Despite only making a handful of feature films, director Neil Marshall’s back catalogue contains two of the most seminal works in modern horror. Both the were-wolf adventureDog Soldiersand the claustrophobic terrorThe Descentare stand-out examples of their respective subgenres, with each movie having garnered a well-deserved following. Well, it sounds like Marshall is not done with at least one of these stories, with the director confirming that there is now a distinct possibility thatDog Soldiers 2will see the light of day in a new interview withBloody Disgusting’s Tales from the Boo Crewpodcast.
“[Those books] are definitely not closed. I could revisit [the world of The Descent] but with that one it was kind of intended to be a one-off. And then the sequel got made anyway. Dog Soldiers was always intended to be trilogy. So, the rights for that have been tied up for quite some time, but now there’s the possibility of a Dog Soldiers 2, finally.”
WhileNeil Marshallsounds adamant that he is done withThe Descent, the idea that the firstDog Soldierswas planned as the beginning of a trilogy has been known for some time, with Marshall providing a fairly confident update regarding the long-awaited follow-ups.
“The initial rumblings are happening. So that’slooking semi-likely, we’ll see.”
Released in 2002,Dog Soldiersis directed and edited by Neil Marshall in his directorial debut, and stars Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby and Liam Cunningham. The movie follows a small squad of British soldiers during a routine night-time training mission in theScottish Highlands. While on their way to rendezvous with a special ops unit, the group instead find a bloody massacre with a sole survivor. The savage attackers of the special ops team return, and the men are rescued by a zoologist who identifies what hunts them as werewolves. Without transport or communications, the group is forced to retreat to a farmhouse to wait for the full moon to disappear at dawn.
The initial plan was forDog Soldiersto spawn a trilogy, and while the movie was well-received by both critics and audiences alike, this sadly never materialised. Things could be about to change however, as this is not the first time lately that Marshall has sounded optimistic about the future of the franchise. “There’s more of a chance now than ever before,” he said last year. “There’s things in the works and we’re seeing what we can do. Certainly, myself and Kevin McKidd and [Dog Soldiers producer] Chris Figg are up for it to revisit this world. Over the past 18 years the question I get asked pretty much more than anything else is when are we going to get Dog Soldiers 2?' Part of me thinks I’d like to go back and re-visit that world somehow. And if Kev’s up for it, then that would make it worthwhile for sure. So we’ll see. You never know.”
So, while we may never return to the caves ofThe Descent, it certainly sounds like we could soon go back to the moon-lit, werewolf infested woods ofDog Soldiers. Cinema will be all the better for it. This comes to us courtesy ofBloody Disgusting.
