THE DESCENT PART 2

(A.k.a. DESCENT 2)

Ageing trapper Lynch (Josh Cole) drives carelessly along the Appalachian Mountains, grinding to a sudden halt when a deer crosses his path. As he sits stunned in the stationery vehicle, the bloodied Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) rams frantically on his window.

Taken to a nearby hospital to recover, local sheriff Vaines (Gavan O'Herlihy) is called in when the doctors realise the blood Sarah's covered in is not her own.

Vaines lets his assistant Jenna (Krysten Cummings) do the talking. Jenna explains that the local authorities and a rescue team have been searching for Sarah and her five friends for the past two days. For her part, Sarah is too disturbed to offer any coherent explanations, and asks after her son - who's been dead for over a year.

Concerns are heightened when some of the blood found on Sarah is confirmed as matching her friend Juno's type.

When Lynch and a local ranger take a sniffer dog into the forest to pick up on Sarah's scent, they are further alarmed to find it leads them to the entrance to the long-disused Chapel Mine - miles away from where the rescue team have been conducting their search.

Naturally, all of these facts conspire to lead Vaines into suspecting Sarah of ill-doing. Unsympathetic of her traumatic condition, he instructs her to get dressed - and takes her back to the mine in a bid to find her mates. Jenna is slightly more compassionate, reasoning with Sarah that the expedition may help to jog her memory.

As Sarah joins Vaines, Jenna and a group of mismatched local helpers in the lift down into the mine, the gorgeous sunlight of the outside world slowly disappears.

And we know what's waiting for them down there ...

It would seem that I'm one of the few people on the face of the Earth (certainly the UK) who doesn't spunk in my shorts whenever Neil Marshall's 2005 hit THE DESCENT is mentioned. It's not that I hated it, I just thought it was pretty run-of-the-mill (story: hum-drum; performances: so-so; dialogue: pretty naff; creatures: too inhuman to be scary; entertainment value: not a patch on Marshall's previous DOG SOLDIERS). Its appeal has never made sense to me - although it is great to see it lead to bigger things for a homegrown talent such as Marshall.

However, for many THE DESCENT represents the pinnacle of post-Millennium UK horror films and therefore a sequel was always going to be something of a thankless task.

So step forward Jon Harris, an established editor from the UK (credits include SNATCH, KICK ASS and - would you know it - THE DESCENT) who must've been itching to get the opportunity to helm his own flick. Being given the chance to direct a sequel to a film you worked closely on, knowing that the original's director is still on board as an executive producer, must surely put you at an advantage. And Harris takes the bull by the horns.

THE DESCENT PART 2 s lacking in some respects, naturally. The anticipation of what may be lurking in those caves is gone because we already know. The set-up feels familiar now, perhaps overly so in the film's first half. And, as with most horror sequels nowadays, Harris' film falls into the trap of upping the gore as if to compensate for a lack of impact in all other departments.

Storyline is weak and characterisation is wafer thin. Production values are polished in that contemporary sanitised manner, lacking the danger or rawness of the gritty backwoods 70s films it aspires to emulate. And the script remains on a par with its progenitor: banal.

But despite all of this working towards its detriment, THE DESCENT PART 2 succeeds. So much so that, removed from the hype that surrounded its predecessor, it's actually a more entertaining prospect.

For a start, Harris is savvy enough to retain the look and feel of the original. Shooting in the same aspect ratio and again on 35mm, he makes ample use of the stunning locales and landscapes in much the same way that Marshall did. And the tone of action-adventure-horror is closely adhered to too.

If anything, THE DESCENT PART 2 moves along at a quicker pace than the original, once the minimal exposition is out of the way. It's nice to see some of the first film's cast returning (along with Macdonald, Alex Reid [no, not Jordan's latest monkey - this one's female] and Natalie Jackson Mendoza are back) and the look of the Crawlers - for better or worse - remains unchanged. Jump-shocks are well executed as you'd imagine from a director whose strength lies in editing, and David Julyan is back on board to provide another excellent, rousing score.

So there is consistency in approach, aesthetics and delivery. But with a leaner pace and more gore.

The film is presented uncut in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and is anamorphically enhanced for 16x9 TV sets. The transfer is a very good one, offering solid blacks during the frequent darker moments and amazing clarity during the beautiful day scenes. Colours are bold, details are well-defined and the picture remains impressively smooth throughout. English audio comes courtesy of a crisp 5.1 mix. Dialogue is consistently clean and clear, while Julyan's score and numerous creepy background noises from production design are balanced into the mix just right.

Optional subtitles are provided in English for the Hard of Hearing, and there's also an English audio descriptive track on hand for the visually impaired.

The disc opens with a nice, bright animated main menu page that looks more like the opening to a PC game. This leads into a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 16 chapters. Extras begin with a relatively engaging commentary track from Harris, MacDonald, plus supporting actresses Cummings and Anna Skellern. Harris rules the fort, achieving the remarkable and managing to get a word in edge-ways despite being surrounded by three women. Joke! They get on well and Harris does a fine job of proffering a plethora of information on shooting schedules, location shooting and logistical nightmares encountered along the way.

"Deeper and Darker: The Making Of The Descent Part 2" is an enjoyable 25-minute featurette split by a sub-menu into four sections. These include exposes on Simon Bowles' impressive production design and the gory FX work. Providing a well-balanced mix of interesting behind-the-scenes footage and inanely positive cast and crew sound-bites, this is an insightful if somewhat self-righteous summary of what looks to have been a fun shoot.

10 minutes of deleted scenes follow in non-anamorphic widescreen, each of which comes equipped with optional contextual commentary from Harris.

The film's original theatrical trailer is a decent 87-second affair that manages to convey an accurate picture of what the film is like.

Finally the extras are rounded out with a storyboard gallery and a further gallery of production design stills.

THE DESCENT PART 2 is not a bad film by its own merits. Harris has fashioned an efficient if predictable horror show that oozes visual style in-between some half-decent shocks. But it's still a sequel to a much-revered modern "classic", and therefore sadly doomed to forever live in THE DESCENT's shadow.

Also available as one half of a double-pack with Marshall's original, and on blu-ray.

Review by Stu Willis