The first time I saw The Descent; I could not help but be reminded of a book I read by Michael Laimo titled Deep in the Darkness. While the creatures in the book are different from those in the movie, they are both cave dwellers and live in the Appalachian Mountains. The Descent is a film that many have compared to films like Alien and Jaws, which are of the scariest films ever made. I disagree, but did somewhat enjoy the film when I first saw it. With the success that film had, it was bound to have a sequel and, surprisingly enough, The Descent Part 2 is just as good as the first.
The film starts where the first one left off, with Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) running through the forest where she runs into a local. She is then brought to the hospital where she is suffering from a bad case of shock. The local sheriffs come to visit her and after a few questions about what happened to her friends, they force Sarah to come with them back into the cave system to find her lost friends. With an expert team of spelunkers, Sarah enters the cave and begins to remember the events that unfolded there. This time around, the beasts are more aggressive and for Sarah the whole nightmare starts all over again.
I was very surprised that The Descent Part 2 was made for merely a fraction of the original’s budget. I was picking apart key scenes in this film and relating them back to the first in an attempt to see just how accurate the cave system was to that of the original film. I have to admit, the filmmakers did a good job, and key locations that helped make scenes in the first film stand out do so here, as well. The story is good, and I really liked how it just went right from the first film into the second just as if the film took place almost one or two days after the first film. The script even has a few great surprises for fans of the first film that make this sequel even more interesting.
The film has some decent acting, although some of the performances were a bit shaky, especially in the supporting roles. Shauna MacDonald is wonderful reprising her role of Sarah. Gavan O’Herlihy is also good as the coldhearted Sheriff Vaines. The rest of the cast is decent, though, as I mentioned, some of the minor and supporting roles are nothing special when it comes to their performances; there are just some scenes where the actors don’t seem genuinely scared of the creatures coming after them, and this takes away from the film.
One of the great things about this sequel is that not only do we get to know more about the character of Sarah, but we get to know the creatures more as well. We see the way they live in their habitat, how, they hunt, where they sleep and how their society works. The film opens up how these creatures stay hidden and how they survive. They are brutal carnivores with a taste for nothing but meat, and this film is just as bloody as, if not even more graphic and violent than, the first film. While the effects are not as good as they are in the original, they still hold up and give the film its hard-won suspenseful feel. My only complaint is that the blood in the film has a bright pink color to it, however this, I know, is mainly done to keep the film’s rating at an R and avoid the NC-17 label.
The DVD has a few special features, such as Audio Commentary with Director Jon Harris and actors Shauna MacDonald, Krysten Cummings and Anna Skeller. There is also a making-of Documentary, deleted scenes and a story board gallery.
Overall, The Descent Part 2 is just as good as the original film. If you look at it from a certain perspective they are pretty much one and the same as Part 2 starts right where the first film ends and that it is a search and rescue mission to find the remaining women. If you really enjoyed the first film, you’re going to appreciate this one just as much. It may have been made on a smaller budget and does not have that dark feel the first film does, but its stands on its own and I found it to be just as good as the first film.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
