Neil Marshall has served up notable slices of action and horror for over two decades.
He’s one of the best action-horror directors out there — you can rely on Marshall to blow things up, bring the jump scares, and wring out suspense, all on a small budget. He’s also a progressive filmmaker who has helped change the role of women in horror. Often, his female leads are integral to his greatest movies. In 2012, Marshall jumped from film to TV, directing key episodes of some of the highest profile series around, including Black Sails, Westworld, and Lost in Space.
He’s perhaps most famous for his Emmy-nominated directing on Game of Thrones (Blackwater? Get Marshall in). But the tales of the horror directors who fly close to Hollywood don’t always end well. For Marshall, it ended when Lionsgate lured him to direct their high-profile hot potato of a Hellboy reboot.
That ill-fated Hellboy adaptation was terrible news for the Right Hand of Doom and Hollywood, but it was great news for fans of his early horrors. He hoped it would bring him back to directing features after a seven-year break, but nobody guessed how that movie would turn out.
Now Marshall has returned to his independent roots as a DIY director, churning out lean films while broadening his genres — he along with production partner and frequent leading lady Charlotte Kirk has the gangster movie Duchess set for 2023. On the horror side, we’re seeing the return of Marshall motifs that, for horror fans, feel like coming home. There are majors with the surname Sinclair and distorted, corrupted humans everywhere along with big explosions, of course.
So, with another Marshall wonder on its way, here’s our ranking of his impressive collection of horror movies. Werewolves, genetic experiments, and Hollywood expectations — which are the worst?
8. Hellboy (2019)
An inevitable place to start — you knew it was heading your way like a giant red stone fist. The odds were stacked against Hellboy from the start, but it was surprising how devastatingly this movie stalled the Hellboy franchise. It was a rough period for Marshall, and he’s spoken of his error taking on a project where the script wasn’t in good shape.
Labeled as the reboot nobody wanted, Hellboy masked some impressive horror sequences, particularly the disturbing and mostly irrelevant Baba Yaga scenes. The silver lining is that it turned Marshall back to independent filmmaking.
7. The Reckoning (2021)
A change of pace as Marshall and Charlotte Kirk headed to the 17th century for an adventure horror that shone a light on the trials and real-life horror women were subjected to during the Witch Trials. It’s the Witch’s Tale, where Kirk is put through hell to demonstrate the horrific misogyny and abuse of the time.
Kirk, who puts in a dedicated and demanding physical performance as Grace Haverstock, the widow accused of being a witch, also co-wrote the script — her first with Marshall. The Reckoning notably reunited the director with actor Sean Pertwee after they collaborated on Dog Soldiers.
6. Doomsday (2008)
A mix of Escape to New York and Mad Max, but with a distinctly British vibe, Doomsday stars Rhona Mitra as the Major who is dispatched to a walled and quarantined Scotland to find a cure to the deadly virus that has escaped to London.
It earned plaudits for continuing Marshall’s creation of strong female leads, but the set-up is a bit rushed, and it’s more confusing than Marshall’s previous two movies. But iff you’re after a rip-roaring, slightly out-of-control sci-fi horror, this has the gore for you.
5. The Lair (2022)
Marshall’s Lair is mostly a brilliant return to his early days. It’s another collaboration with Charlotte Kirk, who naturally takes the lead role as Major Sinclair. The script veers wildly, and the underground sequences feel a little too Resident Evil, lacking some of the imagination we expect from a director with a groundbreaking subterranean horror on his resume. But Marshall is on great form above ground, obviously enjoying the desert filming and blowing things up.
Its action, a kind of Doom in the desert, makes for good and gory fun. It’s great to have Marshall back with a macho movie, led by a woman, that combines smarts and violence.
4. Centurion (2010)
Marshall takes full advantage of the scenery and doesn’t skimp on the brutal fight scenes, which is where most of the horror lies. The Ninth Legion was said to have marched into Scotland with 3,000 men and never returned. Here they make up what’s arguably Marshall’s greatest cast, even if they brought him one of his worst box office performances.
Romans were the turn of the decade’s asteroids. A year after this came out, Channing Tatum’s The Eagle trod similar ground and did a bit better at the box office. A shame as the mystery of the missing Ninth Legion is an intriguing premise, and there’s room for both.
3. Tales of Halloween (2015)
Tales of Halloween was a fine attempt to reawaken the great horror anthology-style movies. Marshall closes the film with the segment Bad Seed — a well-received snippet. It’s a fantastic diversion in Marshall’s resume, featuring horrific carnivorous pumpkins. Less a warning about genetic modification of vegetables than a Halloween treat.
2. Dog Soldiers (2002)
Do Soldiers was the movie that rightly made Marshall’s name. The concept is brilliantly simple — put some soldiers in the woods and surround them with werewolves. The film attracted praise for its special effects, horror, and comedy — no mean feat for a low-budget horror debut.
It was well worth the six years it took to refine the script and land financing. Hopes remain high that the dogs will one day run the show again.
1. The Descent (2005)
The female cast made an immediate impression in this atmospheric horror. It’s hard to believe that Marshall initially resisted, fearing he’d be typecast as a horror director if he made another film in the same genre after the widely praised Dog Soldiers. The Descent shows off his full range of talents, wringing scares, and emotion in one place you don’t want to find yourself being pursued by humanoid crawlers.
The Descent is a superbly claustrophobic horror that jangles the nerves and achieves a superb balance of tension and shocks. Its twist on The Final Girl motif is the one reason it’s the only Marshall movie to score a sequel so far.
Here’s hoping that Neil Marshall gives us more horror wonders from the never-ending stock of his rich imagination.
