So Shooting has begun on The Descent II, Neil Marshall is not directing anymore, that job has fallen to Jon Harris, his first movie although he did work on the first film as Editor.

Now, here is the rub. We all know that an alternative ending was shot for the US market at the request of the distributer and Neil Marshall happily obliged. I have never seen this ending but I gather it was a happier ending with Sarah getting out alive. The sequel will follow on from the alternative ending and have Sarah return to the cave to rescue her friends!! Which according to the cast list on IMDB at least 2 of them are still alive as they appear in the sequel.

So is this not a big screw you to all the fans of the first movie (original cut) and a big screw you to the European audiences? I am amazed by this and quite frankly a bit annoyed at Neil Marshall for selling out like this. The Descent is one of my favorite horror movies of all time and the ending played a big part in the perfection of that movie. To be honest I think it has been ruined.

Why could they just not have written a sequel that involved a completely new cast on a search mission to find the missing girls? That surely would have made much more sense and would not be selling the first film out.

I'm not sure but will reserve judgement until it is released, who knows maybe they will make it plausible. I guess no point complaining about something not finished yet.

I loved The Descent. Although I'm not completely claustrophobic, I do have a fear of being trapped under the earth. I was more horrorfied by the tight spaces than the creatures.

That being said, anything that is popular these days (especially horror) can expect a sequal or prequal or some sort of spin-off, so this doesn't really surprise.

I would have preferred a new story and cast, but I can live with Sarah returning.

I read about this a while back and can't believe that they're doing this. The Descent is such a good movie and I don't know why they're going to ruin it with a sequel...and the only other character I know who must've survived was Juno, because we saw all the others die. I don't know how it's possible to have two come back. I'll have to check on IMDB to see which two they are.


It's just going to be worse if it goes straight to DVD.

Sean

This is not so much a trailer but more of a two minute version of the movie, but I have to say it does look pretty good...

Wow, so, I totally take back what I said. They seem to have taken things steadily and it looks pretty action packed. I just hope they explain how Juno got out of the mess she got in with all the creatures surrounding her. Because that'd be a plot hole that deserves an explanation.

I liked how the included the video camera, too. That part seems to be the part that scares everyone (and pretty much the first time you see the creature head-on).

Though, the creatures don't look as nasty as they did in the first one. They looks cleaner...and grayer.


Maybe I was wrong about this.

Sean

I don't see how anybody could've survived the first movie. Didn't all of the friends clearly die in the first one (memory is fuzzy)? Either way, I'll be watching because it does look good. I hope it'll be as good as the first one.


--Julio

Aaargh, dammit. They have taken it down. I'm looking forward to this movie - the first one (nearly) made me crap my pants.

EDIT: Found another one.

Looking forward as well.  Original Descent was easily in my op 10 of all time.  I also saw both endings, and really didn't think either one could ruin the movie.  I've also been a bit leary about this sequel, but will go nito it hoping for the best.

PS  I thought Marshall's latest with Rona Mitra was pure crap...absolutely terrible!!

" thought Marshall's latest with Rona Mitra was pure cr**...absolutely terrible"

hey Dreamscale, you mean you thought Underworld: rise Of The Lycans was bad? I only saw the first 20 minutes and was NOT AT ALL impressed. As for Descent two, yep, should be pretty cool.

Well, I wasn't referring to Rise of the Lycans, but I did think it was awful!  I actually disliked it...easily the worst of the Underworld movies.

No, I was referencing Neil Marshall's last film, "Doomsday".  I was so disapointed in it.  Luckily, I had this sneaky suspicion that it was going to suck, so I waited for it to come on a movie channel...and as I assumed, it was just complete garbage.  I'm so shocked that Narshall was behind something so completely pitiful.

Okay, so I just finished reading the script for The Descent II. I don't what I expected but this wasn't it. It's not very good in my opinion. I'm sure it will be quite scary/gory on screen but it completely lacks the depth the first one had. It's your typical run of the mill blood and guts story that more or less tries to be what Aliens was to Alien - and it tanks! Shallow characters, a not very believable plot in general and simply too predictable.

Damn. I was really looking forward to this one - not so much anymore.

I chose not to read the script as I didn't want to spoil anything for when the movie comes out.  I did read the first scene however, and thought it sounded pretty good.

Hey Rob, you're not saying that you thought Aliens tanked, are you? Nothing wrong with some good old fashioned blood and guts!!!!!

Yeah Doomsday was pretty bad. And as for Rise Of Lycans, I was shocked as I actually was looking forward to it, but it turned out to be pretty painful. Cannot wait for Descent II

Quoted from Dreamscale Hey Rob, you're not saying that you thought Aliens tanked, are you?

Of course not. Aliens is up there as one of the best sequels ever made - though I grown to like Alien³ somewhat more than Aliens over the years.

The Descent II just has so many crawlers that the story takes a backseat - and what little story there is is pretty weak.

Gotcha, I'm still looking very forward to it though.

PS  I never liked Alien 3...even after giving it numerous "1 more time" attempts.  It was just so dark, dull, and such a letdown from the 1st 2.  Oh well...

Quoted from Dreamscale PS  I never liked Alien 3...even after giving it numerous "1 more time" attempts.  It was just so dark, dull, and such a letdown from the 1st 2.  Oh well...

Even though it's got the very best kill of the franchise?

Um, that kill is reminiscent of one of the kills from the first movie. The only difference is that in the first movie, there wasn't anyone else there to get all bloodied up. Or so I recall anyway.

I disagree, George.  I feel this is much more violent, feral in a sense. Like an alien should be. I never felt Cameron managed to capture that in Aliens.

To tell you the truth, I didn't even remember that kill, and after watching it just now, I won't remember it tomorrow either.

What's so good about it, and why do you think it's the best kill of the franchise?

I think my biggest problem with Alien 3 is that it's all filmed so dark, just really hard to see what's goiing on.

I did like how it started and thought it was going to rock, but it went downhill so quickly.

I thought the beginning of Alien3 ruined the ending on Aliens and in fact, ruined the entire Aliens film by invalidating everything that was done and all the hope they had remaining. I was pissed off from the beginning of the film and never recovered, especially since there was no way for the queen to have laid an egg on that ship. But I digress.

And for what it's worth (to go back to the topic), the original ending wouldn't lend itself to the "survivor" from the American ending returning to look for her friends, since she didn't escape in the original. She could still look, but they'd have to start from a different point.

Besides, after what she'd seen, what would possess her to think that anyone survived? Didn't she see most of the her friends die (or see what was left of them)? Seems a bit of a thin reason to go back. Might have been better if the plot revolved around scientists wanting to study these creatures in their natural habitat and learn how they got to be that way. More reasonable anyway than a rescue mission.

Quoted from Dreamscale What's so good about it, and why do you think it's the best kill of the franchise?

Like I said earlier, the ferociousness of that kill, imo, finally captured the true essence of the alien creature. In Alien there were technical limitations as to how fast the creature could move etc. and in Aliens the creatures were basically cannon fodder. To me, they were never scary in that movie (it's still a great movie - the first three are among my all time favs - the fourth one was just...yikes).

Quoted from Dreamscale I think my biggest problem with Alien 3 is that it's all filmed so dark, just really hard to see what's goiing on.

I personally loved the darkness of Alien3, and I mean both in the litteral sense and in the atmosphere of the movie. To me it was a needed change from Cameron's style and I still think this is one of Fincher's finest (although Fox did what they could to screw him and the movie).

Quoted from George Willson I thought the beginning of Alien3 ruined the ending on Aliens and in fact, ruined the entire Aliens film by invalidating everything that was done and all the hope they had remaining. I was pissed off from the beginning of the film and never recovered, especially since there was no way for the queen to have laid an egg on that ship. But I digress.

I personally know a lot of folks who felt exactly like you did, George. If you went in to see this movie expecting Aliens II then you got screwed big time. But what I liked about this movie - aside from a much more feral alien - was that this was ALL about Ripley.

In the first one she's basically a greenhorn that reacts to the things going on around her. In the second one, she's traumatized by nightmares and is given a chance to go back to the place of terror (I can buy the whole setup - but I still feel it was a bit cheesy), and from there on she turns into Rambo. It was fitting for a '86 movie but it doesn't hold up anymore imo.

In the third, everything has been taken from her - all hope seems out, but when she's faced with a choice in the end that they're gonna take the alien out of her (asuming they were telling the truth), that she could have her life back, maybe even children, she makes her choice. I thought it was fucking beautiful.

Obviously, the Ripley character in the third movie is a product of the two other movies that went before it, so I'm not discounting them at all.

Oh, and I have no explanation for how the egg got onboard the Sulaco, but if you listen to the end of Aliens, after the credits, you can hear an egg opening  

PS: When I'm speaking about Alien3 I'm referring to the Extended Edition.

Anyhoo, getting way way back on topic. I feel they writer for this movie thought he could use Aliens as a template for The Descent II. More creatures and more firepower (okay, not so much firepower really). On top of that, they're using thermal imaging...motion trackers anyone? It'll probably look great on screen, you know, if that's your thing but it just wasn't what I expected.

Just to go back to the subtopic, I think that Alien 3 may be my favourite just because 1) I love the soundtrack for when they drop the bodies into the furnace and when Ripley falls, also 2) That movie has one of the creepiest opening credits ever 3) It's practically a new breed of alien and the way it moves, it's like there's no hope because it moves so fast 4) It has great acting and 5) It's dark and bloody

I think it's the only movie in the Alien series that really throws those emotions at you because Ripley has lost her friends and her soon-to-be-daughter, and then at the end you really feel like crap the way they use the recording from the first film because it shows how much she's been through and now she's finally done with it and doesn't have to face it anymore.


But anyway, back on track, this movie does remind me of Aliens definitely, with Sarah returning to the caves, just as Ripley returning to the planet they once landed on before where the creature was, and the same thing happens all over again. I agree, though, with another speaker in this thread (can't remember who, sorry) that there were too many crawlers, though. It's like they repopulated in the span of two days and I just couldn't see how so many appeared in the movie. Then again, it does seem like a huge cave system.

They also did something that most sequels usually do (and I'm talking about straight-to-DVD sequels): they killed off pretty much every character because there was no other point in them being there except for body count. In the first one, they had a reason to have each character: Sarah - the main girl you root for because of the crap she went through in the past year; Juno - the badass friend who you root for because she kicks the asses of them crawlers; Beth - the nice friend that's there for a sad death scene; Sam - the doctor so she can take care of the injured and figure out how the crawlers move; Rebecca - the strongest chick; and Holly - the sports enthusiast. These other characters really had no other thing to do except go down in the cave and get killed, really...





SPOILERS




Also, I'm pretty sure they could have added a lot more to the ending with one of the surviving characters. They could have called for help as they got out of the cave, only to be attacked, but then have to fight them outside of the cave, you know, to create a different environment, and then have another officer shoot it down, and then word gets out that something is definitely in that cave...Then again, it would open up for a threequel which we probably wouldn't enjoy very much...I guess they couldn't use my idea though because it'd show too much of the crawler and it wouldn't be scarier anymore...Unless it was at nighttime or something. I dunno...


My two cents.


Sean