The Descent is probably one of my favourite films, especially in the horror genre, and the discovery that there was a second film was an interesting and exciting prospect. The first film ends with a shock and a neat twist that gets your brain turning and trying to make sense out of the events that just occurred. Hopes for the Descent Part 2 giving some more answers to the mystery set up by the first film were high, even though warnings given by an experienced and knowledgeable source said otherwise. Of course, curiosity got the best of me and I was greatly disappointed.
The film starts off a couple of days after the events of its predecessor with our surviving hero Sarah being plunged back into the caves she just escaped from, this time accompanied by a search and rescue team and some cops. They descend into the caves to look for Sarah's missing friends and find mixed results. Delving even deeper ends up getting with the group becoming separated and fighting for their lives against a returning enemy, one which Sarah is all too familiar with.
Positives. There are very few that I can take from this film, but the first is the creatures themselves. They still look as impressively frightening as they did in the first film, attacking their victims with the same ferocity as before. Whilst the scares that they try and pull on the audience are predictable and weak, their presence is the most welcome aspect of the film, teasing their victims at times and increasing the pace of the film. The other positive is linked with this strongly and it is the fight scenes between our human group and the underground creatures. The engagements are tight and fierce with the blood and gore effects being focused upon in close-up shots similar to the first film. This is nice as it shows a respect for the first films presentation in showing the fighting and the blood, which I liked.
Negatives. A huge factor that was completely missed form the Part 2 was the lighting. In the first film you had a strong focus on red lighting that made the settings look as if they had been bathed in blood, and in alternative parts there was a wash of green lighting. These colours made the film more intense and strangely beautiful and also strongly foreshadowed future events in the film. Additionally the ending scene is awash in a blue colour that gives a refreshing feel to the end of the film. This was not carried through to the second film, with the lighting looking flat and uninteresting. Pale yellows and faded brown is how the film settings looked and this on a personal level was highly disappointing. The scares too were also very predictable and felt rehashed form the first film, which made the film feel a little boring. Lastly and probably the most annoying thing, is the narrative of the film. It does little to give an explanation to the existence of the monsters and the big surprise could be seen form a mile away. The weird 'hallucination's' from the first film were not played upon in the second and this did not allow the audience to simply think or interpret Sarah's survival for ourselves. Females are strongly represented in this film which is great, however a new character faces exactly the same struggles that Sarah faces herself and is not really that interesting. Her own 'escape' is almost a complete copy of Sarah's, just filmed from the opposite side.
All in all the film looks dull and fails to really think of new ways to scare the audience. The story is simple and very uninteresting, with loads of opportunities to hint or suggest answers about the cave and monsters being missed. I would give this film a 4/10.
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