The Descent: Part 2

Starring
Shauna Macdonald
Natalie Mendoza
Douglas Hodge
Axelle Carolyn
Gavan O'Herlihy
Joshua Dallas
Anna Skellern

Review:

Not to long ago I did an Editorial on what I thought to be the top 20 horror films of the decade. One of the films I included in the Editorial was The Descent. So it goes without saying that I absolutely loved it. It was original, had a great atmosphere and it was super bloody. Being a huge fan of the original, I had mixed feeling when I first heard about the sequel. I was excited about seeing it but at the same time I was kind of dreading it since most sequels aren’t as good as the original, and this is the case with Descent Part 2.

Plot: Dazed, bloodied and speechless with trauma, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the Appalachian cave system where the events of THE DESCENT took place. Local sheriff Redmond Vaines forces her back underground to help the rescue team which is desperately searching for her five missing friends. As the team moves deeper into the caves, Sarah’s flashes of fractured memory intensify and she begins to realize the full horror of the would-be rescue mission. Only Sarah knows the terror which lurks in the shadows of the caves. But they are about to encounter a new tribe of crawlers – inbred, deformed and even more viciously feral than those Sarah faced before.

The first time I read the plot description for The Descent Part 2 I was very concerned. Because I was thinking to myself, “Why would anyone one go back down there.” Well, shortly after the film begins that question is answered, and I found the reason why she went back down to be very stupid. But I soon forgot about it as soon as the movie got going. Unlike the original, The Descent Part 2 doesn’t waste any time. It unfolds at a fast pace and it there’s a lot of action and gore. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a gorefest, but the makers definitely ramped up the gore. We get to see throats ripped out, heads crushed, heads drilled with a electric drill, severed limbs and tons of blood splatter. All of the gore looked fantastic, and as far as I could tell there was no crappy CGI. The creatures in Part 2 also looked amazing. Much more nasty and detailed than the monsters in the original. That was definitely a huge plus. With all the kickass creature action and the gore going on and a running time of around eighty-nine minutes, The Descent Part 2 is a very entertaining movie. It seems like it last no time and I was disappointed to see it end. That’s the sign of a good movie.

The Script was pretty average, nothing amazing but it wasn’t bad neither. The acting was about the same. No real memorable performances but all the cast members do a alright job. Some parts of the movie were well shot and looked really good. Especially the scenes outside of the cave. It also had a very interesting ending that could very well lead to a part three.

The Descent Part 2 is a great movie, but it has it’s share of flaws. First off, I didn’t think it was as good as the original. This is mostly due to the fact that it lacked the claustrophobic feeling of the original. That in my opinion is what made the original such a great movie. The first half of the original movie felt like a trapped in a cave survival movie and then all of the sudden the second half turned into a blood drenched creature feature. The Descent Part 2 is pretty much just a creature flick. Because of that it doesn’t have the amazing dark atmosphere of the original. Which in my opinion is a flaw. But that’s not the biggest problem I had with the movie. The biggest problem I had with The Descent Part 2 is with the characters. Unlike the original, there is almost no character development. In the original Descent we really got to know the characters and sometimes we actually cared about them when they died. This is not the case with Part 2. The characters are there for one reason. To die. Sometimes it felt like I was watching a slasher movie. Usually this doesn’t bother me, but I was expecting a little more from this movie.

Overall The Descent Part 2 is a solid horror film that I think most genre fans will enjoy. In my opinion it’s not as good as the original, but its at least worth a rent. It will be released in the U.S. on April 27th. I recommend you give it a watch as soon as it hits the shelves.