Cool News
Double Down Braves THE DESCENT: PART 2!!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Beaks here...
I don't do well in tight, confined spaces, so Neil Marshall's THE DESCENT did quite a number on me. And since I'm a huge fan of panic attacks, I've been eagerly anticipating the sequel since it was announced last year.
The sequel brings back the two leads (Shauna Macdonald as Sarah, and Natalie Jackson Mendoza as Juno), which is quite a feat considering one of them was extremely dead at the end of the first film. Marshall, meanwhile, is only credited as an executive producer; veteran editor Jon Harris - who cut SNATCH and LAYER CAKE as well as THE DESCENT - has been promoted to the director's chair.
Can he bring back the claustrophobic terror of Marshall's original? Let's check in with Double Down...
Hi all,
I caught the world's first test screening of The Descent: Part 2 last night. My review is below.
The Descent: Part 2
I vote for a new title. This film should instead be named The Descent: Remixed. It’s a hip title right? The kids will dig it! Because I don’t see any other crowd they’re making this movie for besides the teenagers who are willing to hand over $12 on opening weekend to sit through some mindless “horror” for an hour and a half, Twitter during it, then forget about it the next morning.
Part 2 begins exactly where Part 1 ends and therein lies its first problem of many more to come. If you’re a fan of The Descent (like I am) then you’ll know that the UK version (and I’m assuming the version shown all over the world ex. the U.S. ) ends with our heroine Sarah trapped in the caverns, meditating on the acceptance of her fate and dwelling on her deceased daughter. Then it was bastardized for American audiences because apparently we can’t handle a bleak ending and that final shot was deleted leading us to believe that Sarah gets out of her cavernous hell, gets in her car and as she drives away her “friend” Juno shows up (as a ghost?) in her passenger seat. Role credits. If you haven’t seen it it’s as bad as it sounds. A truly corny mid-level ending to what was honestly one of the few great horror films of this decade.
Part 2 opens with Sarah, Shauna Macdonald returns to the role, being found by a local trucker on the Appalachian highway. So now the American ending is being followed? How will this make sense to viewers outside of the U.S. ? Are they (and we who have it on DVD) to believe that she actually did make it out of the cave? I’m assuming that’s the logic the film makers were using and it’s that “logic” that infects the entire film.
Sarah conveniently doesn’t remember a thing from her experience and local authorities are in a panicked rush to find the rest of the female spelunkers whose fates we witnessed in the first film. It turns out that Juno, played again by Natalie Jackson Mendoza, is actually the daughter of a Senator, hence the hubbub. We soon learn the rescue team has been looking in the wrong place since as we discovered in the first installment Juno fooled everyone into entering an unknown cave system while deceivingly mapping out a charted one. As soon as the team finds what they think is the right system the local sheriff, who constantly seems overly-concerned, yanks poor Sarah out of the hospital to help them in their search. Sarah remains mute for the first 30 minutes of the film with a terrified look engrained on her face (think Newt in Aliens). As soon as shit starts hitting the stalactites her memory comes rushing back and she turns into Ripley, a confident bad ass who all of a sudden is an expert on how to deal with man-eating sub humans. Meanwhile throughout the entire remainder of the film the rescue team and sheriffs turn into infants who can barely handle themselves.
The rest of the story you can honestly fill in if you’ve seen the first one. Rocks fall, people get trapped, the monsters attack (I’m sorry, ancient humans who got stuck but can now find their way out but have evolved so much they can’t get normal jobs on the surface), people die, there are pickaxes through skulls and a big heroic/dramatic ending occurs. It’s that predictable, uninspired and unnecessary.
For one the direction (taken on by first timer Jon Harris) just isn’t as well executed as it was with original director Neil Marshall. I felt the geography of the cave systems were much more comprehensible under Marshall ’s photography. The caves themselves even looked more authentic. Almost every shot in Part 2 looks like a set and that makes it inherently less creepy. Marshall also conveyed a much better sense of claustrophobia than Harris does in the systems, especially in the trapped scenes.
The dialogue is completely forgettable, even laughable toward the end. Not to say the original had fantastic dialogue but the characters were more well-developed and sympathetic. There’s also something to say about the all female cast of the original. The dynamics of that group were much more intriguing. Here we have men and women running aimlessly through the rock and it just seems less unique. The third act is noticeably sluggish and monotonous. We’ve been in these systems before. We’ve seen people react exactly the same way when the monsters show up - “what are these things?!”, “we have to find a way out!” And in the caverns this new cast comes across every dead body which we saw dispersed of in the original – as if to remind us this film is just a corpse of its predecessor.
As you’ve seen from the trailer Juno is inexplicably alive and acts just as Sarah does - a fully fledged bad ass who can now take out multiple creatures at the same time. I’d write more but all I’d like to say is this: fucking stupid.
There are however some cool scenes, fret not gore hounds. Sarah and the Sheriff’s deputy battle a creature in a pool (much like the 1st one) and soon after realize the pool ain’t filled with water. There is some intensity to be found such as a close-quarters scene where a girl from the rescue team gets trapped in a tiny passage and a creature attacks. There are also a couple of creative and gory set pieces in the endless chasm from the first film. Overall, there is a decent amount of blood-letting in which the shots last for a few too many seconds entering into exploitative territory. And the blood itself was that great fake 70’s blood, that truly bright red from Giallo films. Yet the kills themselves are uninventive and no different from the first film. Throat tears and axes to the skulls - not even an eye gouge was to be found. This is arguably gorier and more violent but not noticeably more so.
I was terrified that they’d feel the need to up the ante with these creatures and show us a “mother alien” or God forbid a creature hybrid of some sort (Predalien anyone?), but thankfully the writers chose to put down the bong and not fall into this cliché chasm. The problem is we don’t learn anything new about these creatures - nothing about their origin, or how their community works; are they are unique to these Appalachian Mountains ? We learn the same things we did in the first, less in fact. They’re blind, hunt above ground and like the taste of human flesh when it’s delivered to them.
You arguably learn a tidbit at the very end of the film. Of course I won’t give it away but there is a twist. And it makes no sense - again keeping in line with the original (at least the American ending). It actually downright pissed me off because it is so unexplained and unsubstantiated throughout the whole film it’s like a punch in the gut and a poor gimmick which seems like a desperate ploy to be set apart from the original and God forbid setup a third installment.
There is also the typical slew of pop-up scares with musical cue hits to tell you that you should jump at this point and those moments where the monster is right behind them. These creatures act a bit more menacing, screaming at you for a good amount of time before they eat you, but it is actually less affecting toward the audience – they just aren’t as scary now, in fact they often come across as goofy and devoid of intelligence. The camera work is helmed by the same cinematographer from the first, Sam McCurdy, and the action scenes are still just as shaky. Is it possible to hold a camera still in horror anymore or is that a stipulation in contracts now?
The Descent: Part 2 is like dating a fatter, dumber version of your ex. What’s the point? Just go back to the original if you get the urge to go spelunking again.
Please check out soundwavescinema.com for more. Thanks!
Double Down
I caught the world's first test screening of The Descent: Part 2 last night. My review is below.
The Descent: Part 2
I vote for a new title. This film should instead be named The Descent: Remixed. It’s a hip title right? The kids will dig it! Because I don’t see any other crowd they’re making this movie for besides the teenagers who are willing to hand over $12 on opening weekend to sit through some mindless “horror” for an hour and a half, Twitter during it, then forget about it the next morning.
Part 2 begins exactly where Part 1 ends and therein lies its first problem of many more to come. If you’re a fan of The Descent (like I am) then you’ll know that the UK version (and I’m assuming the version shown all over the world ex. the U.S. ) ends with our heroine Sarah trapped in the caverns, meditating on the acceptance of her fate and dwelling on her deceased daughter. Then it was bastardized for American audiences because apparently we can’t handle a bleak ending and that final shot was deleted leading us to believe that Sarah gets out of her cavernous hell, gets in her car and as she drives away her “friend” Juno shows up (as a ghost?) in her passenger seat. Role credits. If you haven’t seen it it’s as bad as it sounds. A truly corny mid-level ending to what was honestly one of the few great horror films of this decade.
Part 2 opens with Sarah, Shauna Macdonald returns to the role, being found by a local trucker on the Appalachian highway. So now the American ending is being followed? How will this make sense to viewers outside of the U.S. ? Are they (and we who have it on DVD) to believe that she actually did make it out of the cave? I’m assuming that’s the logic the film makers were using and it’s that “logic” that infects the entire film.
Sarah conveniently doesn’t remember a thing from her experience and local authorities are in a panicked rush to find the rest of the female spelunkers whose fates we witnessed in the first film. It turns out that Juno, played again by Natalie Jackson Mendoza, is actually the daughter of a Senator, hence the hubbub. We soon learn the rescue team has been looking in the wrong place since as we discovered in the first installment Juno fooled everyone into entering an unknown cave system while deceivingly mapping out a charted one. As soon as the team finds what they think is the right system the local sheriff, who constantly seems overly-concerned, yanks poor Sarah out of the hospital to help them in their search. Sarah remains mute for the first 30 minutes of the film with a terrified look engrained on her face (think Newt in Aliens). As soon as shit starts hitting the stalactites her memory comes rushing back and she turns into Ripley, a confident bad ass who all of a sudden is an expert on how to deal with man-eating sub humans. Meanwhile throughout the entire remainder of the film the rescue team and sheriffs turn into infants who can barely handle themselves.
The rest of the story you can honestly fill in if you’ve seen the first one. Rocks fall, people get trapped, the monsters attack (I’m sorry, ancient humans who got stuck but can now find their way out but have evolved so much they can’t get normal jobs on the surface), people die, there are pickaxes through skulls and a big heroic/dramatic ending occurs. It’s that predictable, uninspired and unnecessary.
For one the direction (taken on by first timer Jon Harris) just isn’t as well executed as it was with original director Neil Marshall. I felt the geography of the cave systems were much more comprehensible under Marshall ’s photography. The caves themselves even looked more authentic. Almost every shot in Part 2 looks like a set and that makes it inherently less creepy. Marshall also conveyed a much better sense of claustrophobia than Harris does in the systems, especially in the trapped scenes.
The dialogue is completely forgettable, even laughable toward the end. Not to say the original had fantastic dialogue but the characters were more well-developed and sympathetic. There’s also something to say about the all female cast of the original. The dynamics of that group were much more intriguing. Here we have men and women running aimlessly through the rock and it just seems less unique. The third act is noticeably sluggish and monotonous. We’ve been in these systems before. We’ve seen people react exactly the same way when the monsters show up - “what are these things?!”, “we have to find a way out!” And in the caverns this new cast comes across every dead body which we saw dispersed of in the original – as if to remind us this film is just a corpse of its predecessor.
As you’ve seen from the trailer Juno is inexplicably alive and acts just as Sarah does - a fully fledged bad ass who can now take out multiple creatures at the same time. I’d write more but all I’d like to say is this: fucking stupid.
There are however some cool scenes, fret not gore hounds. Sarah and the Sheriff’s deputy battle a creature in a pool (much like the 1st one) and soon after realize the pool ain’t filled with water. There is some intensity to be found such as a close-quarters scene where a girl from the rescue team gets trapped in a tiny passage and a creature attacks. There are also a couple of creative and gory set pieces in the endless chasm from the first film. Overall, there is a decent amount of blood-letting in which the shots last for a few too many seconds entering into exploitative territory. And the blood itself was that great fake 70’s blood, that truly bright red from Giallo films. Yet the kills themselves are uninventive and no different from the first film. Throat tears and axes to the skulls - not even an eye gouge was to be found. This is arguably gorier and more violent but not noticeably more so.
I was terrified that they’d feel the need to up the ante with these creatures and show us a “mother alien” or God forbid a creature hybrid of some sort (Predalien anyone?), but thankfully the writers chose to put down the bong and not fall into this cliché chasm. The problem is we don’t learn anything new about these creatures - nothing about their origin, or how their community works; are they are unique to these Appalachian Mountains ? We learn the same things we did in the first, less in fact. They’re blind, hunt above ground and like the taste of human flesh when it’s delivered to them.
You arguably learn a tidbit at the very end of the film. Of course I won’t give it away but there is a twist. And it makes no sense - again keeping in line with the original (at least the American ending). It actually downright pissed me off because it is so unexplained and unsubstantiated throughout the whole film it’s like a punch in the gut and a poor gimmick which seems like a desperate ploy to be set apart from the original and God forbid setup a third installment.
There is also the typical slew of pop-up scares with musical cue hits to tell you that you should jump at this point and those moments where the monster is right behind them. These creatures act a bit more menacing, screaming at you for a good amount of time before they eat you, but it is actually less affecting toward the audience – they just aren’t as scary now, in fact they often come across as goofy and devoid of intelligence. The camera work is helmed by the same cinematographer from the first, Sam McCurdy, and the action scenes are still just as shaky. Is it possible to hold a camera still in horror anymore or is that a stipulation in contracts now?
The Descent: Part 2 is like dating a fatter, dumber version of your ex. What’s the point? Just go back to the original if you get the urge to go spelunking again.
Please check out soundwavescinema.com for more. Thanks!
Double Down
-
+ Expand All
-
That is all.
-
Depressing, but good!
-
May 07, 2009 7:22:12 PM CDT
Why do they bother with sequels that mirror that first?
by outlawsdelejos
Just watch the first fucken movie.
-
I can't wait to not see one frame of this version for mall rats. I hope I don't even see the one sheet. Punish producers for dumbing down franchises and they will do it less. Punish them by keeping your money.
-
that was predictable.
-
I'm content with the first film.
-
In the UK print,everyone died,they changed the ending for the US!
-
move ever made by a studio anywhere at any point in film history. It takes a great, claustrophobic, character driven horror movie--I don't have to tell you how much of a rarity that is--and then completely flushes the preceeding 90 minutes down the commode. I can't bitch enough about it. Whoever greenlit the idea should never again know freedom from constant ridicule. In all honesty, I consider the American theatrical ending one of the worst moments in cinematic history, and it underscores just how pivotal having a good-solid ending in a movie really is.
-
It looked great and started off well enough, but it was too much to ask the audience to believe that there could be a devolved species of humans living in dark caves ... when they had access to the freakin' surface! I particularly hate this one because it had the potential to be great.
-
I thought they were going to make the sequel about a different group of people. I think I read that it was going to be a bunch of male cave explorers. Guess they changed their mind and went with what they thought was a safe idea.
-
..you're a fucking idiot.
Fucking. Idiot. -
I don't recall that happening in the first one... am I remembering wrong?
-
Just typical.
-
they can't bank on the slim chance that humans come down for a visit for survival, so they do indeed go up to the surface to hunt animals. This is explained in the first one and the second. There exit is the hole Sarah comes out of in the first. The fact that they hunt above ground is the reason the girls knew there was a way out in the first place.
-
I can't express how disappointed and pissed I was after watching a film so praised.
-
The movie up to that point had been far-fetched, but still vaguely believable. Caves, and the darkness they provide, are naturally scary. Weirdly primitive early human creatures, though a stretch, aren't completely off the wall, so together the two worked. Then the ending comes along, a hallucination in the real version, which doesn't completely defy logic, but in the American bullshit version, A FUCKING GHOST!!!! Yes, a fucking ghost pops up, out of fucking nowhere, at the end of a film about cave-dwelling subhuman monsters. What. The. Fuck. If you can't see the obvious stupid there I can't help you.
-
May 07, 2009 8:07:40 PM CDT
Sounds terrible. The sequel i want to see are: Severence and
by future help
and Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon (and maybe another Timber Falls)
-
I liked them, don't get me wrong, but they were physically weak as monsters go. Thats why the first film had a real struggle. The women stood a chance at killing these things and the creatures had the advantage of numbers and hunting on their own turf. Now apparently in this film they must be stronger and craftier in or order to take down a bunch of guys who are probably more than strong enough for the job. In other words this one sounds like unwatchable bullshit already.
-
I'm not saying the American ending was spectacular, but I don't think it was that bad. I didn't interpret Juno as being a ghost; she's simply another vision that Sarah has that brings home the point that Sarah might have escaped, but she will always be haunted by the traumatic experience, her guilt, and her own descent into murderous madness. In some ways I think that's more of a down ending than the original cut, for those who claim that it's some sort of happy-ending sellout. The appearance of Juno perfectly jibes with the hallucinatory motif that Sarah experiences throughout the film and reinforces the fact that she is still deeply psychologically scarred.That all said, yes, I do prefer the original ending.
-
a second is totally unnecessary.
-
...but it sure smells good!
-
Every single character was annoying as hell, the plot was non-existent and the gore was over-the-top to the point of stupidity (but not to the point that it was funny).
-
And since the Filipina from part 1 is a senator's daughter, they got some splainin' to do!
-
I still don't understand why people like the first one. besides the one scene that blocks their way back out, that movie is AWFUL.
The sequel to D2 should take place 200 years from now on a different planet in a different set of caves with laser beams and plasma grenades. any takers? -
if you apply your knowledge of what the original ending was, you'll see it as a hallucination. Of course, if you only saw the American version, that context isn't there. You see the Juno ghost, BAM it ends. It plays out, again, completely out of context as the cheapest jump scare-ending-twist in horror film history, which is exactly what the studio thought the American audience would love about it. Thankfully, they were wrong. Not even Americans are that stupid. It's an insult, frankly to all us Yanks, and I've never stopped taking it personally.
-
I just found this interview with John Gaeta:
http://tinyurl.com/cp2ks8
Looking better and better. -
That ending was six different kinds of bullshit. I guess I wouldn't have hated the movie as much, though, if the poster hadn't said something to the effect of it being the scariest movie since "Alien." I hate being lied to!
-
http://tinyurl.com/cp2ks8
-
I love it when "critics" on this site dive into a horror sequel and then review it like it should have been War and Peace. Fuck off. Horror films like this are just a giant bag of chips. Enjoy, regret, then shit it out. Delving anymore into it is like a monkey examining it's own feces.
-
I haven't seen the original sequel, but I wonder if it is as bad as the sequel to the remake (Hills)?
-
Blah, blah, blah genetics, blah blah isolated community, more blah, capturing females for breeding.
That was the unrealistic part of the first. The women would have been breeders not food. -
God was it horrible.
-
Sounds like more of the same crap.
-
May 07, 2009 9:11:17 PM CDT
D.Vader Maybe stolen from Wells Machen and Lovecraft.
by evilwizardglick
Really aren't all underground dwellers stolen from Wells, Machen and Lovecraft?
-
And the daughter of a Senator? You'd think that might have come up in the first one really.
Also, didn't she get a climbing axe in the throat or the chest? Are we to believe that Jason Vorhees' mother fucked a Latino senator? You'd think she'd die of blood loss or at least be stricken with infection, not ass-kicking a bunch of mutants waiting to be rescued.
I love how much the studios underestimate you Yanks, pretty insulting no? -
May 07, 2009 9:38:06 PM CDT
Juno is Chev Chelios' cousin and is emotionaly unstable...
by the dum guy
From post partem (sp?) depression.
-
You don't need to apply knowledge of the original ending to see it as a hallucination. She has several hallucinations throughout the film, so it fits in with those. Anyway, sorry to quibble - we're basically on the same page - I just don't feel as harshly about it. :- )
-
And I'm drawing a blank. How ironic.
-
Its just a literal manifestation of the events haunting her. I certainly didn't see it as an "oh shit, its a ghost!" moment, and I would think most people who DO think that's the case to be a little bit small-minded. I took it as a moment that said "This shit will haunt her for a long time". Typical ending in the "last scare" vein, but not terrible.
-
that it was both a descent into madness and a literal descent underground? I thought that was what they were going for with the original ending which is what saved that movie for me. Like Se7en, to have a sequel would undermine the point of the original. From that stand-point it's a shame they made De2cent. Hope Se7en never gets an Ei8ht.
-
...and we don't see her die, though it's heavily implied.
No way in hell is that any kind of endorsement for the wholly unnecessary sequel. Just sayin'.
On a side note, this is one of those litmus test movies for me. If you don't at least like it, you're a fucking idiot. -
May 07, 2009 10:09:28 PM CDT
In infinitely more relevant news: RATNER IS OFF THE CONAN PRODU
by paralyser-pro
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=55234
I'd like to see Marshall or Howard McCain take the helm. -
excellent line! i didn't hate the first one, but the 'feral humans' just didn't do it for me
-
Honestly, if people take things that literally, they need to come down off their high horses about how stupid the ending was. I saw the American version first, and I never once thought "OMG! A Ghost!" I thought the point was pretty clear... there isn't any "getting out" after an experience like that.
-
This will likely be shit so nevermind
-
Or just chose, lamely, to end a movie that had been relatively subtle-at least for a horror film-with a jump scare hallucination, either way it was supremely stupid. By the way, watch the ending again, Juno is dark blue in color, as a talkbacker noted earlier, she doesn't even look much like the "living" character. She's meant to look a ghost. Don't believe me that people came away with that idea? google "juno ghost descent ending" and watch how many entries come up with just that phrase.
-
Because you're meant to think the character will be haunted. She looks "dead" because if they had Juno appear all rosy-cheeked and whatnot, people would be confused and think Juno somehow got out alive and made it back to the car. Hence the discoloration. And Jimmay, you thought the film had been "relatively subtle" for a horror film?
-
Jesus, who thought Juno was a literal fucking GHOST in The Descent?! I always thought Juno's final appearance in the car was simply Sissy Spacek chick's severely strained, guilt-ridden mind finally snapping for good.As for the U.S. vs. U.K. endings...I actually liked both. Cutting the last minute and flashback to Sissy Spacek in the cave isn't really that ruinous. Yeah, cutting the U.K. ending implies that S.S. survives, but she's also a shrieking psychologically terrorized mess haunted by visions of her friends that died (and the one she "killed" herself). That's not a bullshit "happy" ending to me. Both versions of the ending work on different levels, although the U.K. version is the only one where the recurring "birthday cake" visions S.S. has throughout the movie finally make sense.
-
When you end on that very image, instead of, as the real ending did, showing her snap into reality back in the cave, you're choosing to leave a pretty literal image in people's minds. If the original ending made you think, congratulations, I think you managed it despite the film's intentions' because it plays out like a meaningless and nonsensical scare ala Carrie reaching up from the grave. At least in that film it was fairly obvious the whole thing was a dream.
-
But I dont think you're meant to think she's literally a ghost.
-
The first was so good. 1) A sequel shouldn't be made. 2)If sequel made needs to follow the UK ending. 3)I'm sick of Ripley rip-offs, ok I get it, women can totally kick ass, there no longer damsels in distress. All right, ok, let's try a new storyline now.
-
...had her in the truck, throwing up out the window then looking in the passenger seat only to see her "friend" alongside her. It then flashed back to the cave, with her getting up off the rock and moving towards her daughter in front of the birthday cake. Magnificent ending to a fantastic movie. Loved it. I assume that was the original ending then?
-
CONAN needs to be more in the spirit of the FRAZETTA paintings and less like the Marvel/Buchemi (?) comic from the 70's. Ratners Conan would have been nothing like a Frazetta and more like a lame marvel comic. Oh, and as far as the DESCENT 2, I would have had to be really impressed with the original before I would see a sequel. The original started off good, got creepy, then turned into a lame-o slasher flick with buckets of blood. Really fucked itself by the time it was over-could have been a contender but ended up another predictable, cheap, dull horror film. Shame.
-
So why are they carrying ice axes?
-
May 08, 2009 12:00:40 AM CDT
And this is what JOHN CARPENTER'S THE SECOND THING would be like
by thegoddamnsiege
Because The Descent was basically The Thing in a cave with a different monster.
-
May 08, 2009 12:03:46 AM CDT
Just read about Brett "the piece of shit" Ratner is off Conan!!
by peopleintrees
fuck yeah bitches! someone bring on the titties and head's chopping off!
-
It was that boring.
-
evidently your are thick as pig shit. you failed at even grasping the dumbed down ending. haha oh dear
-
Do you even understand the underlying themes of The Thing?
-
...and since in the REAL version of the film all the women are dead at then end anyway, how is a sequel even possible?Damn teenage American target group test-audiences. Shoot 'em all, I say.
-
... and the things at the end of AI weren't aliens.
-
...where I saw what you Yanks actually got for an ending to The Descent. You poor buggers! No wonder some people on here don't seem to rate the original movie...
-
Don't knock Marvel's Conan series, especially the ones drawn by Buscema. His Conan actually looked Barbaric and vicious, and while some of the Conan stories were pretty comic book cheesy, other stories he did with Roy Thomas were pretty good adaptations (Rogues in the House, Tower of the Elephant, God in the Bowl and The Frost Giant's Daughter were all pretty faithful).
But I do agree it should be less like a comic and much more gritty and brutal, fitting Howard’s style and philosophy. I would love to see John Hilcoat direct it.
-
Uh... Yes, as a matter of fact. Don't take my comment as an insult to The Thing or even The Descent, for that matter. I consider The Thing to be a cinematic masterpiece and possibly the greatest horror film ever produced. Regardless, it doesn't take repeated viewings to notice that The Descent was crafted from The Thing's mold. The isolation-based terror, paranoia, the single-gender cast, etc. Hell, even The Descent's score was reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's work in The Thing.
-
I wasn't impressed by the first one.
-
the novel, now that would make a kickass movie. For Ridley Scott. Make it so.
-
was a cheat; moronic and predictable, sinking into a pothole that compatatively made the finale of JAWS 3D look like "Rosebud":.
-
Isolation, paranoia, etc. are common themes in a lot of horror movies. That and the score don't make it obvious that it was crafted in the same mold as The Thing. That would be like saying The Passion of the Christ was crafted after Angels in the Outfield because they both have the themes of religion, faith, etc.
-
The following people are cretinous homunculi and never allowed an opinion again: NoQuarter, Cantankerous, Kissman. Stick to hostel, dipshits.
-
She came out of the hole, get into the car, start seeing things until she realises she's still in the cave
-
Two of the worse AICN highly praised horrors ever. Can't wait to see that Hatchet Director rip off Hitchocks LifeBoat with his new film Frozen.
-
Before he see's Frozen. I suggested it for the Halloween HMAD and his hitchcock AMAD romp. Still no Amulet.. Dracula Wants The Amulet... Just Sayin, is all.
-
Europe has it, the US doesn't. Horror films require subtlely. Hence why all the decent horror films of the last few years have not been from the US: Let The Right One In, Eden Lake, etc
-
I gave a reason why The Descent sucked. You give us a reason why it was any good.
Once the movie revealed that the de-evolved cave humans had access to the surface, the whole premise went up in flames. Poof! If your only criteria for movie monsters is that they are hungry and jump out of the dark at inopportune times, this flick is for you.
-
I really liked the first film, since I only saw the British version. I'd heard the American remix destroyed the story's ending, thus I skipped straight to Neil Marshall's original, far more badass conception of what happens.
Of all the horror movies I've seen recently, "The Descent" is the film that LEAST needs a sequel. I mean, really. Leave the horrific, brutally claustrophobic, Hieronymus Bosch-inspired dark elements alone.
Oh yeah, and none of those women were badasses in fighting or weapons of any kind. That's what made the movie really scary.
I smell franchise. -
are killer. I'm gonna go read more of your stuff.
-
...that this is a big pile of shit. Most pointless sequel ever, building on the stoopidest excuse for an ending ever. I still don't understand WHY they changed the ending for the US, what a total insult to audiences! AVOID!
-
an ass load of films, and coincidently an ASSLOAD of them are crap and have crappy endings, I would say that the "we can’t handle a bleak ending" thing is true. Unless it's a cookie cutter bleak ending. Which is why Frank Darabont is cool... as he even managed to out-bleak Stephen King.
-
I thought THE DESCENT was one of the best horror films in recent memory, certainly one of the few that has actually managed to creep me out since the glory days of John Carpenter and Clive Barker. I was afraid that a sequel just wouldn't live up to the original and it sounds like that is unfortunately the case here. Maybe there's good old fashioned B-movie fun to be had with the sequel but I'd rather have no follow-up than a mediocre one.
-
... Some of those mountain folks in "regular jobs" actually look like they go home to a lost cave system and dine on human flesh every evening after work. Genetic isolation in rural environments'll do it every time!
-
...actually had BOTH endings. She ends up giving up in the cave, but then climbs out & drives aways then boom... she's back in the cave again, her escape was a dream/hallucination/whatever... fade to black.
-
"Failing to grasp" an ending that doesn't make sense is hardly a sign of "thickness." Bandying insults on a message board, however, almost uniformly is.
-
all three Descent endings. I'm impressed.
-
because you're a complete fucking imbecile. The Descent was probably the best Horror film of the last 10 years. Stick to your torture Porn shit like saw
-
I really took to the first one. First film to genuinely scare the shit out of me in places in a loooong time, so this whole sequel to the American ending bullshit just pisses me off.
-
I fail to see how you can say there was a ghost at the end of the American version . Seriously. It was completely in her head that she thought she saw something that wasn't there. I thought that was pretty obvious.cantankerous - I fail to see how them hunting on the surface detracts from the movie. How does that take away from the fear being felt by the chicks in the caves, and then being hunted by those things?
-
and now the sequel is supposedly WORSE?? Pass!
-
Fuck off, man. I haven't even seen Hostel or Saw, so don't even pretend to have a clue about what I do or don't like. I don't watch nor do I like "torture porn." I hated The Descent because I couldn't stand any of the characters and I thought the plot, where it existed at all, was completely nonsensical (but not campy enough to be funny). I haven't criticized you for holding your opinions, so get off my fucking back about mine.
-
and will happily admit that, if I saw the "real" (UK) ending, it's possible that my feelings about the movie might change if it really is that much better than the ending we got here.
-
That'd be the scariest fucking thing ever, to hear a spider come barking at you.
-
Shite.
-
...of decent stand-alone movies whose memories have been sullied by pointless, inferior sequels
HighlanderThe CrowThe MatrixGhostbustersPlanet of the Apes (doubly insulted by a 're-imagining' as well)JawsSpeedHallowe'enThe Fly...Man, I could go on and on.Oh, and the missus says 'Grease', too. -
She was a manifestation of Sarah's madness. I do prefer the original ending but I felt the U.S. ending was still pretty fucked up, as Sarah's own decent into madness completely nullifies her escape from the caves. It was hardly a typical, upbeat ending. Regardless, this sequel makes zero sense because even assuming Sarah escaped, Juno was obviously dead. Even if she did escape that horde at the end, her leg was destroyed by Sarah's pick axe.
-
never ever put the thing in the same post as the descent,thanx
-
In Part 2 Juno has some makeshift leg brace on and she hobbles around.
BeatsMe and Yeah I Wrote That - thanks for the props.
All in all guys Part 2 is not horrible in my opinion, it's just unnecessary and a total retread. It boasts some decent scares and gore but the level of film making is just not on par with the original and the lack of new ideas is disappointing. A good sequel should at least expand on the mythology established by the first film. -
jimmay. I'm afraid it does
-
Thanks, I will check that out sometime.
-
Because the monsters MADE NO SENSE, and the movie made the unpardonable sin of making that very apparent while one was watching it. Maybe the movie fooled some less discerning viewers, but if you have more than a couple synapses snapping, you would have seen right through the monster effects and makeup. This flick is little more than a 'monster jumps out of the dark' movie, with enough logical conundrums to swamp the Bismarck. I can tell why you’re confused and belligerent, Lost Jarv. The movie looked good, and had a couple frightening moments. You probably wet yourself the first time you saw the monster. Unfortunately, I think you’ve elevated the film beyond its merit to justify an embarassing bladder control problem. I suggest therapy and medication.
-
Horror devolved into remake and J-horror hell with a smattering of suck-ass torture porn...for us horror fans, it was like being lost in the wilderness. The Descent was a brutal breath of fresh air...only marred by a terrible ending (I'm not a huge fan of either ending but the UK's was clearly superior). The decision to make a sequel was in poor taste and based more on finances than good intentions. And the only reason Neil Marshall even agreed to produce was the abysmal box office of Doomsday (a totally flawed movie that I enjoyed regardless). Will I see The Descent 2? Not in the theaters...a later viewing is TBD.
-
The real issue is the dynamics of friendship and how those dynamics change and break down in the face of stressors, specifically situations where lives are at immediate risk. None of the ladies in the first film are bad people but Juno is so myopic and arrogant that she places them all into a seriously dangerous situation and as the film progresses we get a sense of just how selfish she really is. Running parallel to that is Sarah’s mental instability, which continues to unravel as the situation becomes more dire, finally leading to the collision of both conflicts when Sarah, realizing who Juno really is, hobbles her and leaves her for dead (Ironically, Juno dies because she finally goes beyond her selfishness and tries to save Sarah), only then to retreat completely into her own insanity, almost blissfully unaware of her impending death. The creatures are merely one of the stressors and like the cave, they are simply a force that has no sympathy for the female intruders.
-
Now I'll simply continue to ignore it as I originally planned.
-
is spot on.
-
No disrespect to Double Down, but I'm anxiously looking forward to the sequel. The first one was great-- one of the best horror films in recent years. So I'm not going to see the sequel, with many of the same principals involved, because someone I don't even know says it's no good? Even if it isn't as great as the original, it's still likely to better than most of the horror films released today. (I can go the entire rest of my life without seeing yet another American adaptation of a Japanese ghost movie that features children with black hair hanging over their face.)
-
I honestly can’t think of any movies I once hated but now like. I can think of a few that go the other way, though. The thing with The Descent is that it is _not_ a complete crapfest. It does have some admirable qualities. Unfortunately for me they are overshadowed by the logical inconsistencies that seem to plaque all lazy filmmaking and a less than satisfying ending (yes, the European one). My expectations for this flick were higher, so the disappointment is greater. I doubt my opinion of it will change much in the future … unless I intent to make myself the intellectual equivalent of Lost Jarv by jamming a chopstick up my nose and performing a frontal lobotomy.
-
By all means go see it. It's honestly not horrible and is much more bearable than the "horror" films we're supplied with every month. But I guaruntee you won't love it. I love the original like you do, it's the whole reason I even went to this screening, but while sitting through this one I was just yearning to see the original because everything was done so much better. And this remake is sickly similiar in every way. It's still got some cool gory/scary parts though.
-
That's the best you can come up with? You could have said that it was only my thickness that kept it from making sense, or that the ending did make sense, I'm just thick. I mean come on, how hard is it to anonymously trash someone on the internet? You win no points, but keep that smug sense of mental superiority going, it will take you everywhere in life. And by all means, continue to contribute your childish invective around here, it's vastly appreciated. I look eagerly forward to your sterling contributions to the dialogue with such scintillating ruminations as comparing talkbackers to animal excrement. You're a classy guy; a gentlemen and a scholar.
-
On the DVD for The Descent, the guy who directed it even discussed his inspiration from The Thing. Granted, I haven't watched the film or said featurette in, oh, two years or so, but I do remember that.
-
the way people talk, you'd think it was a completely different ending. its not like they filmed a new ending or re-edited anything, they simply stopped it at an earlier point. and the original ending is left up in question, we dont know for a fact she stayed there forever and died. they wanted a sequel so they thought "ok she escaped off screen". seems typical of excuses for making sequels.
-
Since it makes it pretty clear what happened. The people who prefer the UK ending are the ones who like a neat, tidy explanation.
-
I'm going to kick your fucking homo ass. Seeing Juno in the car was just a subtle indication that Sarah had only imagined escaping the cave, The last shot still shows her "waking up" and probably still in the cave, unless the whole movie following her accident was just a dream in itself. There are so many possible interpretaions with the American ending, the UK ending is the ending that doesn't give the viewer credit. The American ending leaves you to ponder whether it was real or a fantasy and at what point did the fantasy begin? I'm sure the director didn't intend for Juno to be perceived as being a ghost at the end. If you think that way it is you who are stupid and in need of an ending that spells everything out. Go die!
-
fucks that don't like the original should be castrated. The Descent was a unique, scary, and intelligently crafted horror movie. Most of you inbred, mouthbreathing, dumbshits are used to watching Saw 9 over and over again and wouldn't know an excellent horror movie if it kicked you in your stupid fucking mouths. Go eat an ass.
-
Just seen a preview showing of the Descent Part 2 here in Southampton, England hosted by exec producer Paul Smith who gave a rather lackluster introduction. After watching the film I am not at all surprised!!!
There are so many reasons this is a bad film but to list them would only act as numerous spoilers! However one thing I will say is that I cannot believe how dumb this film is, I think all right minded Americans should be properly offended at not only having the original ending changed, but the new beginning and ending make even less sense. If the ending of this film tied up with how it started there would be no sequel!!!! (I say no more but can't wait to hear your guys views when you get to see it).
If you use this post call me Saint Knibbo.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 425 total posts 425 posts
- Quint travels to Barsoom and visits the John Carter set!!! -- 125 total posts 94 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 155 total posts 79 posts
- Rest In Peace Bethesda’s Adam Adamowicz -- 70 total posts 70 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 86 total posts 66 posts
- The Sensorties Revisit The Friday Docback (And Still Smell)!! DOCTOR WHO Story #7 Again, The Coming Of Season/Series 7, And More!! -- 65 total posts 65 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 57 total posts 52 posts
- Ridley Scott's Next Will Be Cormac McCarthy's THE COUNSELOR! -- 48 total posts 48 posts
- Wanna smell like the Hulk? What about Cap? Consider yourself a Thunder God or a unisex God of Mischief? -- 45 total posts 44 posts