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Descent and Descent 2 Thread

linkster

By linkster
in Film, TV & Radio

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CrispinG

CrispinG

Posted
Posted
Hey there.

For me the scariest scene in the first film was the women all having to get through that tiny little cave/tunnel thing... It was so effective and was essentially just a bunch of good actors and a cardboard set...

This guy gives us a fucking rubber monster.

Despin out.

:(

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  • 1 month later...
lordcookie

lordcookie

Posted
Posted
I KNOW it's going to be shit and nowhere near as good as the original but I still want to see it.

Is it getting a theatrical run or straight to DVD?

Theatrical release is on the 15th May in the UK.

Even in the trailer you can see the creatures too clearly so God knows what they'll be like in the full film.

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Andsom

Andsom

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The implication from the trailer seems to be that she found another way out, suggesting that either the Uk or the US endings could be used.

Unfortunately, the very existence of this film ruins any ambiguity about the existence of the creatures from the original, which was one of the most interesting ascpects.

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Paulando

Paulando

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The beginning of that trailer looks alright actually - it makes sense that they'd send out a search party, which might be quite interesting to watch. There's no reason to have that girl from the first film in it though, and it's absolutely ridiculous that she'd go back into the caves (they've basically ripped off Aliens except, yeah, it makes less sense this time). Not only that, it does completely fuck with the great ending from the first film.

It gives far too much away in the trailer, and it makes me want to see it even less now. If they just based it around a search rescue team thing, it might have been vaguely watchable - and at least it wouldn't have ruined the original (and it would have had the 'will they find her in there alive or won't they' thing running through it).

I dunno. It still might be a bit of forgettable fun. It's when they start selling it with the first film as a 'DESCENT COLLECTION DOUBLE SET' on DVD that I'll be like: :)

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Popo

Popo

Posted
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Unfortunately, the very existence of this film ruins any ambiguity about the existence of the creatures from the original, which was one of the most interesting ascpects.

There can't really be any ambiguity surrounding the monsters though, since the mad one wasn't around when the others were getting killed by them.

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marcus

marcus

Posted
Posted

Ah man why cant they leave it alone? The Descent was a almost a one-off, a truly brilliant horror movie. This looks like a retread using the exact same ideas only this time the audience will know what to expect and it wont be half as good.

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Andsom

Andsom

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Posted
There can't really be any ambiguity surrounding the monsters though, since the mad one wasn't around when the others were getting killed by them.

There are a lot of clues that its the mad one doing the killing and the monsters don't exist at all.

For istance, as the film progresses, she begins to move the way the mosters move. The most telling scene is when she is alone and she screams - it then cuts to the other survivors who here the scream of one of the creatures.

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Andsom

Andsom

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Holy shit, I never picked up on any of that side of things at all. I'm such a dullard.

Yeah, it's a bit more clear the second time you watch it. In my opinion, it's only more underlined that she's a bit mental by the opening scenes of the film, the visions of her daughter etc. More unsubtly, I think at one point she even has a dream where she pulls her face off and there's a crawler face underneath. The 'Descent' of the title is her descent as opposed to the physical descent of the pot holing expedition. It's a really great movie in that sense.

The sequel is probably going to ruin some of that.

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Spacehost

Spacehost

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Holy shit, that's amazing. Not sure it holds up but it's pretty nifty.

It's like someone's peeled off the world to reveal a whole other one underneath! :)

I should've picked that up actually, I'm a big fan of my subtexts and stuff in films, but I think the movie just put the shits up me so much I couldn't keep up.

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Andsom

Andsom

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It's like someone's peeled off the world to reveal a whole other one underneath! :)

I should've picked that up actually, I'm a big fan of my subtexts and stuff in films, but I think the movie just put the shits up me so much I couldn't keep up.

It's like a different film if you watch it with that in mind. I'm pretty sure they talk about it in the commentary and it was deliberately left so you could take either interpretation.

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Popo

Popo

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Yes, characters see and react to the monsters, plus characters are off being killed while the main character is miles off.

I picked up on this first time through to be honest and while it would be cool and certainly seems to make sense, as I said earlier it doesn't really stand up due to the way characters interact with the monsters.

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earlymodernsteve

earlymodernsteve

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Yeah, it doesn't entirely hang together, but could do if there was more focus on t

he combination of the 'mad one' and the claustrophobia leading to the hallucination of the monsters. As an aside, however, should we trust the camera to reveal the truth? Can it not be part of the hallucination? A way of attempting to rationalise the unacceptable; monsters more thinkable than one of their companions being culpable?

I've always thought that there was a compromise made at some point to retain ambiguity, when the film seems to really want to suggest the subtext. The American ending is always held up as the most obvious example of studio involvement, but there is a tension between the two alternative explanations in the UK version that isn't always under control. But hey, at least it's stopped us talking about the shitty looking De2cent (sorry, I hate myself for typing it like that)

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Andsom

Andsom

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Not sure if the theory really works though:

don't a few of them see the creatures on the camcorder though?

Yeah, that's fair. But I think there are deliberately inconsistencies on both sides in order to keep the matter open-ended.

They spend a lot of time setting up the idea that it's just her being mental.

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:mediadavid:

:mediadavid:

Posted
Posted
Yeah, that's fair. But I think there are deliberately inconsistencies on both sides in order to keep the matter open-ended.

They spend a lot of time setting up the idea that it's just her being mental.

Also, at the start of the movie as they hike to the cave, one of the girls

relates the symptoms of 'cave madness' (or whatever) - claustrophobia, paranoia, auditory hallucinations , visual hallucinations , etc

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earlymodernsteve

earlymodernsteve

Posted
Posted

Meh. Even the shift from De2cent (which was a wank projected title) to Descent Part 2 denies any attempt at anything other than a cynical cash-in. All the ambiguities discussed at length above seem to have been cleared away and the voice-over's comparison to Alien seems apt, except that they've skipped films 2 and 3 and moved straight on to a Resurrection shitefest...Unless the trailer is completely unrepresentative and they are throwing out a deliberate curveball to bait us internet haters*.

*I, however, am not holding my breath to see if this is the case.

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