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Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Krysten Cummings, Douglas Hodge, Gavan O'Herlihy ... see more see more... , Joshua Dallas , Anna Skellern

The Descent editor Jon Harris makes the leap to the director's chair in this sequel to Neil Marshall's claustrophobic 2005 creature flick. Sarah Carter (Shauna MacDonald) has managed to escape from th... read more read more...e Appalachian cave system where all of her friends were killed by "crawlers" -- primordial humanoids who have adapted to living in the subterranean darkness. In hopes that some of the spelunkers may have survived, Sheriff Redmond Vaines rounds up his deputies for a rescue mission, and decides to take Sarah along as a guide. At first Sarah has no memory of the horrors that wait below, but the further the team pushes into the cave, the more vivid her flashbacks become until the reality of the situation sinks in. Now, the rescue crew is being hunted from the shadows by a whole new clan of crawlers that are even more vicious and terrifying than their predecessors. Sarah was lucky to make it out of the caves alive the first time -- will that luck carry over into her second descent, or is she doomed to die while dreaming of escaping into the sunlight? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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36% liked it

19,479 ratings

Critics

55% liked it

31 critics

R, 1 hr. 33 min.

Directed by: Jon Harris

Release Date: August 24, 2009

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DVD Release Date: April 27, 2010

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Stats: 1,942 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,942)

  • aquateen2
    December 30, 2012
    aquateen2
    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon13.gif[/img]

    As a gleefully gory and totally nuts and bolts horror flick, Descent 2 is everything that it wants to be. But that's less than I can say for the fans of Neil Marshall's jaw dropping, heartbreaking origin... read moreal. Now i'm one of them, I am in love with The Descent. I still think it's one of the ultimate horror films of the 21st century if not a great example of pure character emotions manifested by brutal violence on screen. The sequel however is expectedly dull apart from the final 30 minutes in which it practices what every other horror flick ends up undertaking. Crank the volume up and splatter blood in our faces. The original film did a lot more than that. It made us endure claustrophobia which has only been done cinematically a small handful of times before. This time the surprise of the first one has dissapeared and the nail biting silence and enigmatical horror is therein replaced with gory set pieces and a larger appearance of crawling creatures than the last film. It is less imaginative in plotting and weaker directed than it's predecessor with one major difference which eventually counted for little change in the story anyway. The most unforgivable trait however is the weak, uninteresting group of characters which in the original were much more fleshed out, likable and much more vulnerable. The way they were defenseless made the original work. The Descent 2 fails in this sense. It's definitely not the worst sequel in the world of horror but I would never watch it again. The problem is not that it's extraordinarily free of merit, which it isn't. It's the lack of justification for it's existence that bothers me. It adds nothing to the legacy of the first one and simply deserves to be forgotten by true fans. If you're someoene who never saw the first one and the various shots that it boasted which inspired such great awe, you'll see more in this follow up than the rest of us should. It doesn't help at all that it features a less than radical conclusion to the overwhelming story of hope, suffering and regret which was it's forerunner.
  • briandeguelle
    July 30, 2012
    briandeguelle
    This is going to be the christmas movie of 2009 .......lol
    can t wait till it opens on the 2nd dec......
    A desent horror insend of the over hype new moon!!!
  • ironclad1609
    July 4, 2012
    ironclad1609
    When it comes to sequels to truly original films this here does a lot of things right. It starts right where the first one ended and picks up all the loose threats, including some you considered tightly bound. By using the same soundtrack, you feel as if you are watching a story ... read morethat continues, not an unnecessary add on. You gotta give the creators credit for that. This also entails a problem, of course. The film has little to add we didn't already see (better and scarier) in the first, but tries to top in the gore department instead. That goes a little far at times. The original was also smart enough to show as little of the creatures as possible, with as little lighting as absolutely necessary. Neither is the case here, sadly. That doesn't mean that the film fails. It is highly entertaining, sometimes even exciting and has quite a huge surprise for fans of the original, which was no less than the best scary film of the last decade. It even has a truly evil ending without copying the first. Not bad at all, even if a bit repetitive at times.
  • lewiskendell
    December 17, 2011
    lewiskendell
    I love The Descent. It's easily one of my ten favorite modern horror movies, and I've seen it more times than is probably healthy. It's excellently paced, atmospheric, genuinely claustrophobic, and frightening in both psychological and more visceral ways. The Descent: Part II is ... read morenothing like the first movie when it comes to atmosphere, tone, or (unfortunately) quality. This is just a bad (and oddly bright), gross-out blood-fest that's blindly grasping at the name recognition of its predecessor.

    I had to struggle just to focus on the bland, annoying new characters. There's no real tension, no creativity to be found, and it doesn't even look like its related to the first movie. I've seen better sets and special effects on old Xena episodes (better writing, too). I understand that this is the work of a completely different director (the editor of the first film), but it's like he completely abandoned anything and everything that mad the first movie memorable, plopped some hilariously generic new characters into the caves with the barest story to support their existence, and then just copied parts of the first movie in the most boring and amateurish ways possible.

    Part II is a shoddy, unnecessary sequel if I've ever seen one, and should be skipped with impunity by even casual fans of the original. The best parts of the movie are actually the brief flashbacks to the first one, which is my way of saying you'd be much better of just watching the original again. Horror movies don't have to be masterpieces to entertain me, but I can't help but compare The Descent: Part II to its predecessor, and it doesn't compare well at all.
  • helpahorse
    June 24, 2011
    helpahorse
    Really stupid actually.

    The fact that they'd bring Sarah, who was clearly suffering from PTSD, back down into the cave is so unbelievable.

    The gore was terrible, unlike the original which was fantastic. The characters were for the most part obnoxious and unlikable with the... read more exception of Sarah and Juno, the original characters.

    The twist with Juno was good, but the very end when the guy hit the girl with the shovel and dragged her back to the cave? What the fuck was that? Who was that guy? It didn't make any sense at all. The movie was tolerable up until that point, then I was like "this movie is a piece of shit". It was a funny movie though, not intentionally funny, but I laughed anyway.

    Really poor attempt at a sequel.
  • YodaMasterJedi
    April 16, 2011
    YodaMasterJedi
    2 stars
  • blacksheepboy
    April 7, 2011
    blacksheepboy
    I was ready to accept the fact that this sequel picks up where the US edited version of the first film left off, instead of the amazing uncut one. But nothing can make me forgive the heavy-handed direction or the lack of inspiration in this silly horror movie.
  • Deano78
    April 1, 2011
    Deano78
    A pretty decent follow up to the first film, continuing right where that one left off. Ok second time round, you know what to expect, so the surprise element has gone. Otherwise it's pretty much more of the same, although with some odd plot decisions but we have to overlook ratio... read morenal decisions in horror films. Good to see the lead character back again for this one. If you enjoyed the first and want a bit more, go see this!
  • itsjustme2004
    January 31, 2011
    itsjustme2004
    Gruesome. Disgusting. Suspenseful. Scary. Fun to watch!!! The rare sequel that is almost as good as the original.
  • Beefy
    January 25, 2011
    Beefy
    Meh. Not bad, really, but nowhere near as claustrophobic as the original, with a couple of characters whose actions make no sense and really destroy credibility.

View All The Descent 2 Reviews

Critic Reviews

Nigel Floyd
December 4, 2009
Nigel Floyd, Time Out

Harris's direction is messy, favouring confusing set-piece scares over the all-important group dynamics. Full Review

Leslie Felperin
May 17, 2009
Leslie Felperin, Variety

As popcorn entertainment, it delivers, and should satisfy fans on all platforms. Full Review

Tim Brayton
February 9, 2011
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

Thank the sequel for underscoring, in its devastating mediocrity, just how great and special the original was to start with. Full Review

Scott Nash
November 11, 2010
Scott Nash, Three Movie Buffs

Doesn't come close to the original, but still manages to entertain. Full Review

Josh Bell
April 30, 2010
Josh Bell, Filmcritic.com

By the standards set up by its predecessor, it's a letdown, but by the overall standards of horror sequels, it's a complete success. Full Review

Scott Weinberg
April 27, 2010
Scott Weinberg, FEARnet

You can practically see the film trying to "color between the lines" laid down in the first film, but there's just enough freshness to keep Part 2 chugging along. Full Review

Bill Gibron
April 23, 2010
Bill Gibron, PopMatters

With its back-and-forth plot pointing, illogical leaps in pragmatic believability, and a finale that flips a big fat middle finger at anyone who invested 90 minutes in this junk, The Descent 2 cannot ... Full Review

Christian Toto
April 22, 2010
Christian Toto, What Would Toto Watch?

No one expected 'Part 2' to rival the original, but it delivers a fair number of scares while replicating the eerie tension from the first film. Full Review

Sam Bathe
April 15, 2010
Sam Bathe, Fan The Fire

You won't be missing anything spectacular if you don't catch The Descent: Part 2, for horror fans and those who enjoyed the original, however, it's definitely worth a go. Full Review

December 8, 2009
Heat Magazine

A claustrophobic, creepy popcorn flick that compensates for predictable scares with deliciously disgusting moments involving a whole spectrum of bodily fluids.

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    • Sheriff Vaines: What are those things?
    • Juno: Death.
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  • Neil Marshall directed 2 of the movies below, what were they?  Answer »
  • In the descent 2, how many friends from the descent (1) star here again?  Answer »
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