY and HELLBOY [2019]). Yet, where he eventually succeeded was in TV. Making some great episode(s) of TIMELESS, GAME OF THRONES, HANNIBAL, and more. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, I’m still itching to give this guy the freedom to make another genre movie that aims to scare, and isn’t attached to a bigger IP.
At the heart of Neil Marshall’s genre picture is a story of grief. The shocking survival and betrayal in the opening perfectly set up the interpersonal drama between the women while they face their greatest fears miles underground.
THE DESCENT has a lot going for it despite a minimal budget. To capture the claustrophobic red-colored caverns, the production crew filmed at Pinewood Studios. They were able to recreate the underground caverns with the dwellers and control the environment with minimal lighting, sound, and infrared cameras, making it even more terrifying.
Speaking of scary, this film has all the right build-up to the inevitable jump scares. What’s more frightening than being hunted in complete darkness? Think PREDATOR, but underground, and no way to escape. It’s an hour-and-40-minute fright-fest that’s gruesome, suspenseful, and will leave you breathless by the end credits.
Final Thought: THE DESCENT is one of the most overlooked horror films of the last twenty years, and it’s a damn shame that more people don’t talk about its brilliance.
THE DESCENT is available on Prime Video.
