10 Things You Didn't Know About The Descent

The premise of the The Descent revolves around six women who, after lead girl Sarah's car crash that took the lives of her husband and daughter, decide to go on a spelunking adventure in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina. According to the film, the national park they are roaming around in is Chattooga National Park. Not only does that place not exist in real life, but it is actually a reference to the location in which the classic film Deliverance (more on that later) was filmed, Chattooga River.

However, despite the film being set almost entirely in the United States, not a single day of filming was spent in the country over the course of The Descent's production.

The exterior shots of the park and cabin where the women are staying in the film were filmed in Scotland, whilst all the interior cave shots were produced in Pinewood Studios in London, the same place where the likes of James Bond are produced.

Simon Bowles was behind the design and construction of the caves seen in the film, considering using real cave systems as both too dangerous and inconvenient for shooting. The actors were all given rock climbing lessons to help meander through the tunnels easier, and the crew took great care in making sure the sets could be reused enough times for Marshall to get all the shots he wanted.