Wasn’t I paying attention?

On TV last night I saw a movie trailer for The Descent ~ it looks horrid, with plenty of screaming and not enough lighting. But I’m confused because I read the book a couple of years ago, and although it did scare me, it didn’t strike me as horror.

Lying in bed last night, I thought back to the story and I have to admit the author (Jeff Long) must have done a fair job, because I really do remember a lot (which is unusual ‘coz I used to read an awful lot and I’ve forgotten more stories than I remember!). In the book the premise is that, if there was a historical character like Jesus, then why not Satan? And if you’ve got Satan, there ought to be Hell somewhere down there. But the bits I recall weren’t blood and gore (although the creatures coming out of Hell weren’t pretty, and you wouldn’t want to be inviting them to tea!), what I remember most clearly was the beauty and scale of the underground kingdom and ocean. The story is a bit of a who-done-it as you try and guess which character is Satan, but there’s a tragic love story woven in and of course a hero (though he gets beaten up plenty, unlike most heros), and I seem to remember thinking idiot, idiot, idiot when I read the last page – but I won’t say why in case they do manage to do this tale justice on the big screen!

After I read it I didn’t rush out and read anything else by this author because it did leave me uneasy, and totally trashed my previous ambition of attempting pot-holing at some future point of my life!

As a rule I’m not a fan of horror so I doubt I’ll have the nerve to go to the cinema to see this movie and will have to wait till it’s released on DVD. If any of you see it first, please let me know if there’s a story left to see, and whether they’ve managed to capture the wonder and majesty of the underworld vista.