OK, so in the American version of The Descent, Sarah, the lead character, scrambles up a bone-filled hill, crawls through a hole and escapes the cave where the monsters who killed all her friends dwell. She runs through the forest like a crazy woman, gets in her car and drives away. Once she is far enough away, she pulls over to the side of the road to catch her breath, sees her friend as a “ghost”, and then realizes it is just a hallucination. Ultimately, she survives. End of story.
However, in the original British version, that is not the end of the story. She does not escape the cave. Her escape, her frantic jeep drive and her stopping on the side of the road to catch her breath is just a figment of her imagination. Ultimately, she is still in the cave - miles underground - and the Crawlers are closing in. End of story. Presumably she doesn’t survive.
Now comes the interesting development of the week: The Descent 2 is coming to theaters at some point, presumably in 2009. Don’t get me wrong - I’m looking forward to this. The Descent is one of the best monster movies I’ve seen in a long time and features some of the coolest, scariest creatures ever, perhaps since Alien. When I first saw this movie (the American version) in theaters, I was huddled up against my friend half the movie - and I don’t scare easily.
Still, how will The Descent 2 work? American audiences who have only seen the theatrical version will be able to shrug it off, but everyone else will be left scratching their heads when Sarah returns. And, according to the synopsis on Comingsoon.net, Sarah does return:
Picking up from where the last movie left off, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) escapes the cave and seeks refuge at a local gas station, where she collapses and is rushed to a local hospital. Not being able to speak because of the horrific events that have mentally scarred her, a search and rescue team take Sarah back to where the horrible events happened to find any possible answers and survivors. However, whilst down in the cave…things don’t go to plan as the group fight for their lives against the crawlers and find an unexpected survivor from the last film.
Now, I have to presume that most American audiences have seen the British version by now, since most people only saw the movie on DVD. If you haven’t, you should! But regardless, isn’t it a bit weird to have a sequel begin with a main character who was killed in the first one?
And this, folks, is why you don’t change endings for different audiences.
Tags: descent 2, monster, movie, sequel
Category: Movies | Comments RSS
April 11th, 2008 at 10:49 am
My wife hates me for convincing her to watch the first one. I can’t wait to have her watch the sequel with me!
April 14th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Hi Wes,
Glad to hear your wife has an appreciation for horror movies. Secretly deep down, no matter how much they scream or hide their eyes or go into the other room out of sheer terror, they actually love to watch these movies.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Thanks for the clarification on that; I didn’t know there were 2 different endings; I only saw the British version (and I’m an American). I’m not sure how they’ll work that out though, maybe they will go back to where she is in the cave and make it that she escapes? Also, I don’t remember anyone other than Sarah surviving, so how is it that Juno is also going to be in the sequel?
May 12th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Hi Dawn… I bet Juno would play a very small part in it, probably as a hallucination. Then again, maybe Sarah is crazy the whole time so she keeps seeing Juno throughout…
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
This has a quite a few humps to get over, indeed.
1. Most sequels simply aren’t as good. Plenty of exceptions, but the majority…
2. Most modern horror movies aren’t good. Several exceptions, The Descent included.
3. Most sequels to modern horror movies that were actually good aren’t good. Very few exceptions.
4. Neil’s neither directing or writing.
5. Like you said, Sarah should be dead.
6. What the hell’s up with Juno coming back? She should be even deader than Sarah.
I still have some hope though. I like the idea that they will be discovering the corpses of the dead girls one by one, and implausibility aside, if the Juno thing’s done right then that bit could be great.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Bittens, agreed on all accounts. We shall see…
July 29th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Im so excited. 2009 is so far away though!!! When the first movie came out, I was not one bit interested watching the previews. Most of the modern day horror movies are 2 thumbs down. Im a big movie buff. Watching movies is my hobby. The Descent is ONE of the best horror movies of the modern day. Im stoked to watch the 2nd one. Curious to see how its going to play itself out.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I CANT WAIT! The first one was fab! Best scarey film in a loooong time!
January 1st, 2009 at 3:55 pm
i thought juno was the highlight of the whole movie, natalie mendoza did great in the film, i do hope to see her again in the second