The Descent

"Scream your last breath."

2005 1h 40m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 4,615

AdventureHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After a personal tragedy, Sarah joins her friends on a caving expedition in the Appalachian Mountains. But when a rockfall traps them deep underground, their adventure turns into a nightmare. As they search for a way out, the group discovers they are not alone—lurking in the darkness are savage, cave-dwelling creatures. With rising tension and dwindling trust, the women must fight to survive against both the predators and each other.

“Scream your last breath.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

PhiloSubscription

AMC Plus Apple TV channelSubscription

AMC+ Amazon ChannelSubscription

Lionsgate+ Amazon ChannelSubscription

BFI Player Amazon ChannelSubscription

Howdy Amazon ChannelSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Shauna Macdonald
Sarah
Natalie Mendoza
Juno
Alex Reid
Beth
Saskia Mulder
Rebecca
MyAnna Buring
Sam
Nora-Jane Noone
Holly
Oliver Milburn
Paul
Molly Kayll
Jessica

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Neil Marshall
Writers: Neil Marshall, Jim Cornish
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $57M — a 16.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 21 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Descent Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Neil Marshall, shot by Sam McCurdy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Julyan. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jon Harris shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Shauna Macdonald and Natalie Mendoza and Alex Reid carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Neil Marshall directs. Sam McCurdy behind the camera. David Julyan scores. Jon Harris cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $57M — a 16.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
3Released 21 years ago.
4Part of the "The Descent Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Neil Marshall, shot by Sam McCurdy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by David Julyan. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Jon Harris shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Shauna Macdonald and Natalie Mendoza and Alex Reid carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Scream your last breath.".
10IMDB entry: tt0435625 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 22 themes, including "panic", "darkness", "mutant", "expedition".

The technical file

Cinematography: Sam McCurdy
Original score: David Julyan
Editing: Jon Harris
Production design: Simon Bowles
Costume design: Nancy Thompson
Makeup / hair: Jennifer Harty
VFX supervisor: Leigh Took
Sound: Nigel Heath
Stunt coordinator: Steve Griffin
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,500,000
Box office: $57,130,027
Return: 1632% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Descent (2005)

Part of

The Descent Collection

A series of films centre around six friends reunite for a caving expedition. Their adventure soon goes horribly wrong when a collapse traps them deep underground and they find themselves pursued by bloodthirsty creatures. As their friendships deteriorate, they find themselves in a desperate struggle to survive the creatures and each other.

Also by

Neil Marshall

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-11-07
★ 7/10
A group of six friends are heading off on one of those subterranean caving expeditions that just make me crave wide open spaces. The thing is, though, that one of their number takes them to somewhere hitherto unexplored - without telling them - and so once they start to squeeze their bodies and their kit into these unforgiving spaces, they have no idea where they are going nor what to expect. Not long into their expedition, they encounter some cave paintings and signs that perhaps someone had been there before after all, but instead of turning tail and getting back to the surface they press on to encounter something(s) altogether unexpected, gruesome and hungry. Now maybe one day, someone will make a group disaster thriller that presents us with characters about whom we might actually care, but this is certainly not one of them. The group have their standard mix of baggage, dysfunctional relationships, grudges and mistrust but given little effort is made to develop their characterisations we can just sit back and watch some eerily crafted photography, seriously effective acoustics and some inspired use of light and darkness that expose the vulnerabilities of human beings when not aground, up on two legs, with all five senses working in our favour rather than contributing to an increasing degree of panic amidst this more and more hysterical band of women. I wouldn’t say that any of the actors really stand out here, it could be anyone donning the high-vis jackets and carrying a rope. Indeed the personalities here are largely irrelevant to a truly claustrophobically effective story of what lurks beneath and how unwelcoming it can be to those who stray. Will any of them make it back to the daylight? Well, I hope not!
eeee12342026-06-28
probably one of the best horror adventure movies ever. it start's of as antohter teen movie, but you will get scared when they go into the caves. I reccommend.

Production companies