Fans of iconic 00s horror film The Descent have been given the most exciting sequel update yet, with director Neil Marshall sharing the prospects of a third instalment.
Starring Natalie Mendoza, Shauna Macdonald, MyAnna Buring, and more, the 2005 film follows a group of women who set out on a caving expedition one year after the death of Sarah’s (Macdonald) husband and child.
During the trip, they become trapped inside the caving system and soon realise they are not alone, hunted by bloodthirsty subterranean humanoids.
Marshall’s sophomore film was a huge success at the time of its release, spawning a sequel in 2009 directed by Jon Harris.
And the Hellboy director confirmed that we could well get a third film in the future ahead of The Descent’s 4k restoration premiering at FrightFest in London.
‘I can definitely see it happening,’ he told Metro when asked about a potential continuation.
‘It’s something I think would be good to wrap up the story. So many other franchises have been exploited over the years, but nothing has really happened with The Descent.’
As to the story a third film could tell, Marshall revealed: ‘I’ve got a few ideas. The trend seems to be prequels.
‘I was always interested in finding out what happened to the miners who went down with the cave first.’
To mark the 20th anniversary of The Descent, the special screening at London’s Odeon Luxe is also accompanied by the release of a retrospective book, The Making of The Descent, which takes fans behind the scenes of the cult classic.
Reflecting on making the film, which Marshall ‘came up with on the train home’ from a meeting, The Lair director admitted he felt pressure to follow his breakout werewolf flick, Dog Soldiers.
Latest London news
- Getaway driver guilty over Dalston gang shooting that nearly killed nine-year-old girl
- What happens next after asylum seeker hotel in Epping closes?
- Thousands of mice, rats and birds have plagued Parliament for the last five years
To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro’s London news hub.
‘It’s like the difficult second album,’ he admitted. ‘Dog Soldiers became such a cult favourite in a short space of time.
‘I felt a degree of pressure to do something that would match that, but at the same time, I was fighting to be different.
‘That’s partly the reason why I chose an all-female cast. Dog Soldiers was very guy-heavy, and I wanted to go the complete flipside of that.’
But he struck gold with the claustrophobic nightmare that is The Descent, thanks to its terrifying setting within a labyrinth of caves, of which the cast and crew never set foot in.
‘There isn’t a single real cave in the whole movie because there’s no way we could do that in a real cave. We would have all died, it was too dangerous,’ he revealed.
‘They were all sets and a few miniatures. I had to make those caves as realistic and constraining as possible so that the actors would feel that they were squished.’
However, that doesn’t mean filming was plain sailing for any of the cast: ‘It was filmed in January, and it was freezing cold in the studios.
The Making of The Descent author Janine Pipe on the legacy of the film
Just what is it about The Descent that means 20 years later, we are still celebrating it?
There is, of course, no one easy answer. No formula to be noted down and copied by fellow genre filmmakers keen to emulate the magnificence of Neil Marshall’s sophomore offering, but there are specific elements that add to the equation.
The all-female, strong, non-sexualised cast, which had never been done in this capacity, is few and far between. These weren’t Sorelty Sisters ready to be picked off, Camp Counsellors ready to sleep with anyone who looked their way, or a simple Final Girl.
Then there is the narrative, an emotionally driven story using realistic devices like grief and betrayal, love and loss to move the film and characters forward, the primal fear of claustrophobia, and being trapped underground running out of oxygen without technology to help.
You also have the Crawlers, who raise the stakes tenfold. Not only are they potentially trapped in a seemingly endless labyrinth of underground caves and tunnels, but there are now terrifying cannibalistic monsters.
All of these factors are just the tip of the iceberg as to why The Descent remains so iconic and well-loved by genre fans, and thank God it exists.
‘We were constantly showering the actresses with water, because we had hose pipes and spritzers to make the cave walls drip.
‘They were spending their time constantly soaked through on these freezing cold days. And then I’d get them to squeeze into these tiny little caves.’
The people who played the cave dwellers were also put through the ringer to create the perfect horrifying creature to haunt our nightmares.
‘There’s prosthetics, loads of body paint, and they had to be shaved from head to toe,’ the Centurion director said.
‘We had to devise a way so that they wouldn’t be naked on set, so we got these little G-strings and glued them to them so they wouldn’t have straps.’
The Descent is still one of the few horror films that features an all-female cast, and one filled with strong characters rather than hollow stereotypes of damsels in distress.
It was something Marshall was keen to steer clear of when approaching the film, telling Metro: ‘I did a lot of research about the world of climbers and cavers and found there are just as many women out there doing this kind of stuff as there are guys.
‘I’d not seen an all-female cast in a horror film before, in which there wasn’t just one kind of strong woman in the cast.’
He reflected on one awkward moment with a producer, who floated the idea that the woman should ‘come across an underground lake, take their clothes off, and go swimming.’
‘I basically just said, “Look, if that’s the film you want to make, I’ll quit now.” But they backed down.’
The Descent had its world premiere at FrightFest in 2005 on July 6, the day before the 7/7/ bombings rocked London.
‘We had a fantastic night at FrightFest and a big party afterwards, and then the next morning it happened,’ Marshall said.
‘Some people who were in the film narrowly avoided getting on those tubes by minutes. So it was a very strange day. The fact that the poster for the movie was on the side of the bus that blew up as well. It was an unusual few days.’
It is a full circle moment for Marshall and the cast to be returning to Leicester Square the celebrate the film after two decades, something which the director describes as an ‘honour.’
‘Going back 20 years later and having a screening of the brand new 4k restoration of the film is quite a treat,’ he reflected.
‘It’s a real honour that people still care after 20 years. Unlike myself, the film hasn’t aged.
‘The things that made it scary 20 years ago still make it scary now. People are still claustrophobic, and people still don’t like slimy creatures in the dark.’
The Descent 4k restoration has its world premiere at FrightFest 2025 on August 24. The Making of The Descent is available for pre-order now from Telos Publishing.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.