Halloween Underground Cinema | The Descent

The Descent is showing at The Undercroft, Cardiff Castle on Saturday 31 October, part of the Halloween Underground Cinema day. The screening is presented by Darkened Rooms, who've taken over the castle's medieval, stone-vaulted Undercroft for the day, dressing it with spooky decorations to lean into the underground atmosphere.

The Descent is the heavy hitter of the day's bill: it's rated 18, runs 95 minutes, and follows six friends on a caving expedition in the Appalachian Mountains who get trapped deep below the surface after a tunnel caves in. If you've seen it, you know how much of that tension comes from the claustrophobia, so watching it in a stone vault beneath the castle fits the mood pretty well. It's a full-blooded horror, and the 18 rating is there for a reason.

It's not the only thing on the programme, though. Darkened Rooms have put together a day that runs from family-friendly Halloween favourites through to the proper horror, with Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Little Shop of Horrors also on the bill. You can pick your spot on the day depending on how much you're in the mood for a scare.

Tickets for adults (16+) are £15, and the screening starts at 16:00. The Undercroft is at Cardiff Castle, Castle Street, CF10 3RB, and the castle runs family events, summer concerts and indoor and outdoor cinema throughout the year, so this is one of the more atmospheric things they've got on.