The Descent: Part 2 (2009)

Movie Info

Caving with friends is fun! I’m so glad I get to do it again

Sarah Carter (Shauna Macdonald) has survived unspeakable horror in her escape from the underground caverns and the creatures that live there.  With no memory of what happened or how she got out, Sarah finds herself dragged back into the tunnels in the search for Juno Kaplan (Natalie Mendoza) and her other friends by Sheriff Vaines (Gavan O’Herlihy), Deputy Elen Rios (Krysten Cummings), and a team of cavers.  When a cave in traps and separates the group, the horror of the beasts of the cavern appears…and a surprising find could change everything!

Directed by Jon Harris, The Descent:  Part 2 is a British horror survival monster movie.  A sequel to the acclaimed 2005 film The Descent, The Descent II was met with poor reviews and a weak box-office.

I found The Descent compelling and scary.  Despite some issues with pacing and character development, the movie was a strong and original horror film.  I was content with how it ended and to never see the characters again…and then The Descent:  Part 2 was released.

I think they are just misunderstood

The original Descent ending essentially had the Sarah character trapped in the cave and facing death.  The U.S. release had her escaping (possibly) but haunted by the death of Juno.  Here, neither of these endings are really used and a pretty standard horror film develops.  There are a lot of characters acting stupid (like the Sheriff Vaines character who brings a traumatized Sarah back into the ground), and lots of running, falling, and wasted sacrifices by other characters only to have the character they were saving cry and get killed.  In addition to this, they bring back Juno Kaplan as a kind of action hero that becomes kind of the savior and a means to redeem Sarah’s character who used questionable escape tactics at the end of The Descent.

Despite being a sequel to a successful movie, the movie doesn’t pull in any better actors.  I don’t mind Krysten Cummings as the character who essentially becomes the lead of the film through her team-up with Sarah, and Shauna Macdonald and Natalie Mendoza’s returns don’t make much sense both in the story or the characters’ actions.  Character actor Gavan O’Herlihy plays the one-dimensional dumb sheriff while most of the other characters are meat for the cave crawlers.  Michael J. Reynolds plays the enigmatic character that just becomes an annoying “shock ending” character.

Hey, that’s Juno “Action Hero” to you!

The movie does allow you to see more of the creepy creatures from the first film.  The cave crawlers are still a great creation and their design along with the actors’ performances in the costumes create a really terrifying monster.  What The Descent:  Part 2 lacks in the claustrophobia of the first one even when they try to recreate moments of entrapment by the characters…it isn’t as intense as the first film’s cave in.

The Descent:  Part 2 is a waste of time.  It is a stupid sequel to a good horror movie.  If the movie had opted for all new characters (as part of a search party), and perhaps Sarah showing up like Juno, that would have maybe been a better storyline.  Instead, the movie feels like a complete money grab (which it didn’t turn out to be) and put a black mark on an otherwise good horror movie.  The Descent:  Part 2 ends in a ridiculous jump sequence that angers you more than scares you and leaves you regretting watching the ho-hum sequel.

Related Links:

The Descent (2005)