The end of The Descent & The Descent 2

First off, a big thank you to Caitlin of 1416andcounting.com for the great review of The Descent 2 yesterday. I like to think she had fun writing that review, and I know that I had a blast writing my review for her site. So, again, thank you (let's do this again!).

One of the things that I really shied away from in discussing The Descent 2 was it's ending. And today, that's what I want to talk about.

So, you know, you've been warned.

As you may recall, at the end of The Descent, Sarah sacrifices Juno to escape the cave monsters. Now, of course, by this point she's seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate... No. That was someone else. Sarah has seen her friends die in the caves She's seen a terrible side of her friend Juno; she learned that her husband had cheated on her with Juno and watched Juno kill one of the group. In order to survive, Sarah went through one hell of a traumatic experience, culminating in turning on Juno and leaving her to be devoured by the cave monsters.

And then, a mere day or two later in movie time, after her amazing escape with her life, if not her sanity, she's tossed right back into the caves. She's already scarred, but Deputy Rios isn't. Rios' journey is very similar to Sarah's from the first movie. It's Rios who has to sacrifice her colleague to save Sarah. It's Rios who has the child she may lose as a result of this ordeal. And there are times where it's easy to think that Sarah realizes all of this, too. And I think that Sarah realizes that she lost a big part of herself in the caves, and doesn't want that to happen to Rios. So, while Rios had to do some awful things, like hack someone's arm off with a pick ax, you get the feeling that her humanity was intact. Rios' first instinct may have been to leave Juno to die, but it wasn't out of selfishness, it was just pragmatic. By that point, she was willing to make the same decisions to escape, but for much more rational reasons. This mirroring is evident even in the clothes that they wear. Rios' outfit is nearly identical to what Sarah was wearing when she escaped.

Watching the movie, you can't help but feel good when Rios escapes the cave. When Sarah escaped in the first movie, you just had this feeling that she'd never be  the same, that the trauma had just gotten to her, not so for Rios. When Rios runs out of the cave, there's a sense that everything is going to be fine. She'll go back to her kid and everything will work out ok for her, which is why the sudden blow to the head with a shovel is such a WTF moment.

It's not the only reason though. There is a complete lack of foreshadowing. The old man that hits Rios is the same guy who Sarah found on the road at the beginning and brought her to a hospital. Why didn't he feed Sarah to them? How on Earth is he just WAITING for someone to escape the cave, and also just happens to have a handy shovel with him? It's ridiculous and poorly executed. I understand that they're trying to use it to launch into a third movie, and that's fine, but the whole thing has no context and just makes you with that the movie had ended about 120 seconds sooner.

When the movie ended, all I could think was 'What the fuck??? I need to talk to someone about this!'. It's just that kind of a thing. I mean, here I am, days later, still trying to figure it out. I'm still trying to make sense of the whole thing.

If you've seen The Descent 2 as well, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ending, or in general, in the comments.

#1570: The Descent 2

 Let's be honest: There's no way to talk about The Descent Part 2 without spoilers, so please, beware.

I'm not Shawn, I'm Caitlin. I know it's all topsy-turvy to read Shawn's blog and get me, but he'll be back before you know it and you won't have to put up with me anymore. Shawn hatched a nefarious plan for us to watch the same movie, review it, and cross post on each other's blogs, so it's his evil genius plan, I must say.

Anyways, so The Descent Part 2 picks up pretty much where The Descent left off. (If you're considering watching Part 2, I'd highly recommend just watching Part 1 and Part 2 back to back.) Sarah, the apparent sole survivor of a caving trip gone horrifically wrong, is found and brought to the hospital, where she has no memory of her ordeal in the cave. Watching your friends get eaten alive by mutant cave monsters will do things to a person, so Sarah's mind is a little shaky.

The local sheriff (who really deserves an award for being an incredibly dumb asshole) forces Sarah to go back into the cave with him, his deputy and a group of cavers after he begins to suspect that Sarah had something to do with the murders. Sensitivity is not this man's strong point. After they head into the caves, Sarah's memory is jogged and escapes from the clutches of the sheriff. Remember how I said the sheriff was dumb? He fires a shot in the cave system, causing a cave-in. All hell breaks loose and the mutant cave dwellers come out to eat.

The Descent Part 2 isn't nearly as good at fleshing out all of the characters as The Descent was, but given that a few of these characters are grist for the mutant cave people mill, that's forgiveable. Part 2 retains the confusion and claustrophobia that made The Descent so terrifying in the first place, with some of these tunnels being so small you wonder how they got a camera in there. More than a few horror sequels fail miserably at adequately picking up on continuity but Part 2 does a solid job of maintaining that aspect.

Juno is still alive and fighting like a madwoman in the cave system, so that is a bit of a surprise in a way. The three final girls battle it out to exit the cave, where Juno bites it and Sarah makes the ultimate sacrifice to give the sheriff's deputy, a mother with a little girl, a chance to escape the mutants. Up until this point, The Descent Part 2 is a sequel that lives up to the original, a sequel that moves well in the construct of the first movie. After this point, The Descent Part 2 falls a couple of notches in my estimation, due to a bizarre ending involving an old man bashing the deputy in the face and dragging her to the hole to be consumed by the freakin' Morlocks.

There is no rational explanation for this, no sensible reason. Normally this sort of "gotcha!" moment is reserved for sequel setups, but there's something so random, so bizarre, an ending that's never telegraphed or made clear that it's ultimately confusing and leaves you ruminating on that instead of the good parts in the movie.

While I'm looking forward to seeing how they ultimately play this one out in the next movie (I understand from Shawn that The Descent Part 3 is in the works), if you have no knowledge that there will be another sequel, the ending is puzzling at best. This bit is really the only negative to The Descent Part 2, so if you can stomach the fact that the ending feels like it doesn't belong there, then The Descent Part 2 is equally worth invested time and a well-made follow-up to a great first movie.

A new trailer for you

It seems as though I'm always a bit behind the curve. By the time I'm putting a trailer up, it's usually been floating around for days and it's not really new and exciting anymore. The new trailer smell has worn off, so to speak.

Of course, that doesn't stop me, does it?

Hell no!



So, there you have it. The trailer for Neil Marshall's new movie, Doomsday. Neil Marshall, of course, the director of both Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Both were excellent movies, so I can't help but be excited about Doomsday...there's a sentence I never thought I'd say.

FGFC: 6 chicks, a cabin and no pillowfight

Let's try something new today. In my attempt to finally join the illustrious Final Girl Film Club, I'm watching The Descent. Though, in a lot of ways it's unique in comparison with the others blogging this film. See, Ms. Ponder intended this to be a field trip. I, however, was unable to get my permission slip signed and am instead doing the make up assignment of watching my imported British version of the film.

So, I decided that I would do something a little different myself...I am currently writing this as a man was impaled by a metal rod. That's right, this is live baby. There's no turning back either. It's first star to the right and straight on until dawn from here on out. Unless I have to go turn the volume up...

The volume is now acceptable. The lights, in the hallway, are chasing this woman who's name I haven't caught...until her friend catches her. The husband and daughter are dead.

Fast forward like a year, I think, to the Appalachians here in the US of A. These chicks talk funny. Even for being in the south.

They found Juno! That wasn't much of a challenge. And an animal skull that may double as a doorbell.

This lady has an even funnier accent. It's Irish or Scotish. I don't think I like her very much. Her name is Holly.

Those pajamas are hot!

If you didn't know about this movie, if you were just flipping though channels and stumbled upon this, it could be a Lifetime movie, but with less date rape. There's nothing special about it...yet...and then something happened...something broke? I don't know...I was typing instead of paying attention. Damn me!

It's morning now and Juno is jogging...

I like this, a lot of screaming and noises as misdirection. Trying to startle you even though nothing is happening...

It occurs to me, that you may end up learning more about this than you want if you continue reading...be warned.

It's a level two cave! Oh no! Someone find me my level 12 Chaotic Good Paladin! (yes, I just made a D&D joke)

Hey, don't they need that book...why leave it...oh never mind.

Over the river and through the woods, to a level two cave we go. There's a lot of rules for caving it would seem. I don't remember the tour at Mammoth Cave being this complex, but, I was 13 then and, well, I probably wasn't paying attention.

Stop me if you've heard this one, 6 girls enter a cave...

Caves are dark...I should turn my light off...you know, to set the mood. There, mood set to dark and sweaty. I wonder if I'll be able to type in the dark. I suppose I can. I'm pretty goddamn talented if I do say so myself.

Was that a hand imprint? Holy flying bats, batman, that was a shit ton of bats!

Okay, so, at this point, I'd be freaking out. Confined areas with no visible exit are the devil.

Oh thank god, someone brought a video camera. Maybe this will turn into The Blair Witch.

There's water dripping. I wonder what you do if you have to pee in this situation. It's not like there's a public restroom anywhere nearby...

They are all wearing those mining helmets with the lights on them. I think I need a light on my head...oh yeah. This helps the typing. I can see keys again. This won't last long. It's awfully warm in here.

Ok, the air is on now, and this LED on my head is making me feel a lot like a Borg, so it's got to go. Back to typing in the dark. How did Sarah get stuck? A lemon can't have an orgasm. What kind of joke is that? It's not even a good pun.

Rocks fall everyone dies.

Oh, no, no they're alive. And bitchy.

You didn't bring the book! You dummy. This isn't Boreham Caverns? An ego trip? Can you book that through Priceline? A new system? This is like Star Trek, and they're the Enterprise...ooh, which one is the unnamed ensign with the red shirt?

I can see how a flare would be handy to light a cave, but flares create a lot of smoke and fumes, wouldn't that be a BAD thing in an enclosed area? Like a cave? Maybe it's a special cave flare...

That's an interesting place for a naturally occurring metal hook to latch onto to appear...I thought that this was the FIRST time anyone had been here...

Okay, I could never hang from the ceiling of a cave. I'm too damn terrified of heights.

Damn that rope fucked up her hand. How are you going to sterilize that? It's gonna get infected! And gross. Ew.

Cave paintings? Juno is a bit of a bitch. The cave paintings suggest they may be able to get out. Ha! Take that Juno!

Holly is running ahead of the group..because, well, someone has to be the stupid one. Well, what can I sat, smart people don't fall down fucking holes! At least, not as often.

Yeah, bone sticking out, that leg is broken. That's gross, bone? Yeah, that's horrible, in such a horrible way.

It GOLLUM! And Juno! They're both kind of scary.

Two miles underground? Damn, that sucks. Especially if you've got someone with a broken leg!

Infared camera + shit ton of bones = wishing there was no camera...

Goddamn you gollum! I knew you were there you fucker. And you still startled me!

6 girls, screaming and running...yeah, they're not going to DRAW ATTENTION to themselves.

Damn, I guess that broken leg doesn't matter any more. This thing is like a combination between Gollum, Nosferatu and a blind cave fish. And there's more than one of them. Well, now there's one less. Good job Juno. No, wait, she wasn't one of them...

I wonder if this was on location, or sets...I guess a combination probably.

Those look like...well, not animal bones...something else? I'm trying to be vague if you haven't seen this. Is it working?

This could have been kind of a cool video game. Part Tomb Raider, part Silent Hill, part RPG in reverse. Something where you lose skills as you go on instead of gaining them.

I think these things are part T-rex too, they seem to ignore you if you're still...oh, it's the noise. That's reasonable.

They're in three "groups" now. 4 of them are still alive. I wonder if there is anything in the Worst Case Scenario Survival Guide for this situation...

Juno would be a lot more attractive is she wasn't such a horrible person. It's an "ugly on the inside" kind of effect.

Yeah, I thought something needed to jump out at us pretty soon.

I think they just implied the Juno was fucking Sarah's dead husband. Well, he was alive at the time...but, wow. Interesting. That explains...well, a little. Ok, a lot. So much!

Okay, part t-rex and part cat.

The female cave monsters, much to my surprise, have hair. Neat.

I love the use of color and light. Red light, white light, green light. It creates a cool effect and makes you see thing a very specific kind of way.

Aw, damn! That was a bone in the eye! And that was a femur to the head! Sweet.

Juno just walked into a bunch of those fuckers in what appeared to be a lunch meeting. Who brought the martinis? Anyone? Damn!

I love the look of hanging from the ceiling and turning the camera upside down.

And then there were 3. Or 2.

I think she just gave that thing a titty twister from hell!

Dynamite would be awesome right now. Not to collapse the cave, but imagine how the loud bang in such an enclosed place would effect everyone's hearing. The monsters primary method of hunting would be eliminated.

Sarah is reminding me a lot of Linda Hamilton/Sarah Conner from T2, even the outfit.

I wonder, I hear the ending was changed for the US release, so, at this point, we may be seeing two very different things. This is the second time I've seen this now (the first was before the birth of this fine corner of the interweb) and I feel like I should avoid talking about the end here. Even to try to point out any changes. I will say that it put the last episode of Newhart to shame.

I liked the ending the way it was though. There's a certain fatalism to it that I really like. A bit of ambiguity that I've come to appreciate. It's not the typical Hollywood ending that you expect.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this. It's a little long, and pretty random, but I'm glad you took the time to hang out with me. And I promise the next thing I do will be...well, shorter if not more coherent. Good night everybody!