Product Details

• Actors: Michael J. Reynolds, Shauna Macdonald, Jessika Williams, Douglas Hodge, Josh Dallas
• Directors: Jon Harris
• Writers: J Blakeson, James McCarthy, James Watkins, Neil Marshall
• Producers: Cameron McCracken, Christian Colson, Diarmuid McKeown
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: April 27, 2010
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0037E8HNI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,519 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Descent: Part 2" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As a follow-up to The Descent, Neil (Doomsday) Marshall's unsettling and underrated subterranean horror film, The Descent: Part 2 delivers part, if not all of what made the first film one of the standout genre pictures of the last few years. Shauna Macdonald returns as the sole survivor of an expedition that turned fatal after its team of all-female spelunkers encountered a race of monsters in a remote Appalachian cave; unable to prove her story, she's sent by the local authorities back into the cavern with a team of experts, with predictably bloody results. Unfortunately, blood is apparently the sole focus of director Jon Harris, who edited the original Descent (as well as Kick-Ass); what's missing are Marshall's strong characters, which made their demise all the more meaningful and harrowing, and his emphasis on suspense over special effects (Marshall is credited as executive producer on Descent 2). Those wishing to see more of the "crawlers," the blind, humanoid antagonists in both films, will get plenty of views here, but bringing them into the light, as it were, doesn't make them more frightening. Instead, viewers become more aware of their artifice, which also goes for their suspiciously papier-mâché-like environs. The widescreen DVD includes some interesting extras that illustrate the producers' intentions with the film; Harris, Macdonald, and two of the newer cast members provide a lively commentary, while a 25-minute making-of featurette gives glimpses of the film's production design. A battery of deleted scenes offer character nuances that might have benefited the film had they been left in, and a storyboard gallery is an improvement over the murky sets. --Paul Gaita

Product Description

Dazed, bloodied and speechless with trauma, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the Appalachian cave system where the events of The Descent took place. Local sheriff Redmond Vaines forces her back underground to help the rescue team which is desperately searching for her five missing girlfriends. As the team moves deeper into the caves, Sarah’s flashes of fractured memory intensify and she begins to realize the full horror of the would-be rescue mission. Only Sarah knows the terror which lurks in the shadows of the caves. But they are about to encounter a new tribe of crawlers – inbred, deformed and even more viciously feral than those Sarah faced before.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but nowhere near as good as the first, March 9, 2010

By 

Terry Mesnard (Bellevue, NE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Descent: Part 2 (DVD)

The Descent didn't need a sequel. It was a pitch-perfect horror film, one of the best I've seen in the last decade or longer, that incorporated high amounts of tension, a desperate struggle, some amazing jump-out-of-your-skin scares, great characters that you actually cared about and just the right amount of gore. I loved that film. Its original UK ending was also such a great, sad and interesting way to close it out. But apparently, The Descent: Part 2 decides to forgo that horror classic ending and instead uses the American/"happy" ending. It's interesting to note that the sequel is "Part 2" as opposed to simply The Descent 2. It indicates that it is an extension of the first film, as opposed to a sequel. As such, to discuss Part 2, I'll have to talk about the first one. You've been warned.

The American ending of The Descent finds Sarah crazed and amnesiac with fear of her plight from the previous film, running to a rescue truck. During the time she and her team have been lost, the local sheriff has started a search party for Juno, who not only was left for dead by Sarah for her infidelity and a misunderstanding, but is also a senator's daughter. Sarah is taken to a hospital where said sheriff, Sheriff Vaines, decides that not only is Sarah a suspect in the missing spelunkers (for her shirt was covered in blood) but that she must go back underground to help locate them. Never mind the fact that this probably wouldn't happen in real life because 1) she's obviously hurt 2) mentally unstable and 3) uh...she has no memory, remember? Also forgetting the fact that it seems awfully coincidental that she happens to not remember that the cave system is swarming with cannibalistic creatures, we now have a reason for more bloodshed.

That's pretty much the movie in a nutshell. Part of the reason the first film was so powerful and shocking was because director Neil Marshall used two different types of terror and helped add some twists to his film. The first part had a claustrophobic, fearful feeling that maybe you were going to be watching Alive...Underground. But once that type of horror was getting a little stale, he does a complete 180 and now they are fending for their lives against some unknown group of carnivorous cave dwellers. It was expertly filmed and paced to perfection. Part 2 tries to ape that same style. It has the same opening credit sequence, has a similar overall motif and even the same music. In a lot of ways feels like a retread...except nowhere near as good. Again you have a group of people who have no clue they are being hunted by monsters. Again you have a small cave-in that causes the group to be splintered, etc. etc. The only problem is that you, the viewer, is in on the twists this time and it really just gives the entire film a "been there, done that" feel. To counter-balance this, Part 2 almost turns into a gross-out "comedy," where Jon Harris (the director) finds more and more ways to drench his protagonists with blood and finds various ways to make sure that blood pours into someone's mouth. I think this happened at least two or three times. It was almost comedic.

The final nail in the coffin is that the characters this time aren't anywhere near as interesting or developed as in the first film. They quickly turned into crawler fodder and their only reason for being there was to be offed in various ways. Only problem is that, in the first film, I cared. In this one, I didn't. What a let down.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An Unnecessary and Poorly Done Sequel, July 3, 2010

By 

YJM "amazon fan" (Somewhere In The South) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Descent: Part 2 (DVD)

Against my better judgment I picked up this direct to video sequel at Fry's for $20. Well, that's $20 that would have been better spent using as toilet paper, it certainly would have proven more useful.

The first Descent was easily one of my most favorite horror movies ever, it was original, well acted, and extremely well done. It was a horror movie that reaffirmed what I have always said, you don't need a huge budget to make a great horror flick, as the Descent was certainly made on a modest budget. I own the special edition which contains both endings, and I MUCH prefer the original ending than the US ending. Supposedly Americans wouldn't be able to handle the darker, more depressing ending of the original, so they pulled a Spielberg on the ending and had the main character escape the caves. This Descent II begins where the US version ends. As I never do in my reviews of movies, I'm not going to get into the plot because someone else has covered that already I'm sure. What I will say is this movie stunk for the following reasons:

1. It was completely unbelievable Sarah would be dragged back down into the cave system she escaped from in her obviously traumatized and wounded state.

2. Once down there, as she finally gets her memory back, shows absolutely no emotion at having been dragged back down into that hell. Instead she becomes Rambo woman, clams up and goes into kick ass crawler mode. I don't know, were it me, I would have let the idiots who dragged me back down there have a piece of my mind for doing so, and then let them know of the extreme danger they're in and what they're facing.

3. Speaking of idiots, as in the rescue group, they're unremarkable characters, with zero character development and thus zero emotional attachment to any of them. In the first movie we send quite a bit of time with the ladies before they ever enter the caves, and thus through proper character development form a bond with all of them. Therefore their deaths become all the more tragic. Not in this movie though, I felt absolutely nothing when these characters were killed off.

4. As is usually the case with an untalented director and writer, lots of blood and gore was substituted for a well directed, well written movie. As gory as the first movie was, this one significantly ups the ante, with fountains of blood due to crushed heads, ripped out jugular veins, severed hands, and various other gruesome deaths. There was even a defecation scene thrown in for good measure to make sure we were sufficiently grossed out, if we weren't already by that point. Lots of gore and blood does not a good horror movie make, without all of that other important "stuff" like a good plot, a good script, a good director, good character development, and good actors.

5. The surprise appearance of a character from the first film is beyond ridiculous. It's like the director was grasping at straws to make the movie "good," and so decided to bring back a character from the first film who's chances of surviving was a million to one. Really it shouldn't take a stretch to figure out who I'm talking about, and yes, if you're nodding your head in disbelief saying to yourself "there is no way she would have lived to make it to a second movie," that's exactly what I was thinking when she appears. Not only did she survive, but she was cruising around like nothing ever happened to her, even though she was barely able to walk in the last scene we see her in from part one.

6. The ending, oh the ending, I don't think I have ever seen a more stupid and pointless ending ever. Enough said about that.

I'm going to pretend I never saw this film so as not to tarnish my memory of the amazing first film. Actually, the only version I watch is the UK version, and in that one there could be no Descent part 2, so really I had no business even watching this film. But, curiosity got the better of me, and the lost $20 and two hours of my time serves me right for going against my better judgment buying this movie in the first place. Please, if you're a Descent fan, and especially a fan of the original ending, do not make the same mistake I did. Or if you're still itching to see this movie maybe you'll be the lucky one who buys my used copy from Movie Trading Company, where it's going tomorrow.

54 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Descent 2 surprises!, March 7, 2010

By 

Ronald Nocella "NorallecoN" (Philadelphia Pa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Descent: Part 2 (DVD)

When the first film, The Descent, hit theaters, I saw it 3 times. The movie is one of my favorite horror films of recent times. When I heard a second installment was being made, I felt bittersweet about it. I went into the film both excited and apprehensive because in most cases, sequels rarely come close to being as effective as the original. THIS however is not the case for The Descent: Part 2!

One of the most common questions about this film is "Why would the lead character, Sarah, go back down into the cave after barely making it out alive in the first place?" and that question is answered very well and makes perfect sense when you watch the film. The story line and atmosphere, while very similar to the first, are still VERY effective. The film brings the suspense as well as the gore.

This film plays out much more like a continuation of the first story than a sequel, almost as if "To be continued..." should have shown before the credits of the original installment.
If you are a fan, like myself, of the original THE DESCENT, then please, give THE DESCENT: PART 2 a try. Im almost certain you will not be disappointed. I wasnt.

Bravo to the cast and crew of this great scary film! 5 stars!