Talk us through itSarah has survived her two day sojourn underground, i.e. has not become part of the crawler menu, but is near catatonic with no memory of what happened. The local Sheriff, who is tasked with finding Juno due to her being a Senator's niece, doesn't believe in laying around in bed with something so mild as post-traumatic stress disorder and hauls Sarah back underground along with a Deputy and a three person rescue team. Well we all know what happened in the first movie, a salient lesson in not exploring undiscovered caves in the Appalachian mountains, so guess it's not giving anything away to say our team of would be rescuers have a date with one of the more aggressive CHUD species about. Who will survive and what state will they be in is the question. Ready to have another look into hell's lair?
Review“There are five girls missing, and you put the one person who knows where they are to sleep?” - VainesPreview of the forthcoming DVD release from Icon Film Distribution - due 4th August 2010 First up you need to think the events going down in Descent 2 happen post Sarah's escape from the underground cave system in the North American version of the original Descent movie, forget the full version of the film with it's additional brain twisting scenes that have launched any number of debates on the web. I think most people are quite happy to acknowledge The Descent as one of the great modern Brit horror movies, perhaps the best to be released from that region since the seminal Alien put Ridley Scott's name on the horror radar. The North American release in abbreviated form still worked for mine, the target demographics not being big on mind games after all. No offense intended to Yankee readers, but have you seen recent efforts out of Boredwood? Anyway the original movie has this almost tangible claustrophobia thing happening and get's under your skin even without the crawlers making pests of themselves, so how did a sequel stake up against Neil Marshall's near perfect original movie? First up a bit of housekeeping before we get to the skin and bones. Before anyone asks, yes Anna Skellern is indeed an Aussie, the accent gives it away during the movie. My version of the DVD, a preview copy, came with trailers for The Descent, the excellent looking Pandorum, and the much anticipated Triangle. Clearly Icon are keeping their firm commitment to the dark genre alive and are releasing some of the better looking independent efforts. Two thumbs up to the Distributor check them out right here. Okay let's hit it and explore us some tunnel systems. 
Director Jon Harris has a pretty hard row to hoe here, with about every Audience member being well aware of what went down in Marshall's original movie and hence having an anticipation factor about what is going down in the sequel. Get it wrong and the Director will feel the wraith of a million and one teenagers only too ready to deride something that didn't meet their expectations on their facebook pages and free blog sites. The net really does have something to answer for, and that would be teens thinking we give a toss about their opinions. Sorry kids no one is reading, no one cares, go and get a social life. Thankfully Harris pulls it off with quite some style and a hell of a lot of surprises along the way. The Director keeps the good stuff, claustrophobic locations and a building tension, adds some spice to the broth, and simply goes buck naked wild with increased blood and guts. I would argue this is one horror movie for Adults, it's operating on a much higher plain than your general scary movie and has some underlying themes to get your teeth into. About my only criticism of Descent 2, actually have a couple of others but what the heck, is the amount of spilled claret and some of the effects that are going to put non-horror viewers off an excellent movie. There were at least three scenes that had me wondering if Jon Harris hadn't gone over the top and perhaps should have toned things down. Rats have to eat, Crawlers need a bathroom break, and handcuffs are never a good idea in a horror movie at the best of times. If you are easily offended, and what on earth are you reading this site for then, Descent 2 may not be the movie for you. We also get lots of metal meeting the flesh, bite wounds, and general mayhem at the all you can eat Crawler take out den. For dark genre fans it's excellent stuff and since we all are the target Audience then the movie hits it's mark. For non horror movie fans then dial in, if you can get passed the trappings then there's a very strong movie lurking just under the blood splattered surface. Harris realises what worked in the original movie, he was an Editor on that project, and infuses his own movie with the same trappings. In the first block of Descent 2 we have lots of wide angled and overhead shots that not only highlight the isolation of the Appalachians, but also work to contrast the tight confines of the middle and final acts of the movie. The Director very much works from a macro world view to a micro claustrophobic one to great effect. Being in tight places with the local predators on your arse is what it's all about, Harris rocks the house down when he hits that out swinger over the boundary. Neil Marshall introduced the Crawlers in one of the great moments of horror cinema. A character swings a camcorder around and suddenly one of the carnivores is there in the frame, besides needing a change of undies most Audience members took the roof off with one of the great jump scenes. Harris hits the same angle with Crawlers suddenly appearing, climbing up rocks in the background, and rushing past unsuspecting victims. The Audience knows what's coming but Harris manages to pull off some great anticipation, including one fantastically constructed false scare scene that jogs Sarah's memory. I was high fiving people and leaping around my lounge room like a demented Doberman when this stuff went down. Director Harris not only respects his audience but he knows how to put together a bloody good horror movie, pun intended. Normally I'm not a big fan of jump scenes, overused and generally mishandled in horror, but Harris follows Marshall's example and nails them here in Descent 2. Do we have another great Brit horror Director on our hands? 
My apologises to our esteemed Editor here, this review is going to run well over standard length, sorry a lot of groovy stuff to cover and not holding back mate! [Editor's Note: So business as usual then?] What I was particular pleased about with Descent 2 was Jon Harris going one step beyond what Neil Marshall achieved in the original movie. Like James Cameron with Aliens Director Harris is well aware he can't rest on previous laurels but needs to add some extra spices to the mix to appease an Audience that already knows the ground rules here. We get prolonged looks at the Crawlers, a particularly loathsome slimy looking creature, and learn some new stuff about them. On the bright side of the pick axe they can be readily killed without needing superhuman strength or advanced weaponry. Harris not only gives us a closer inspection of the monster but he also has them swarming in greater numbers, “hell yeah” from my side of the couch. There is of course an escalation in bloodshed with a number of characters simply being there to become Crawler fodder, Harris however has the humans hitting back with a vengeance and any number of Crawlers leaving the food chain abruptly. There's a couple of surprises coming at you, including one of the great entrances in modern horror, but I'll leave those for the reader to discover for them self rather than hand feeding everything. One of the strengths of Descent 2 is Sarah's ongoing attachment to her deceased daughter. Early in the piece she thinks she hears Jessica calling from down a mine shaft. It helps explain Sarah's attachment to Deputy Rios, and one of the crucial scenes towards the end of the movie. Sarah sees herself in Rios and that maternal instinct surely is a powerful force when it comes to dealing with underground predators. This aspect of the movie added some depth to proceedings that might otherwise have been missing. I could also add another facet but that would be heading into spoiler territory. Suffice it to say Director Harris and his writers aren't simply putting on a horror show and going “boo”, they are trying for something with a lot more resonance. I guess the only other bad mark against this movie is the rather strange ending, which does leave room for a sequel. It's a horror trope, you have seen something like it before, but it sort of does work in a round about fashion. Guess the teens are going to be angry they don't get an explanation there, suck it up! Shauna Macdonald (Sarah) reprises her role from the original movie and once again nails a strong performance that had me nodding my head in approval. Natalie Mendoza (Juno) is more action orientated this time and once again is stealing scenes. Krysten Cummings (Rios) plays pretty well as the naive member of the party who you hope will make it to the final credits. Gavan O'Herlihy (Vaines) is the dude you are going to love to hate. And Aussie Anna Skellern (Kath) kicks a major for the home team. David Julyan hit one out of the park with the score for Descent 2. It's eerie, foreboding, and infinitely dark. Director Harris uses the score sparingly but when it does kick in you'll know it. Simply an excellent piece of composition.
Summary ExecutionI've watched The Descent: Part 2 three times now and am picking up extra details on each viewing, multi textured kids. I was really anticipating this movie after Neil Marshall's shock fest of an original movie and Jon Harris didn't let me down. One of the great horror sequels, I had a good time from opening frame to final frame. Director Harris knows his horror and delivers a stand out example of what can be done in the dark genre. You have to love a movie where characters are getting covered in various body fluids, from both ends! I'm going to watch the movie again as soon as this review goes to the editing queue, bring on them Crawlers.The Descent: Part 2 is a straight to DVD release that Icon, we are not worthy, are releasing to the Aussie market on 4th August 2010. At time of writing I don't have details as to extras or cool stuff but knowing Icon you will get a whole bunch of extras if they are available. Pity this one didn't go to the big screen, would have loved to catch this one at a Film Festival, I reckon the screaming would have brought the roof down. Full unmitigated recommendation, if you miss The Descent: Part 2 then you should hand in your horror fan card at the door. This one is for us, a movie that doesn't treat the audience as idiots and that gives you that rarest of horror commodities, an actual decent movie in it's own right. I've crossed my fingers that a third movie is heading our way, this could develop into one of the great horror franchises. The Descent: Part 2 matches the original in all aspects, descend on your local DVD outlet you will not be disappointed!
ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ... Director Jon Harris starts where Neil Marshall finished, one of the great sequels in movie history.
|
