Movies
The Descent: Part 2 (V)
“Light on tension and the pervading claustrophobia, which made Part I unbearably bleak in places, Blakeson, McCarthy and Watkins’s script is lacking the dialogue and characterisation to truly get to know this new set of crawler-fodder, stripping their demise of any emotional affect.“
Sending blood-splattered Sarah MacDonald) back into the caves of the Appalachian Mountains is an odd premise for a sequel to Neil Marshall’s 2005 cave-diving chiller The Descent – odd on account of her not actually escaping her subterranean ordeal the first time out. But that was only one ending of the film, Sarah coming to and discovering that she, in fact, was still stuck in the damp, dark crawler-infested depths, her escape a trick of the mind. Shorn of this downbeat conclusion for its North American release though, Sarah makes good her escape and director Jon Harris uses this as his jumping off point for the sequel. However, this departure from Marshall’s narrative lineage isn’t the only difference between Parts 1 and 2 as Harris’s film is an altogether very different creature.
Found, blood-drenched and hysterical, by the police as a search for the missing cavers is underway in the full glare of the media, Sarah finds herself less a survivor and more a suspect, with the local Sheriff assuming her responsible for the girls’ whereabouts. It is for this reason that he insists on her accompaniment when the party moves underground in search of Juno, Beth and the rest of the missing girls. Sarah can’t remember what happened but it doesn’t take too long in the murky confines of the suffocating darkness – aided by the unveiling of the caves’ inhabitants and their dietary requirements – for her memory to return.
The production of Marshall’s film was against the clock somewhat to beat the similarly-themed yet vastly inferior The Cave (the Cole Hauser-starring US movie favouring underground winged-beasties and action over chills and suspense) into theatres, and Harris’s sequel has more in common with this than with Marshall’s sophomore film. The look is the same, the dark, dripping tunnels and omnipresent fear of what lay within them, and the action as frenetic, but the tone is very, very different. Where there was little hope in Part I – no redemption for the girls who promptly descended into in-fighting as soon as the going got tough – and the mood was one of devastating fatality, Part II favours a more light-hearted approach. Not in an Evil Dead sense, but rather there are moments of levity (the search party encounters the crawlers’ restroom, for example) which detract from the horrific events elsewhere, and jumps orchestrated by deliberate misdirection are played for laughs as much as screams.
Light on tension and the pervading claustrophobia, which made Part I unbearably bleak in places, Blakeson, McCarthy and Watkins’s script is lacking the dialogue and characterisation to truly get to know this new set of crawler-fodder, stripping their demise of any emotional affect. The film shouldn’t be viewed solely in relation to the original though, but in being titled Part II and following on directly from earlier events, it is intended very much as a companion piece rather than a spin-off sequel. It is a hugely entertaining film, with plenty of gore, shocks and surprises to keep genre fans entertained, a surprise return from one of the original gang will keep Marshall fans happy and it has the crossover appeal to reach an audience unfamiliar with our first encounter with the crawlers. It is a tad ironic though, given the film’s downbeat-sidestepping origins, that it throws a third act curveball of its own.
Check out Screenjabber.com for full coverage of FrightFest 2009.
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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