Remember a couple years ago when a little British horror film took the critics and audiences by storm, it was called The Descent and what a treasure Neil Marshall’s little genre piece turned out to be, and what an inspired title as well. Well, naturally when such a film is successful, you’re bound to see a sequel: on steps first-timer Jon Harris to try his hand at revisiting the film he edited, and you have The Descent: Part 2, hardly a bad film in its own right, but hardly a good one as well, especially when placed next to its predecessor.Bet you’ve heard this before: the film starts right where the first left off, original. It’s been two days and by wonderful happenstance a search crew has already been searching for the “six chicks with picks,” due to the fact that one of the first films protagonists, Juno (Natalie Mendoza) happens to be a politician’s daughter. When a driver picks up the previous films survivor (this sequel decidedly avoiding its counterpart’s original ending), she ends up in the hospital covered blood, not only her own, and wouldn’t you know it not remembering a damn thing about the last few days, poor girl. Well, leave it to inept horror film cop to decide, “Let’s take her back down and see if she remembers anything.” Because that is totally what any sensible cop and his deputy (Krysten Cummings) would do, wouldn’t you?
So it doesn’t take nearly as long for this films inconsequential characters to end up down in that lightless abyss that characterized the first film so well. Where The Descent was a damn-near perfect genre exercise that went beyond its inspiration and came out a deeply satisfying and exceedingly well-made film that tapped into the fear that pulsed through such classics as Alien, Deliverance, The Thing and numerous other horror notables, its sequel seems to play more along the lines of, “Scares and style? That’s a little hard, let’s just add a bunch of gore.” They could have at least got the blood color right, but instead it looks eerily similar to Tim Burton’s choice of splurge for Sweeney Todd (2007), but this film is a little too serious for that to work.
I’m not saying The Descent: Part 2 is a bad film, just that it’s simply the direct-to-DVD, bite and claw film that Lionsgate has opted to release it as here in the states, that due to its predecessor’s notoriety received the big screen treatment over in its native Britain. Jon Harris takes the safe route by not trying too hard; headlamps mysteriously light the caves like low-budget fluorescents as opposed to the first films use of red flares, green glow-sticks and torches. Where the first film gave you characters to care about, this one gives you an idiot cop, his deputy who’s only reason to live is a daughter back above, three British rescue crew members, as well as a disturbed protagonist making a comeback from the first film; nothing really but one to two dimensional characters. Where The Descent had style, this has five-year-old nostalgia, not nearly long enough to run a movie off of, but hey, money is money, right?
The Descent: Part 2 works well enough on its level, which is a rather low one to be completely honest, but it must be said. Yeah, it’s disappointing; you wait five years and you expect the sequel to a genre masterpiece to be, well, better then this. You expect the creatures to be back in all their creepy glory, as opposed to looking like they’ve gone through a few centuries of evolution in a matter of days, talk about mad skills. You also expect said creepy creatures to go for the kill, as oppose to simply look menacing when given a chance to scream within a few inches of the prey they know are there. You expect a lot of things really, and that will be the determining factor as to whether you enjoy this film or not: how low you set your expectations.
*** out of ****
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