What made the potholing shocker The Descent one of the scariest films of the past ten years was not just the razor-toothed, carnivorous cave creatures deep below the Appalachian mountains, but also the blood-curdling savagery with which the cast of female characters turned upon each other. Now that we’re familiar with the horrors that lurk in the psyche of chicks with picks can The Descent: Part 2 hope to deliver the same chills?
In fact, the sequel is unexpectedly successful. It takes place two days after the girls embarked on their ill-fated underground adventure. Having failed to locate them with a rescue party, someone comes up with the bright idea of taking the sole survivor back into the caves. Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) is traumatised, amnesiac and covered in other people’s blood. Fortunately, a semi-feral survival instinct kicks in as soon as she is underground. The first-time director Jon Harris recreates the sense of airless, claustrophobic panic that worked so effectively the first time around and cranks up the yuck factor exponentially.