Reviewed - Andrew Bourne
I was hoping, whilst watching Descent 2, that I would not find myself looking back to the original film and reflecting how brilliant the first one was, and how rubbish part 2 is. Thankfully, that wasn’t ‘completely’ the case. Unfortunately though ‘Descent 2’ is very much overshadowed by it's superbly original and hyper scary predecessor! And it would have taken something seriously brilliant to have topped the first one.
The second film sees us back in the caves of the Appalachian Mountains, and depending on which version you have seen (either the downbeat UK ending, or the more uplifting American one), we see Sarah MacDonald, thrust back into the fun and games of the underground caves. Having earlier found the blood-soaked and delirious Sarah whilst searching for the other missing cavers, the Sheriff, (who is not at all convinced poor Sarah doesn’t know what has happened to the other girls ) decides to drag her back to the underground caves to help out the search party.
What the hell would make Sarah head back down into the hell she had escaped from?
Well, with great convenience, she has suffered a massive bout of amnesia, rendering the events of the first film just a vague, hidden nightmare, trapped and lost somewhere in her confused mind. Forced back into this underground hell, it doesn’t take long for her memory to come flooding back.
Where this film delivers less than Marshall’s brilliant first film is not only in the setting and style of this adaption. Although the film does look very similar to the first ,dark, dripping, unavoidably claustrophobic tunnels whilst the fear of what lies beyond their darkness is still there. It is the overall tone of which Harris’ sequel fails to capture in Descent 2 which is the most obvious, and crucially missing ingredient. Where the first film leaves you with an inevitable feeling of total despair for the caver’s predicament ( you feel there is no way of them surviving what they are faced with), ‘The Descent part 2 has an overall less fatalistic feel to it. Because of this, to me, the whole horror of the first film is therefore removed, leaving a scary (well, jumpy at times) gory genre display. Overall the film has a lighter feel to it, the dialogue, at times, verging on the camp/schlocky, and doesn’t seem to be afraid of being so.
In conclusion, although I started by saying I hoped not to compare this sequel with it’s superb predecessor, comparisons are just inevitable, as the Descent 2 tries to imitate, whilst offering nothing new. And although Harris’ film is an enjoyable, action packed and gory romp, the lack of the original's claustrophobic, dark and hopeless feel lets it down in the end.
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