The Descent Director Teases New Film The Lair Is a “Full-On Monster Movie”

Filmmaker Neil Marshall‘s breakthrough film was 2005’s The Descent, which opened up a number of major opportunities for him, ranging from Game of Thrones to 2019’s Hellboy reboot, with the director recently confirming that his upcoming film The Lair is slated to be a “full-on monster movie.” This will surely excite fans, as some of the filmmaker’s most beloved projects feature beasts with extravagant effects, and with the standout elements of the Hellboy reboot being the creature design, we can only imagine what Marshall might have in store for audiences with the upcoming experience. The Lair doesn’t currently have a release date.

“The Reckoning was certainly a return to horror, but I showed a degree of restraint. With the exception of one wagon wheel scene,” Marshall shared with Bloody Disgusting‘s The Boo Crew podcast. “So I wanted to come back and do a creature feature, I wanted to do some monsters, and just kind of combine elements from Dog Soldiers and Aliens and Predator and things like that.”

He continued, “So it’s a full-on monster movie with action and explosions and blood and guts and everything. We are just putting the financing together, with plans to shoot in May.”

A key component of Marshall’s fan-favorite films is that they deliver audiences riveting thrills, only for their creature carnage to take the experience to all-new levels. Based on these comments, it sounds as though Marshall is returning to his filmmaking roots, while also bringing everything he’s learned on larger properties to the narrative.

This tease of The Lair is sure to delight audiences, as his Hellboy was ultimately a disappointing effort, both financially and critically. Despite starring Stranger Things‘ David Harbour and being the first live-action adaptation of the character since Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army in 2008, Hellboy only took in $55.1 million worldwide in 2019 and sits at 18% positive reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Fans and critics weren’t the only ones disappointed with the reboot, as Marshall didn’t even attend the film’s world premiere. In the weeks following the film’s release, various sources offered reports that there were a number of conflicts between the studio, filmmakers, and stars, all of which likely resulted in the disappointing reception.

Stay tuned for details on the future of The Lair.

Do these remarks have you excited for the upcoming film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!