The Descent Part 2 review

Director: Jon Harris
(2009)

As a general rule, I despise sequels. From a business perspective they’re absolute gold and in some cases are actually superior products to the first film, but said examples are few and far between. When you narrow this down to horror films, the genre that seems to crank out the most sequels- direct to DVD or otherwise-than any other, the chances of a follow-up to a decent film are almost microscopic. While we all wished that the Descent Part 2 was the series ‘Aliens’, it fails miserably, both as a standalone feature and as a lazy follow-up to a solid British horror.

The Descent Part 2 even manages to damage the quality of the original film by completely undermining the first films crowd pleasing ending. Instead of the climactic dream sequence of the preferred UK cut, Part 2 follows the generic US version, in which Sarah (Shauna McDonald) escapes the cave system and finds safety at a nearby road. She’s suffering from amnesia, although this serious medical condition doesn’t stop the local Sheriff Vaines (Gavan O'Herlihy) from forcing her to take a rescue party back into the caves to search for her friends.

 As purveyors of the first film know, Sarah is the lone survivor of the gruesome ordeal, although any potential drama or tension is dispersed by her loss of memory. Little makes sense in the 15 brief minutes set above ground, right down to the sloppy writing and weak acting. The use of amnesia reduces Sarah’s character to a one dimensional mute, a choice almost as baffling as doctors allowing her to leave mere days after the trauma she has endured. The first film spent plenty of time developing its characters, even if they were mostly fodder for the beasts that lurk in the darkness, but at least their deaths held some degree of impact. The descent (this time by elevator) down into the cave fails to mount the tension in any way, a failing that reverberates throughout the entire feature.

Once firmly underground, the contrived amnesia plot device is mercifully discarded and the attempts at fear begin. Only that exactly what they are, attempts. Every impactful shock of Marshals film are replicated here to a far lesser degree, Director Jon Harris simply can’t give the audience a frightening payoff when the films build-up has been so lax. Expect scenes involving night vision cameras, glowsticks, pools of liquid and rockslides to happen, lazy déjà vu of the strong moments that made the original film so nerve shattering and intense. Special mention should go to the utterly idiotic characters however, the ones who fire guns in tight spaces and handcuff themselves to another survivor to prevent them from running off, even as the group is hounded by the monstrous crawlers that call the cave home. The first film ruined the horror of its monsters by showing too much of them, diminishing their effectiveness. Harris is once again content on emulating, and even shows one of them dive-bombing into a pool of shit (yes really) to chase its prey.

And then Harris tries to hit you with a shocker ending in the same vein as the original that, for a brief few moments, actually works. The intriguing ambiguity is soon shattered though, as it dawns on you that the final scene makes no sense whatsoever. This is the final memory I have of this sloppy horror flick, one that sums up not only the disappointment of an unwarranted sequel, but also a needless twist bolted on to the end to replicate the far superior first film. This is simply a film worth avoiding, rewatch the first film instead and pray that they don’t make a third.

3