The Descent Part 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJon Harris
Screenplay byJames McCarthy
J Blakeson
James Watkins
Produced byChristian Colson
Ivana MacKinnon
Starring
CinematographySam McCurdy
Edited byJon Harris
Music byDavid Julyan
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Entertainment UK
Release dates
  • 24 August 2009 (2009-08-24) (Fantasy Filmfest)
  • 2 December 2009 (2009-12-02) (United Kingdom)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$7 million[1]

The Descent Part 2 is a 2009 British adventure horror film and sequel to the 2005 horror film The Descent. It was directed by Jon Harris from a screenplay by James McCarthy, J Blakeson, and James Watkins. The film was produced by Christian Colson and Ivana MacKinnon; Neil Marshall, the writer and director of the original, was an executive producer. Shot in London and Surrey, it was released in cinemas in the UK on 2 December 2009 and was given a straight-to-DVD release on 27 April 2010 in the US.

Plot

Two days after the events of the first film, a traumatized and blood-covered Sarah escapes the cave system with no memory of what happened. She is taken to a hospital, where the doctor finds that some of the blood on her is of the same blood type as Juno, one of her missing friends. Sheriff Vaines and his deputy Rios bring along the amnesiac Sarah and three potholing cave specialists – Dan, Greg, and Cath – to find the missing women in the cave system. They are sent down via an old mine shaft operated by an old man, Ed.

The group discovers Rebecca's mutilated body near the entrance, causing Sarah to experience flashbacks of the events in the cave system before her escape. Vaines believes that she was responsible for the other women's disappearances. While crawling through a tunnel, Sarah suddenly attacks Vaines and Greg before fleeing.

When the team splits up in search of her, Vaines accidentally discharges his pistol after a crawler scares him. As a result, part of the cavern collapses and traps Cath under a pile of rocks, separating her from the rest. They decide to find an alternate way around in order to try to free Cath and arrive in a room full of bones, finding Holly's damaged video camera among the debris. They watch the recordings and realize the missing women had been attacked by the crawlers. Sarah, hiding nearby, overhears the recording and regains her memories. A panicked Rios starts calling for help, alerting the crawlers to her location. Sarah saves her by covering her mouth, as the crawlers are blind and they hunt by relying on sound. The two of them watch and wait as a crawler kills Dan and drags his body away.

Meanwhile, Cath squeezes her way out and kills a crawler by crushing it under the rocks. She runs into Greg; they escape from another crawler and find Samantha's body dangling from the ceiling across a chasm. They decide to use her body to swing across the chasm, but are attacked by crawlers again. Greg sacrifices himself to buy time for Cath. Although Cath gets to the other side of the chasm, she attracts a crawler when she breaks down and screams Greg's name, and is killed.

Elsewhere, Vaines is attacked by a crawler but is saved by Juno, who is revealed to be still alive and adept at fighting the crawlers. Sarah and Rios kill a crawler in a pool. They soon meet Vaines and Juno, and are shocked to see Juno alive. Juno is furious that Sarah left her to die after stabbing her leg with a pickaxe. Juno almost kills her before Rios lies that Sarah brought them to find her voluntarily. Juno then leads them to a feeding pit, which she claims has a passage to the surface that the crawlers use to gather food from above ground. Vaines handcuffs Sarah to himself so that she will not abandon them as she did to Juno. When he falls over a ledge, he almost drags Sarah down with him. As crawlers approach them, Juno orders Rios to cut off Vaines's hand to save Sarah. Despite his protests, she does so, causing Vaines and the crawlers, now latched onto him, to fall to their deaths.

Sarah, Juno, and Rios reach the exit, where they are blocked by a group of crawlers led by their large leader. They try to sneak past but Greg, who is dying from his injuries, appears and grabs Juno's leg in a last effort to save himself. She screams and attracts the crawlers. Greg dies and the women are left to fight once again. After all of the crawlers are killed, Sarah tries to rescue Juno from the leader, but it slashes Juno's stomach, mortally wounding her. Sarah then kills it before Juno dies in her arms. When more crawlers arrive, Sarah draws their attention to herself by screaming, giving Rios a chance to escape.

Rios escapes from the cave and tries to call for help. However, she is knocked unconscious with a shovel by Ed, who drags her back to the cave entrance and leaves her there. As Rios slowly regains consciousness, a blood-covered crawler emerges from the cave with its arms outstretched.

Cast

Production

Due to the first film being a commercial and critical success, it was decided that a sequel would be produced. While Neil Marshall would not direct the film, he was assigned to oversee its production as an executive producer.[2]

Marshall received the first draft of the film in late July 2006, with no directors or cast in mind. He made it clear that he intended to incorporate more of the feeling of claustrophobia like that of a particular scene in the previous film. Marshall told Bloody-Disgusting.com about new ideas for the film, "The monsters they can deal with, and a bit of the claustrophobia, they can deal with, but the combination is definitely something we want to incorporate that into the sequel, by putting the monster and the girls in a really tight spot."[2] Jon Harris, the editor of the first film, was brought on to direct and edit the sequel. It is his only directing credit as of 2019.

When The Descent was released in 2006 Lionsgate, the distributor, edited out the last minute of the film, changing the ending. When Dreadcentral.com asked Marshall which of the film's two endings the sequel would be picking up after, he said that it would not be announced until he approved a script.

Filming began in May 2008 at Ealing Studios in London. Ealing Studios was featured on BBC London in June 2008 going behind the scenes of the filming of Part 2. In that broadcast its confirmed that Shauna MacDonald would be returning to play her character Sarah and that most of the other original cast members would return, some in flashbacks and possible hallucinations. The film was shot on all three of the main stages at Ealing Studios[3] and some scenes were filmed on location at the Bourne Woods near Farnham in southwest Surrey, England. Part 2 consisted of making 30 caves for the film while the first film only had 18 practical cave sets made.[4]

The production designer was Simon Bowles, who designed the original film, with Mark Scruton as supervising art director. The sets were built by DRS Construction[5] and Armordillo[6] The film used elaborate sets, miniatures, and blue screen digital images. This was revealed on BBC London's behind-the-scenes look. The VFX and digital set extensions were created by Swedish VFX company Filmgate.[7]

Release

The film was originally set to be released by Pathé in May 2009, but was delayed. It was released in France on 14 October, Japan on 7 November and Argentina on 19 November. It was released in UK cinemas on 4 December 2009.[8] The film did not reach its expectation in the UK debuting at No. 9[9] making the first week domestic gross £313,739.[10] Total gross in the UK stands at £674,550.[11] In France the film has proven successful reaching No. 5 and grossing $1,097,535[12] in its opening weekend. Total gross in France now stands at $2,438,834.[13]

Home media

In DVD sales, the film made over $7 million in the US.[14] The US release date for The Descent: Part 2 was announced by the Weinstein Company on 12 February 2010 and was set for 27 April 2010, as a straight to DVD release through Lionsgate Home Entertainment.[15] During its first week of release, it sold 46,000 units, with a gross of $982,000.[14][16]

A Blu-ray version of the film has yet to be released in the US. The film debuted on Blu-ray in the UK by Pathé via 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on April 12, 2010 as a Region B Locked disc.[17]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 42 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Descent 2 goes spelunking for its predecessors' unnerving power but never digs beyond surface chills, although this efficient splatterfest contains enough nasty set pieces to sate the gore-prone."[18]

Tim Robey of The Telegraph gave the film 3/5 stars, stating, "Though it stretches credulity... The last half-hour is a tense team scramble to get out, and stay out, but the best move in this above-par shocker is digging right back into the claustrophobic emotional traumas which made Part One so thrilling."[19]

Variety gave the film a mixed review stating, "Treading closely in the steps of its predecessor in every sense, the sequel has less emotional nuance, shows more of the monsters and opts this time for a less-interesting coed cast instead of the all-femme crew used so effectively in the original. Nevertheless, as popcorn entertainment, it delivers, and should satisfy fans on all platforms."[20]

When asked about the film years later, Marshall stated that it was "totally unnecessary. The first film resolves itself, whichever ending you choose. It wraps it up in a way that was bleak, whichever way you cut it. The second film began and it didn't pick up from either ending."[21]

References

  1. ↑ "The Descent: Part 2 (2009)". Boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Exclusive: Marshall on Zombie Sex, Descent 2 and More!!". Bloody-Disgusting.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Archived 12 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Ready to Descend Again?". Dreadcentral.com. 31 July 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  5. ↑ "DRS Construction Set design and construction for film, television and still photography in the UK and mainland Europe". Drsconstruction.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2002. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "enter the world of armordillo". Armordillo.co.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "Filmgate - Visual Effects - Grading - Conforming - Post Production - Digital Intermediate Consulting". Filmgate.se. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  8. ↑ "Second Clip From 'The Descent: Part 2', New Stills". BloodyDisgusting. 23 October 2009. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  9. ↑ "UK Box Office Chart - From". Mymovies.net. 13 November 2012. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  10. ↑ "UK Box Office: 4 - 6 December 2009". UK Film Council. Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  11. ↑ "UK Box Office: 8 - 10 January 2010". UK Film Council. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  12. ↑ "France Box Office, October 14-18, 2009". Boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  13. ↑ "The Descent: Part 2 (2009)". 174.129.253.143. Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  14. 1 2 "Movie The Descent: Part 2 - DVD Sales". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  15. ↑ "DVD Trailer for Lionsgate's 'The Descent: Part 2'". BloodyDisgusting. 12 March 2010. Archived from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  16. ↑ "The Numbers News - DVD Sales: New Releases Fail to Overtake Avatar". The-numbers.com. 12 May 2010. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  17. ↑ "The Descent: Part 2 Blu-ray (United Kingdom)".
  18. ↑ "The Descent Part 2". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  19. ↑ Film Reviews (3 December 2009). "The Descent 2, review". Telegraph. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  20. ↑ Felperin, Leslie (16 May 2009). "The Descent: Part 2". Variety.
  21. ↑ "How the Descent Ended up with Two Famously Bleak Endings". 24 February 2021.
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