I was really looking forward to this...especially based on all the positive reviews and positive buzz.  The original is easily 1 of my favorite movies of all time.

Damn, foiled again!  I was very disappointed in what this turned out to be.  Maybe my expectations were too high?  maybe the original was so good, there was no way a DTV sequel was going to do it for me?  I don't know, but it just didn't work for me right out of the gate, and that's always a problem.

Once things get going, I guess this is a serviceable sequel that offers pretty much what you'd expect.  It's claustrophobic, it's scary, it's bloody and gory, and the creatures look great.

The biggest problem is the setup and premise, which is just downright stupid, and totally unbelievable.  I literally couldn't buy in to what was being presented as a serious situation and serious movie.  It really ruined it for me within the first 10 minutes.

The acting and dialogue is also a big problem.  I'm not sure what was worse, the acting or the actual lines the actors had to speak.  Add to this the fact that everyone does the stupidest things possible, and you can kind of see what's going on here.

So, it's not a terrible movie in any way.  In fact, it's probably better than 80% of DTV releases.  But, it pails in comparison to the original, and it didn't have to.  A smarter script is needed here, with smarter dialogue, and smarter characters.  The settings and creatures write their own script and do a fine job of it.  It's just the human equation that suffers here.

Too bad, I'm bummed out!

I was quite disappointed with this one too.

But at least it was an actual sequel and not some spin-off with the same title.

--Julio

Just checked it out yesterday. Yeah, a rather stupid sequel. Not the movie in itself but the many many moronic decisions made by the characters. Could anyone buy that the sheriff would actually drag Sarah back into the caves after they found her? I'm pretty sure that's not allowed.

The rest is very predictable - except the ending, didn't see that one coming at all (and I'm not sure I was supposed to).

More blood, more gore, more kills. But like Jeff said, the human element suffers. Also, I didn't think the creatures looked as good as in the first one.

Rob, I totally agree with you about the sheriff and the entire setup.  Completely illegal how he drags her down there again.  They were completely unprepared in their rescue attempt, and that in itself is just ridiculous, especially considering Juno's Dad is wealthy.

And how about the sheriff's acting in general?  Terrible!

As for the creatures, I don't know if they looked worse, per se, it's more that we saw them so much more, and anytime that's the case, the creatures lose their mystique.

The creatures are supposed to be so tough and brutal, but in the end, they don't put up much of a fight, IMO.  A bunch of freaked out women slice and dice their way right through them.

I'm still amazed, cause this movie is getting lots of positive reviews and it doesn't deserve any of them.

Quoted from Dreamscale And how about the sheriff's acting in general?

He was acting?!  

The thing I liked about the creatures in the first one was that their skin had an almost translucent texture to it - I think that looked pretty cool. They might have had this in the sequel, too, but it was hard to tell.

What did you think about the ending, Jeff? Where the fuck did that come from?

I hated the ending!  It was so tacked on for effect.  Doesn't make any sense at all.

Actually, neither ending makes any sense. By "either", I mean what should have been the ending in the cave, as well as the final twist from nowhere.  Sarah would not have given herself up like she did after surviving 2 encounters in the cave...no way!  Juno seemed to be doing pretty well for herself until help shows up, which also makes zero sense.

But the worst was the final twist ending.   Totally stupid and weak and obviously designed for no other reason than to continue the franchise and take it in a different direction.

Overall, this was pretty okay. A typical direct-to-DVD sequel, where you have more gore, more kills, same story, and the whole "I don't give a shit" about any of the characters whatsoever. There was nothing new to the story except we were introduced to a new group of spelunkers (or, rescue team...both...) who unfortunately fall into a trap where they meat their demise by un-evolved cavemen that are blind and use sound to hunt and kill.

Actually, to be honest, it was just the same thing, only different, in a way. They go into a cave and explore for about thirty minutes. Then the cave collapses. They get trapped and find a way out, while trying to look for Sarah. People die, they meet in a cave bubble with a couple crawlers, and one ends up getting out, crawling up slowly to the exit of the cave, run away through the woods--wait a minute...What the fuck was that ending? Seriously? I really think I lost brain cells when the ending was over. I even waited after the credits to see if there was anything there, but there wasn't! Unless from the version I watched online stopped the movie before the credits were officially over, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

Mainly, that ending was pure shit on stick. Not only does it only create more questions for use viewers, but it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It was a cheap and easy way to end the movie, and honestly, I don't see how they can create a threequel, unless the go a whole "Lake Placid 2" on our asses, only worse and practically unwatchable. I enjoyed the original script's ending, where Rios got out and collapses next to the hole, only to be pounced on by one of the crawlers for a last scare.

But other than that, I think this was an effective sequel. The suspense was actually quite well done, especially the part where what's-her-name (the Australian chick) was trying to get out as the crawler was digging it's way into her little rock bubble. I was shaking in my bed as I was watching it, telling her to "get out! Get out!" Though, the suspense was a bit short-lived, as it does slow down just a bit during some parts.

The gore was okay, though, last time I checked, I don't remember blood looking like bright red paint. Last time I saw that was in George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. I was watching it and I thought it just looked awful. I don't know if it was because of the lighting, or the way the camera's colour correction was set, or if they just mixed the blood awfully, but it just wasn't great. Even the part where the Australian chick jumped on Sam's dead body, the blood was still pouring from her mouth, and it still even had a red colour to it. Last time I checked, blood dries and turns into dark brown, or even black colour? Though, the part where the rescue team's leader is offed worked effectively. It was nice, gory, and kind of disturbing how he was still alive after having his jugular ripped out for quite a while, until it all ended in a gurgling...gurgle. Also, the part where the Australia chick kicks the boulder out of the way and it crushes the crawler's skull...That was nice.

The scares were effective as well. My heart jumped a few times, though, unfortunately, they were all loud pop-out scares, and nothing like the first movie where we saw the crawler in full form for the first time (on the video camera, which is respectively shown in this sequel). THAT is horror right there. It's the image that scares us, rather than a quick pop out joined with unnecessary loud music that we jump to and ends up hurting our ears and wanting the volume to be lowered rather than making the scary creatures go away. But, still, I like getting scared, so all in all, it works out. The part where the sheriff is using the heat-sensor camera was a great scare for me. I saw it coming, but just didn't know when. They had the camera set up to where you knew where the pop up was going to be...or so I thought. They had it to where the heat-sensor camera was on one side of the screen, while darkness was on the other. So either way, something is going to pop out, but you don't know whether it will be through the heat-sensor camera screen, or from the darkness. Suffice to say, it still got me...

I wish that they focused more on the claustrophobia in this movie. They tried at the part where Sarah and Rios were traveling underwater and only had inches of pockets of air to breathe through, but it really didn't work as well as the first movie did with the small pipe that later collapsed. In this one, I was expecting Rios to get stuck underwater, like, her foot would get caught in a crevasse or something in a small cave pipe where she could barely movie. She'd thrash about and they'd give a sense of oxygen deprivation, and you'd think she was going to drown, but they didn't go that way. I was pretty disappointed in that. The claustrophobia effect is a great thing to have, especially in this kind of movie.

The creatures in this movie I don't really have any complaints about. They were nastier looking in this one. I noticed that they had a more purplish tint to their skin, unless that was the lighting as well. Their noses were shaped differently, and I think their ears were bigger as well. To break it down simply, they had more bat characteristics than the first movie, which makes sense since the only way they can hunt and move around is by sound and echolocation.

The lighting was one problem I did have. It was awful, just awful. These people were in a cave, and yet, there were scenes where it'd look like they were in a well-light room! Especially towards the end when Juno, Sarah, and Rios were making a plan on how to get past the feeding crawlers. It was pitch black behind them, but in the spot where they were, it was fully lit. I can't remember if they lit a flare, but it was just horrible lighting and completely ruined the effect of the film (when it comes to realism). In the first movie, they were almost completely spot on with lighting and I gave props to them for that. In this one, they had light sources that were impossible and unnecessary which ruined the movie for me a bit by reminding me that they were really in a studio, inside a fake cave with studio lights for some reason shining lights on them, when in the movie's reality, they were hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the earth, and I don't think flashlights and headlights can really create that much light there.

I don't really care much for the factual errors of this film, how they pulled Sarah just shortly after they saved her to go back into the cave. Or the fact that they didn't prepare at all to go searching in the cave. They didn't bother getting more rescue searchers (which, I'm surprised they didn't, because straight-to-DVD sequels often try and focus more on body count and get useless characters to die useless deaths, so props to the screenwriter on this one...). But, you know, how else were they going to incorporate Sarah in the story and keep that story moving without having days pass by and leave the audience wondering why they're taking so long to go and try and find the other girls who might still be alive in the cave (even though everyone knows that they're dead...)?

BIG SPOILERS

Quoted Text Sarah would not have given herself up like she did after surviving 2 encounters in the cave...no way!

Don't forget that Sarah's daughter died, and Rios still had a daughter alive and waiting for her to come back home from her job. Sarah realises that Rios deserves to get out of there alive to fulfill what Sarah will never be able to do (that is, assuming if she doesn't make it out alive, or cannot find love again, or have children anymore...too many factors...), which is to be there for her daughter and care for her and watch over her. Since Sarah's daughter died early in the first film she does have that want for her daughter to be back, but she knows that will never happen. So she is living through Rios and helping her get out of the cave alive. This is all realised when Rios pulls out her phone and begins to record a farewell message to send to her daughter, which, in turn, Sarah says, "My daughter is dead. Yours isn't. If you want to tell her that [what she recorded on her phone], you'll tell it to her face."

So that part when they go into the Crawlers' feeding grounds, and Rios is kneeling in front of the three crawlers sobbing quietly, until she accidentally make a noise and the crawlers realise she's right there and they're about to eat her, Sarah grows some balls for a final plan to help Rios out of there to get closer to her daughter...By giving herself away to the creatures. So, in short, I think what she did was absurd, but really, Sarah was still extremely connected to her daughter and the death of her daughter to the point to where she'd give her life in order to save someone else's so that person could get out alive and get back to her daughter, since Sarah will never be able to do that.

END SPOILERS


So, really, those who bash this film and call it awful and don't recommend it to people were looking for a serious horror film that they hoped to be better than the first, when really, it's a fun film to watch with friends if you're looking for cheap scares, blood, and an awful, awful ending. Don't watch this expecting a story, or expecting a film that surpasses the first (I mean, you should already know what to expect from a straight-to-DVD sequel). It's all fun and entertainment, which is what I got for myself, at least.


Sean