“The worst thing that could ever have happened to you has happened. And you’re still here. It’s over. And you’re here. You didn’t give up. This is just a poxy little cave. You’ve got NOTHING left to be afraid of.“
Neil Marshall first burst onto the scene with his ferocious werewolf picture Dog Soldiers, marking himself as a writer and filmmaker with a knack for blending high-octane action with uniquely British banter.
After being propelled into the stratosphere with his one-two punch of this and The Descent, the director subsequently turned his hand to Roman soldiers, comic book superheroes and even the residents of Westeros. Still, The Descent remains the pinnacle of Marshall’s career. That’s not to disparage the rest of his career – The Descent is just that good.
Following a profound tragedy suffered by Sarah (Shauna Macdonald), the gang reunite for a thrill-seeking trip beneath the Appalachian mountains, spearheaded by the formidable Juno (Natalie Mendoza). What Juno hasn’t told anyone is that she’s taken them on an off-the-books journey to a hitherto unexplored cave system… and one which may not necessarily even have a way out.
As with Dog Soldiers, what makes the film truly sing is its characters. The close-knit chums of Marshall’s second feature couldn’t be any more different from its predecessors’ blokey blokenfolk, swapping rough-and-tough squaddies for an all-female group, most of whom seem educated and relatively well off. What links both is the sense of humanity with which they’ve been imbued.
On top of Sarah and Juno, there’s bickering-yet-loving sisters Rebecca and Sam (Saskia Mulder and Myanna Buring), sensible Beth (Alex Reid) and thrill-seeker Holly (Nora-Jane Noone). Each is distinct and colourfully drawn, making the group’s ultimate fate all the more painful.
And if The Descent knows anything, it’s pain.
Four years after I first saw The Descent, my brother died. It’s a bummer, but it’s true. In the months and years following, the film took on renewed meaning. It’s a powerful portrayal of grief, and that strange period which follows where people, on the one hand, expect you to have moved on while, at the same time every conversation is tinged with baby voices and a sad, awkward undertone.
When Beth addresses the subject directly, it’s in a short exchange which proves to be one of the most resonant observations on grief ever put on film. “The worst thing that could ever have happened to you has happened,” Beth says, as Sarah lies trapped; the weight of her own grief – and a quite literal mountain – bearing down upon her shoulders. “This is just a poxy little cave. You’ve got NOTHING left to be afraid of.“
Once they pass to the other side of the chamber, that weight lifts, and the film’s most claustrophobic scares are left behind. While the Crawlers’ presence would seem to prove Beth’s pep talk wrong, Sarah rises to the challenge.
Compared to what she’s already lost, the (wo)man-eating cave monsters are a nuisance; a deadly, bloodthirsty nuisance, but now unburdened from her fear, Sarah is better tooled than any of her friends for the fight ahead. Even Juno. Poor, misunderstood Juno, battling a secret grief of her own that she’s never been able to speak out loud.
The funny thing about grief is that things can always get worse. There’s no rock bottom; only different levels of hurt and sadness. Sometimes we get back up and persist. Other times? We’re alone in the dark, grasping at shadows while the demons encroach.
Now restored in 4k, the dark depths of those caves pervade in piercing blackness. Every pore of the creatures’ alabaster skin glistens, when Marshall deigns to show them. Meanwhile, blood pools and bone piles shimmer in the dark, making The Descent one of the most gorgeously shot ‘dark’ horror films of all time.
Twenty years on from its release, The Descent is unmatched. Unmatched in Juno, one of the greatest female characters ever to grace a horror film. Unmatched in its depiction of pure claustrophobia, which does for enclosed spaces what The Texas Chain Saw Massacre did for delirious madness. And unmatched as one of the best depictions of grief ever put to film.
THE DESCENT 4K Restoration premiered at UK FrightFest on August 24, 2025.
Once Upon a Time In... Harleywood 