The Making of The Descent
Published by Telos Publishing, 2025. 184 pages.
By Janine Pipe and Neil Marshall
Back in 2005, I didn’t think I was claustrophobic. Then I watched Neil Marshall’s The Descent and quickly realized just how much tight spaces affected me. Just the first half of the film, I was on pins and needles, as these women crawled their way through incredibly tight passages, under water, and even getting stuck at one point. Oh yeah, and then the monsters show up!
Now we have this incredible book from Telos Publishing, co-written by Janine Pipe, who had previously given us the highly informative and entertaining book on Dog Soldiers, entitled Sausages (see our review HERE) and writer/director Neil Marshall. There is a lot of peaking “behind the curtain” when it comes to movie magic, but I think in this case, it will amaze you even more when you get that peek. For instance, since most of the actual cave scenes were filmed on a set they created!
The authors talked with a lot of the cast and crew, to get their insight, their memories, and stories about working on this film. I had the chance to talk to authors Neil and Janine about this new book and what went into making it, and what they wanted the book to be. Pipe stated that the book is “a celebration of every single person involved. Because even though Neil wrote and directed it, you know it takes everybody to make that film. So, we wanted to speak to as many different people, to get so many different stories and little nuggets of things from them.”
Marshall continued by stating that, “We had a great experience with the crews and the cast making them. We forged friendships that are still around today and that’s that kind of lasting sense of the camaraderie that we had when we made it is incredibly rare but it’s very special. So just trying to put all that together in a new book for this, just to kind of justify all that.”
What we get is a coffee-table size book that is first and foremost, filled with an incredible array of photos, both from the film but a ton of behind-the-scenes ones. But my personal favorites are the ones from production designer Simon Bowles, showing how the caves were designed, built, and how they fit into the film. I was amazed when I read that the “blood pit” was actually made from a garden pond kit they bought at the local hardware store. But then Neil tells me something even more impressive. “Another one is early on in the film when they’re going through the really tight tunnels and all the girls have to go through what looks like sort of a u-bend, where they go down into the water and up the other side”, Marshall reveals, “that was a bathtub. Simon needed something that would hold water and he’s like ‘Oh, I’ll just use a bathtub, sprayed it the right color and fill it with murky water and done!’”
The book is laid out in a sort of story format, going through the plot, adding bits and pieces of information about that particular part of the story. It might be a quote from one of the cast or crew, from the director, production designer, or special effects crew. I really enjoyed this way of doing it because we know how the behind-the-scenes info fits into story we’re following along with. Plus, Pipe gives us her fan-first passion about the film, sometimes in a very humorous manner. She said, “first and foremost, I am a film fan, and a huge fan of Neil’s work in particular. So, I just wanted a bit of life in it, just to make all of the information that you should have but just make it a bit more fun.”
With the film hitting its 20th anniversary this year, and with news of a 4K release coming later this year, this volume is a perfect time to revisit this amazing film. No matter how many times you’ve might have seen it, after reading through this volume, you’ll have even more insight, and most likely even more of an appreciation for it, as well as all those involved. Marshall said he enjoyed taking a deep dive back into this film. “I haven’t gone back with as much depth as I have done this time and really thought about the process of making that film from start to finish and the day-to-day shooting, being in Scotland, or on set, or whatever. Also comparing stories with everybody else’s stories, and we found that our memories have not failed us! So, it was just a really deep dive into it that was pretty fresh and that was great.”
When the film came out here in the US, the American distributors wanted a “happy ending”, where Sarah escapes the caves, which was different than the original ending. According to Marshall, “I agree that that there is only one true ending to it. Then that leaves it open to interpretation of course, whether crawlers ever even real, but I’ll leave that open to the audience. But I’ll always argue the point that Sarah escaping from the caves is not exactly a happy ending.”
You can order your copy of this book directly from Telos Publishing. They are located in the UK, so postage might set you back a bit when shipping it here to the U.S. The price is £34.99, which is about $46 for us in the states. This does not include postage. Just click HERE to get to Telos’ website. But I will say that if you are a fan of this movie, it is worth the price. The photos are so cool, especially the production design shots, but then you get a ton of info about the making of it. I guarantee you won’t be able to watch the film again the same way.
Maybe it might even ease some of the claustrophobia knowing they are just crawling through a bathtub!
