Directed by Jon Harris
Written by J. Blakeson and James McCarthy
Starring Michael J. Reynolds, Shauna Macdonald, Jessika Williams, Douglas Hodge, Joshua Dallas, Anna Skellern, Krystal Cummings and Natalie Jackson Mendoza.
"Fear Runs Deeper"
Part 2 picks up directly after the conclusion of The Descent (2005), with Sara (Shauna Macdonald) Carter stumbling upon a passing pickup truck shortly after escaping the terror-filled caves where her friends all lost their lives. Taken to a nearby hospital and suffering from amnesia, the local authorities begin to question her on her missing friend's whereabouts. Suspecting she knows more than she's letting on or that she may remember once in familiar surrounding, Sheriff Vaines (Reynolds) and Deputy Rios (Cummings) escort her back to the caves. Accompanying them is an experienced rescue team: Dan (Hodge), Greg (Dallas) and Cath (Skellem). They soon encounter the horrors found in the Appalachian caves and are forced to fight for survival and a way out alive.
While in it's narrative, The Descent: Part 2 is a direct extension of the original feature directed by Neil Marshall, director Jon Harris' sequel is a different beast. Lacking most of the claustrophobic tension of it's source material, Part 2 is more about the brutality of the beasts in the cave. It is a monster movie and a survival picture. And a bloody gory one at that. Besides returning lead Sara and Deputy Rios, the other characters are introduced for the simple purpose of getting knocked off, one by one. In many ways, the structure is much like a monster movie or slasher film of the 80's, minus all the teen angst. Harris delivers the creatures early and escalates their threat considerably by the end, both in ferocity and in numbers. By the end, the cave dwellers are practically out in the open and in full view. Thankfully they hold up as disgusting and frightening visages even if they do loose much of their terror-factor along the way.
In only one scene, does Part 2 succeed in replicating the intense claustrophobia of the first, when Cath is stuck in very tight quarters after the initial cave in that traps the entire party. It benefits from being a brief scene else it probably would not have been able to maintain that feeling. Most other times, the set locations provide plenty of elbow room and lighting, and when the walls do tighten up, it feels too familiar to generate the proper effect. As if Harris knew recapturing this particular element would be unsuccessful, he upped the gore considerably. Sometimes it works, many times it's a bit too over-the-top. There's a lot a gushing blood from dweller bites, there's smashed heads, rotting corpses, tearing of limbs. In more than one occasion, unbelievable amounts of blood splatter, squirt or spurt onto the faces and into the mouths of the cast. In many ways, it's this conviction to gross-out that makes the film work as well as it does.
The actors hold their own against the creature effect quite well. Shauna Macdonald commands the screen and is totally believable in her surroundings. Krystal Cummings grounds the film to what little reality it needs to keep it from jumping off the rails into absolute parody. The rest aren't given enough to work with and they all give a solid supporting performances. The creatures are the stars, and they get a surprisingly large amount of screen time. They're everywhere and in almost every other scene once the movie hits the midway point. The gore effects are delightful with only a few of them failing. Sadly, two scenes where characters plummet into deep caverns are a complete mess and border on SyFy movie-of-the-week goofiness.
Jon Harris isn't Neil Marshall. Thankfully he knows this and never tries to be. His direction is sure handed and professional. Never quite achieving the tension and fierce terror he most likely desired, he does deliver a quick-paced, action-packed, thrill-ride. There's nothing wrong with that.
Once realizing what the movie is, it is easy to enjoy The Descent: Part 2 in all its goofy, gory glory. It's a damned good monster movie with plenty of memorable set pieces. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you like a solid, blood-filled creature feature, this could be the flick for you.
7.5 out of 10
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