The Dark (The Descent) 2004

Written by
Neil Marshall
94 Pages

Later became The Descent

Great opening first page.  Thrown straight into the action with Juno, Beth and Sarah making their way down the rapids.

Major turning point happens early on page 4.  The car smashes into the van and Paul is killed when a scaffold support plunges into him.

Sarah's life is thrown in a new direction at this point.

First hint of death on page 23.  The dead elk.  This could be a sign of things to come.

Act 2 very much starts on page 25.  They've discovered the sink hole and Juno prepares to go down.  She's very much the leader of the group.  She's in charge.

JUNO
I'll go first.  I'll see you
down there.

Once they enter the cave, they leave their old world behind.

A little more foreshadowing with the scratch marks on the side of the rock.  Something was trying to get out the hole.  Could be nothing could be something. A sign of their impending doom.

They're not alone.  Something is moving with them in the Cathedral Cavern.  The first hint of trouble on page 29.

Increasing the reader's and audience's anticipation that something is going to happen.  A humanoid hand picks up the candy bar on page 34. 

A bit of foreshadowing on Beth's part when she tells Sarah that she has nothing left to be afraid of on page 37.

BETH
It’s over.  And you’re here.  You didn’t
give up.  This is just a poxy little
cave.  You’ve got NOTHING left to be
afraid of.

The audience should have worked out by now who the star of the movie is going to be.  Who's going to have the most character arc.  Sarah's character is going to start as a weak character and grow into a strong character.

Problems really arise for the group when the fissure collapses and on page 40 they find out that Juno has not brought the book with all the routes.

They're in serious trouble now.

This is reinforced when they also find out that that this cave system isn't the one Juno filed a flight plan with mountain rescue.  They really are up the creak without a paddle.  Not to mention Sarah glimpses one of the freaky humanoid creatures.  This all occurs on page 41.

Quite a scary moment on page 45.  They aren't the first ones to come this way.  Rebecca spots a really old Piton.  Who else came this way?

Some hope for the team when they discover the painting and the two entrances on page 51.  A false victory perhaps.

Again raising the tension on page 57 when Sarah spots the silhouette of the creature up ahead and Juno sneaks up on her. 

Finally get to see a Stygian Crawler on page 61.  It's poised to strike but runs off because of the light.

Juno doesn't come clean about what happened to Beth when Rebecca asks her on page 74.  She had the chance to come clean but chooses not to.  This sets up what happens at the end of the movie.

Two pages later Sarah discovers Beth's body.  But there's a twist now, Beth isn't dead. 

Everything is revealed to Sarah about Juno.  Beth tells her everything.  Not only did Juno leave Beth to die, but she was also having an affair with Paul.  Page 77.  This was hinted at the very start on page 3.

Sarah's character arc pretty much becomes fully realized when she plummets into the pool of blood.  She kills the two crawlers and she becomes a cold ruthless killer on page 80.  The complete opposite of how she was at the start of the screenplay.

Sarah saves Juno on page 86 and questions her about Beth.  This is her chance to own up and come clean.  But she doesn't.  She tells Sarah that she saw Beth die on page 87.  Big mistake.

Payback time on page 90.  Juno finally owns up when she sees Beth's whistle around Sarah's neck.  But it's too late and Sarah plunges her pick into Juno's knee. 

Nice ending.  You think she's escaped but she hasn't.  It's her mind playing tricks on her.

If you're considering writing a low budget contained horror, this one's definitely worth reading.  A very quick read.

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