Marshall cited the films '' The Texas Chain Saw Massacre '' , '' The Thing '' , and '' Deliverance '' as influences in establishing tension in '' The Descent '' . The director elaborated , " We really wanted to ramp up the tension slowly , unlike all the American horror films you see now . They take it up to 11 in the first few minutes and then simply ca n't keep it up . We wanted to show all these terrible things in the cave : dark , drowning , claustrophobia . Then , when it could n't get any worse , make it worse . " Marshall also said at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival that he was inspired by Italian horror films of the past , in particular those by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci
63rd Venice International Film Festival
63rd Venice International Film Festival
The Descent