Neil Marshall’s Comments on ‘The Descent 3’ Give Horror Fans a Shred of Hope

20 years ago, one of this century’s best horror movies was unleashed on an unsuspecting audience, and would subsequently go on to become one of the most influential films of the 2000s. Written and directed by Neil Marshall, it subverted some of the usual genre tropes to deliver a fresh and exciting survival thriller that was as intense as it was gruesome. While a subpar sequel came along four years later, we finally have an update on the long-talked-about third entry that will bring closure to the series once and for all.

We’re talking, of course, about The Descent, Marshall’s 2005 horror film that featured an all-female cast who enter an uncharted cave system and find themselves at the mercy of the monstrous abominations inside. It was truly a groundbreaking piece of art at the time that turned the genre on its head by creating a realistic psychological survival movie that dared not to reveal the real threat until audiences were already fraught with anxiety due to the film’s claustrophobic nature. Widely regarded as one of the best horror movies ever made, The Descent 2 came along in 2009, and while it didn’t necessarily tarnish the reputation of the first outing, it wasn’t exactly the sequel everyone was hoping for.

Rumors of a third film have been buzzing around Hollywood for more than a decade now, and thanks to a recent interview with Marshall, we finally have an idea of what The Decent 3 might look like should it ever come to fruition. Speaking with Metro UK, the director shared that if the film were to happen, he’d be back behind the camera to take charge of things, saying, “I can definitely see it happening.” It was then that he would go on to share that the idea of it being a prequel has been percolating in his mind for a while:

“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. 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.”

Shauna Macdonald as Sarah Carter in The Descent
Pathé Distribution

First off, the idea of another Descent movie is already enough to get us excited, but even more intriguing is the idea of Marshall back in the director’s chair. Nothing against Jon Harris, but The Descent 2 just didn’t do it for us, so to know that the creator of the series will be heavily involved in the third movie to bring things full circle is a huge step forward.

Marshall’s idea for a prequel is also one that has us excited, as we’ve long wondered what happened down in the cave system before Sarah, Juno, and the rest of the gang went on their disastrous spelunking adventure. A prequel could even work as a period piece to shed some light on the miners, and maybe even give us more insight into the Crawlers, whom Marshall has said in the past are a separate species of humans who became trapped underground thousands of years ago. Yes, we know prequels don’t always work, but with his guidance and creativity, we’re almost positive that this one would be a cut above the rest.

All that being said, it seems like The Descent 3 is still a long way from happening, so don’t get your hopes too high just yet. Marshall shared the news last year on his Instagram account that he’s currently working on a werewolf movie titled Werewolves of London, which came after the sad announcement that he was unable to make Dog Soldiers 2 due to a rights issue. The status of his new flick remains uncertain at the moment, but word also broke earlier this year that he’s got another action horror film titled Gunn on the horizon, which has already cast Outlander star Graham McTavish.

As we await more news, you can check out The Descent streaming now for free on The Roku Channel and Fandango at Home, and look for a beautiful 4K restoration of the horror classic to hit home video in the near future.

The Descent

Release Date

August 4, 2006

Runtime

99 minutes

Sequel(s)

The Descent Part 2

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