England has long held a special bastion within horror cinemas now long and icon ridden past. It was here in a little film studio between 1955 and 1959 that a pre Lord of the Rings Christopher Lee coupled with a pre Star Wars Peter Cushing to elevate the genre out of its pulp and into the age of technicolor. This was the now famous Hammer Film Production Company and it succeeded in cementing horror, with a decided British gait into the hearts and minds of generations of fright followers. But now, after many years adrift in the horror wastelands an all-new breed of British directors are taking up the challenge to terrify.

The Descent

Possible Spoilers.

  • The Descent (United Kingdom)
  • Director: Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers)
  • Starring: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, MyAnna Buring
  • 2006

Ever since its cinematic release in 2005 Neil Marshall’s The Descent has managed to time and time again find that elusive hook, the horror directors holy grail. A film that wriggles under an audience’s skin and in turn has its distribution quadrupled my word of mouth alone. This was no effects laden, star studded slam dunk. It was a simple film, produced and developed with an intangible special ingredient that surpassed even the evident passion for the job at hand. It really was a simple premise; a group of friends decide to engage in an adventure holiday. Only this was one that required they repel deep into the earth’s crust. It is here, amid the gloom and flickering half light that back stories bubble to the surface and supposedly unbreakable allegiances are put to the ultimate test as each and every character struggles to return to the light. Wonderfully imagined horrors, of a not completely supernatural kind, skulk and drool in the shadows. But it is the quite times, the expertly portrayed sense of claustrophobic finality, that will resonate long after you have left the supposed safety of your darkened living room. 3.5/5