Sarah is forced to return to the cave when the
​authorities demand her help finding her friends.

HORROR

The Descent: Part 2 (2009)

Directed by Jon Harris

Written by James McCarthy, J Blakeson, James Watkins

Starring Shauna Macdonald, Krysten Cummings, Anna Skellern, Josh Dallas, Douglas Hodge, Gavan O'Herlihy, Natalie Mendoza

Sequel to 2005's The Descent

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Connor Eyzaguirre

November 2, 2021

7/10

If you've seen The Descent, then you know the film wasn't clamoring for a sequel. It's a near perfect standalone horror film. But money always speaks louder than words, so the first film's editor helmed a wholly unnecessary sequel that admittedly isn't that bad. Unfortunately, it does negate the original ending of the first film, where Sarah imagines her escape and actually ends up eternally trapped underground. This film continues from the American ending, where Sarah really does escape. So there's a lot of tension between this film and fans.

Sarah (Macdonald) has crawled her way out of hell, and doesn't remember a moment of it. The authorities can't find the rest of the women, mainly because Juno (Mendoza) gave them the wrong flight plan before they left. The sheriff (O'Herlihy) believes that taking Sarah back to where she was found would jog her memory. The sheriff, his deputy, and the rescue crew take Sarah back to the caves, where they are immediately attacked by the Crawlers. On top of that, Sarah gets her memory back and Juno is revealed to still be alive, and super pissed about Sarah leaving her for dead. For a sequel that nobody asked for, it's not terrible. The progression of the story makes sense, but there are some dumb character moments and the lighting is substantially worse than the first film. It's too damn bright, which just isn't believable.

There's a weird ending that implies the mountain people of Appalachia are deliberately feeding these creatures. It's never hinted at once, and now we'll never get an answer for whatever the hell that was. This film doesn't hold a candle to the first one, but it makes for a decent double feature if that's the route you want to take. But if you want to skip it, you aren't missing much.