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'The Descent' - Neil Marshall Q&A
The 'Dog Soldiers' director discusses his frightening second feature and the state of the horror industry.
Jul 8 2005
The director of 'Dog Soldiers' gives us the lowdown on his new film, 'The Descent'.
So, why where you drawn back to horror for your second feature?
Because I didn't feel that I'd scared people enough with 'Dog Soldiers'. I felt that I'd made something that was a lot of fun and had a few scares and plenty of gore. This time I thought I'd make another horror film, but a really, really scary one, and that was the challenge.
Is that why there's a lot less humour this time round?
Yes, it was a desire to play it straight a bit. It was also harking back to the films I grew up with, you know, 'The Omen', 'The Shining', 'The Exorcist', 'Jaws'. Not so much 'Jaws' because there's a lot of humour in that. But films that dare to take themselves seriously and aren't just there for the humour. So I fancied trying that for a change.
You must have had a few good offers from the States after 'Dog Soldiers'?
No.
Is that why you filmed 'The Descent' in the UK, or did you want to stay over here?
It was absolutely because that's what I wanted to do, and that's what I still want to do. I have no need to up sticks, go off to LA and do that whole thing. There are so many films I want to make here, and I'm not going to help the British film industry by deserting it. The offers didn't come flooding in after 'Dog Soldiers' because, however well received it was over there - and it's got a healthy internet following, it never actually got a theatrical release so the studios didn't take it seriously at all. That's why that didn't happen and that's fine, I didn't have any problem with that. I wasn't going to get handed anything really substantial off the back of 'Dog Soldiers', it would have been 'Scary Movie 5' or something like that, which didn't really appeal.
Where did the inspiration for 'The Descent' come from?
Just from the idea that caving encompasses a lot of fundamental fears like claustrophobia, height, dark, drowning, bats, whatever - there are a lot of ways of to die in a cave. And I thought I could really tap into something substantial there. And then, we added the icing on the cake, which was to put the crawlers in there. You've got a bad enough situation, but what if you're not alone down there? What if there's something else in the cave with you and it wants you either out or dead? Nobody ever did a whole film set in a cave before - certainly not one with an all-female cast - so there were a lot of fresh opportunities.
Was your female cast an effort to even things up after the all-male cast of 'Dog Soldiers'?
No, well 'Dog Soldiers' wasn't an all-male cast, but it wasn't a deliberate attempt at all. My business partner suggested it as an idea and I just thought it was fantastic. And it's never been done before – that's really the main reason for it. As far as I'm concerned, what I'm most proud of is that the film is about women but it's not about being a woman. They're just a bunch of mates and they behave like individual characters.
How did you decide on the look for the crawlers?
It came out of just creating a logical evolution for the crawlers themselves. Basically, they're humans evolved or devolved to live underground; they're the cavemen who didn't leave the cave. And however many thousands of years they've been down there, they've adapted to that environment. They've lost their eyesight; they've got some kind of sonar ability like bats have; they have attuned smell; their teeth have evolved to be better for killing and ripping raw flesh; they are great at climbing. And they are perfectly adapted to work, survive and live in the cave environment, which when the girls are in there, is just pitch black. So that's how they function and that's how they move – they have a colony down there – there are females and there are children. They go out at night, grab an elk, drag it back into the cave, kill it and eat it. That's how they've survived for thousands of years until our girls come in.
The framing of scenes is pretty effective throughout the film – is that something that was really mapped out beforehand or did it develop as you were making the film?
The ideas were mapped out beforehand. I had said to the director of photography, Sam McCurdy, that I was determined to do it 2:35 ratio, in 35 millimeter widescreen. But I also wanted to utilise the fact that the caves are pitch black until the girls take a light into them. The only light source there could possibly be was the source the girls have with them at the time, whether it be their helmet lights, torches, a lighter, a box of matches, flares or the fire that they create at the end. That was the only light source, so everything else had to be pitch black around them. And that enabled us to create these moments where there are very intense spots of light shone in faces, while everything around is pitch black. It increases the tension because you have no idea what's in the darkness, and neither do they until they turn their lights on. The challenge was to sustain that, so we had to come up with different solutions every day.
You made the film in linear order - was that something you had to do to make 'The Descent' work?
It was something that I had to do as far as the caves were concerned. And it made a lot of sense to shoot it in linear order; in an ideal world that's the best way to go. But we had the advantage that you never actually go through the same cave twice. Once we'd used a set, that was it. It was either struck totally, or pulled apart and put back together in a different shape so that we could use it again as a different cave. And that's what we had to do on our budget – every single set was used again and again and again – re-jigged, turned upside down, turned around and re-painted, and because we were filming in linear order, we could do that. We never went through the same cave twice.
That must have been good for the actors.
Very good for the actors. It allowed them to have a very natural journey and progression.
With all these terrible things happening in the cave are you worried about a backlash from the caving community?
I can't imagine they're going to get irate about it. They choose to go caving, that's their thing. I don't think we'll get a surge of people joining them and I don't think we're going to scare people off either. I can't imagine a bunch of angry cavers hanging around outside my house saying: 'you're giving caving a bad name!'
Being a horror man yourself, what do you think of the state of the horror industry at the moment?
Well, at the moment it seems like horror films are sustaining the British film industry, which is a bizarre state of affairs, though not necessarily a bad one as long as it doesn't remain that way for too long. I think that the problem at the moment is that the market is a little overcrowded with horror. I don't like the way that the Americans are going with their soft horror, their PG-13 versions. That's not horror – I'm not quite sure what it is, but it's not horror. Horror for kids? I want to make adult films, for adults. I want to make horror films for people like me. And that's what 'The Descent' is. It's an 18 certificate, like it should be.
'The Descent' hits cinemas today and is reviewed here.
User comments on this story
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- sam said...
- I agree with the above! This looks stolen to me!! and how did you get away with it? Iwrote a book in 1997 that also had CRAWLERS in it same type same and based in Appalachia where I come from and all of the sudden there they are Hmmm Neil Marshall never tells how or where he got his inspiration for these crawlers and I have heard and read all of the interviews--based in the United States in Appalachia I think he should be more than questioned about previous books written and ideas that could have been sold to him by others Hmmm again! I am not accusing but if this were the case we need to stand up and make some noise it's underhanded and unfair! Posted on Nov 09 2009 14:30
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- rey said...
- a bit late, but I've just recently seen the film the descent and I could not beleive neil marshall has given no mention of jeff long's book 'the Descent' written in 1999. He has obviously read the book and the film is so obviously based on jeff long's idea. In fact, the 'cavemen creatures' have been depicted right down to the sound they make and the way they move, the 'food stores' of bodies and bones. Even the detail in long's novel of how the '100 yr old' piece of climbing equipment was found in the rock was used in marshall's film. There are lots more I could point out! I urge anyone to read jeff long's novel - which was totally original - and see just how unoriginal marshall's fim really is. I was shocked to not see the credit that the movie was 'based on the novel The Descent by Jeff Long in marshalls movie. How he got away with this is anyone's guess. 'Similarity' is not the word I would use in this case! POOR SHOW MARSHALL! Posted on Aug 21 2008 06:53
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- Steve D said...
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Great movie, perfectly pitched, and very fresh. Despite drawing on images and scenarios from familiar classics (Deliverance, Carrie, Aliens to name but a few), these references knowingly enhance the experience, rather than reducing the originality of the predicament. Crucially the story gets moving quickly and doesn't outstay its welcome. And even more crucially it provides plenty of shocks along the way, heightened by the claustraphobic setting and the tensions between the protagonists.
The ending will not be to everyone's liking, but is in keeping with the tone of the movie - and its ambiguity allows plenty of discussion once the credits have rolled. This is what movies should be like, and just as Mr. Marshall alludes to above, it is an "adult" movie, rather than horror-by-numbers for the teens of America.
One final note for Kayli, who's review precedes mine - good to read an analysis that goes beyond the mundane, but for goodness sake get someone to proof anything you intend to submit for your media course! Apart from some dubious conclusions (the Crawlers represent the babies of the women; there's a theme in the movie suggesting "it's not a womens (sic) role to be a loving gentle parent"-err, what? Let's not get too carried away now), there are enough spelling errors there to drain all the red ink from your tutor's pen... Or maybe that isn't important these days.
Anyway, fantastic film. Posted on Feb 17 2007 10:00 - Report as inappropriate
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- Kayli said...
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Great stuff. I've been analysing it as part of my media project and am now dissapointed as i think i may have simply been forced to read into it too much. What do you think?!
My interpretation of the film is that is a clever and complex text with multiple readings.
The first, the obvious, is the surface reading. I believe the story to be quite self explanitory, the ending being that Sarah does not escape the caves and dies there, catatonic visualising and focusing only on her child. (for reference i have watched the english version and am aware of the the American version entails) My support for my chosen ending will become clear...
The second level is linked strongly to the first but in a metaphorical manor. The hook, involving the canoeing, the crash and the hospital is all in my opinion quite real. In the corridor scene Sarah is running to the the light, away from the darkness i.e her grief. She does not want to except the fact that her daughter had died, however the reality of it catches her and metaphorically the darkness of the corridor engulfs her. Until she hugs Beth and we see people appear in the corridor Sarah is not entirely out of her coma. And we watch as realisation take over her. After this the title 'The Descent' is shown and the body of the film begins. I beleive the cave to be a metpahor for Sarah's mind. And the caving trip is her journey into grief and acceptance of her daughters death. The Crawlers are a physical representation of her grief and slowly they pull her to pieces bit by bit, i.e they take away her friends. I believe the affair to be there mainly for the purpose of a less media literate audience, as it adds modern ideology to the text. At the end Sarah has been overcome with grief. She cannot break the bond between her and her daughter, contradicting a theme in the film which suggests it is not a womens role to be the loving gentle parent. This contradiction is backed up in the surface reading; we only witness one female Crawler which seems only to be mourning her mate, not hunting for food or survival. This suggests that the male role is to hunt and provide for the family.
The third way i read the film was as a physical representation of birth and the bond between a mother and child. There is numerous evidence throughout the film e.g water is consistent throughout the text, which represents theh female reproductive system. After watching the director's commentry i learnt that the film was inspired by films such as 'Deliverance' i.e the deliverance of a child. Linking in with the title of 'The Descent', suggesting the idea of the child being born and passing down and out of the mother's body. The caverns and tunnels can be interpreated as a womb and the fallopian tubes and the Crawlers have a disfigured foetus-like appearance. The Crawlers also live and feed off the women, i.e as a baby does.
Thanks for reading! :) Posted on Nov 29 2006 14:56 - Report as inappropriate
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- jade said...
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Fantastic, loved every bit of it. i was so scared in some bits that i was on the floor with a pillow at my face. Making it an all female cast was brill.
when is The descent 2? lol Posted on Nov 02 2006 10:17 - Report as inappropriate
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- gillian said...
- Geordie Boy!!! So proud that one of the best films I have seen in ages, is a film by a Geordie. The Descent is brilliant! Haway the Lads!!! Posted on Jul 31 2006 16:27
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- KVet said...
- I agree with suspicious. Books can be very inspiring. Unfortunately, I can guarantee the story and the horror don't stack up to Jeff Long's book. Posted on Jul 28 2006 17:06
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- suspicious said...
- you say your inspiration came from the natural fear of being underground. i'm more inclined to believe you either heard about, or read the book by Jeff Long. there are just too many similarities for my taste! Posted on Jul 20 2006 13:35
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- CJ said...
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Confused!!!! Did she get out? how come the clip with her daughter at the end? This was very confusing, can you help?
thanks! Posted on Apr 30 2006 02:25 - Report as inappropriate
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- zekk said...
- really thıs fılm is fantastic...untıl thıs tıme thıs one was the most l lıked horror fılm..l apprecıate Mr Neıl.hope to go on to make thıs kınds of good fılms... Posted on Apr 28 2006 02:08
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