The Descent

I read so much genre fiction and have seen so many horror movies that I don’t scare easy. My brain automatically remembers all the behind-the-scenes make-up specials and director commentaries; I know it is not real. However, back in 2005 the last film that scared me was about a group of female cavers who went underground to discover not adventure, but horrors. It may have been the fact that I lived in a one-bedroom flat and watched the film in the middle of the night, with no lights on, and with headphones, or it could have been the story itself. Let’s find out with Christian Francis’ official novelisation of The Descent. 

There is nought more horrifying than real life as the opening pages of The Descent attest. Sarah and her friends are on an exhilarating white-water rafting; all are happy and safe. It is not the undercurrents or rocks that are the danger, but the drive home. One year later Sarah is still struggling with the trauma of that day of losing a partner and child. To take her mind off her troubles, a group of her friends take Sarah caving. What they find there cannot quite match the horror of that day one year earlier, but it comes close.     

The Descent was, and is, one of my favourite films. A wonderfully contained genre film that packs more punches than a Heavyweight title match. There is a balance of trauma, character, and good old-fashioned horror. We get to know this group of intimate friends, only for things to fall apart with some of the most disturbing creatures put on B-movie celluloid. Capturing all director/screenwriter Neil Marshall’s timing and visuals in prose form is a big ask, but Francis does a good job. 

The benefit of prose over the silver screen is that you get a deeper insight into the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Francis already had a lot to work with as Marshall’s script had so much character development; it is just a case of getting it on the page correctly. Francis recreates the various relationships well, with the central triangle of Sarah, Juno, and Beth, firing off one another. 

Sarah must be given special consideration. A complex and broken character, her trauma is a core part of the horror, but it also gives her a steel that many of us would never be able to find. There is a primal rage to her that is key to the final acts of the book. 

I love the pacing of this horror title, a slow build up and a horrific last third. Francis does a great job of recreating some of the iconic images from the film, the key deaths, the screeching horrors. The book transported me back to the film, which I loved, but it does raise the question, did the film do the heavy lifting? Are my memories shaping the way that I read the book? I think that they must, but what I can say is that a fan of the film will also be a fan of the book. 

What of a fresh reader? Does this adaptation of The Descent hold up to scrutiny by itself? I would say that it does. It is not the longest book but reads as a punchy novella with some stand out moments. It works best as a piece of fan service, but if you are a horror fan looking for a quick and nasty read, it has good characterisation and some old school nasty horror to it.