THE DESCENT PART 2 (2009) Movie Review

THE DESCENT: PART 2 (2009)

Rescuers have been searching for two days for the six spelunkers that never returned from a charted course into Boreham caves when Sarah, the lone survivor of the relentless attacks of the cave's blind inhabitants, is found in a completely separate area of the county. Sarah can't recall what happened during her time in the caves, nor what happened to her friends, and the local sheriff, along with members of the search team, bring Sarah back into the caves in hopes of rekindling her memory and hoping to find the rest of the missing women. What they find however, is one wave after another of the cave's crawling residents, who once again take to turning the unwelcome visitors into their next meal. Sarah, whose mind has snapped back into place, shifts right back into survival mode. But will her knowledge of her attackers be enough to save the group or are the destined never to reascend to the surface?

Picking up right after the end of the original DESCENT, the next chapter is an almost a text book example of a film that suffers from sequelitis with more guts and gore, more chases, and more jump scares at the expense of less character development and a less engaging story. Director Jon Harris does an excellent job of imitating the style and pace of Neil Marshall, who has reduced himself to executive producer for this entry. Harris plays with the claustrophobic elements of the caves and frantic desperation of the first film almost pitch perfect, as he pours one scene after the next on the viewers trying to bigger and better with every turn of the corner.

Shauna MacDonald, who returns to her role as Sarah, also does a pretty good imitation of her character from the first time around. There is not enough time given to recapture that emotional connection that was established in the first, but it is still quite enjoyable watching her dispatching one crawler after the next with whatever is handy at the moment. The rest of the characters are even less worthy of becoming emotionally attached to, and therein lies the main problem with the sequel. Now that you know what is in the caves, the entire cast can be seen as little more than a buffet being marched into the darkness, rather than characters to connect and feel for.

But with the loss of character investment comes the acquisition of far more gruesome kills and attacks than the first one. There seems to be a never-ending horde of crawlers in the sequel, and for every one that is killed via spikes, drills, bare hands and hair pins with copious amounts of blood pouring everywhere, two more appear from the cave's recesses to take their place. The crawler's attacks have also increased in voracity, whether it is tearing out great chunk's of their victim's necks or clawing through them, with equal amounts of spewing blood.

With several visits to set pieces and the leftover carnage of the original, repeating motifs and shots laid out in the original, and return visits from the original's cast in one form or another, this movie definitely earns its "PART 2" in spades. However, there is still just enough originality sprinkled into this competently made sequel to make this venture worth taking.

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Exclusive Interview with REC 2 Co-Writer/Director Paco Plaza

Movies at Midnight was recently given an opportunity to interview Paco Plaza, co-director and writer on REC and REC 2. This is that interview.

Movies at Midnight: REC 2 picks up right after the events in the original REC. Did you have this sequel in mind when you first began working on REC?

Paco Plaza: It was only after the release and success of the first one that we began to think that it was worth developing the cosmology we had created. When we thought about it, we came back to the original to rescue some ideas already planted there, like the demonic possession, that left a lot to explore.

How difficult was it to recreate the exterior shots and the interior of the building to match up to everything that had transpired in REC? Did any of the original cast return to play possessed versions of their characters?

We shot almost everything in the same location, except the penthouse, that we had to rebuild on set because we needed it for FX and so. And yes, all the actors of the original had their zombie cameo, and they had a lot of fun doing it; it was a bizarre reunion of old friends.

The film jumps right into the action, with little character development given to the main protagonists aside from the priest, which is a sharp shift from the development given Angela Vidal’s character and the tenants in the first film. Was this a conscious choice, or a victim of the cutting room floor?

We wanted the film to have the spirit of the Ramones; really fast, strong, a punch… we didn’t want people talking for too long, but something needed to be explained, so we tried to work out the most dynamic way of doing it. That was the biggest challenge. Our model on this was James Cameron’s ALIENS and its turn into action.

REC 2 introduces two groups of people, each with their own camera recording the events unfold. Pablo Rosso returns from the original REC as cinematographer, with Rosso playing a camera-wielding member of the police force entering the building. You also introduce a group of teenagers with a camera. Did Rosso record these scenes as well, or did the teens act as the camera operators for their scenes?

Some of them were shot by the teens; what we did always was ask them to do it in the rehearsals so Pablo could afterward reproduce the way [the teens were] carrying the camera, which was very peculiar and very different from what a pro would do.

THE EXORCIST is arguably one of the greatest American horror films, which of course deals with demonic possession. Did this influence your decision at all to make demonic possession the official root of the outbreak of evil in the film? Did your own religious beliefs affect the direction of the plot?

We both are big fans of THE EXORCIST, I agree it’s one of the best films ever made; we loved the idea of showing our creatures were not zombies, and in the end of REC we had [planted] the idea of a demonic possession happening in Portugal. I’m a practicing Catholic, but Jaume Balaguero is not, and I think the approach to the subject of possession for us was more aesthetic than religious.

REC 2 takes a bold step by exploring the idea of things that truly go bump in the dark. What scares you when the lights go out?

I’m afraid of losing my teeth during my sleep; that I wake up in the morning and have bitten them in dreams and my mouth is full of bone dust from them.

Your REC series has put a spotlight on Spain’s horror film industry. Do you see Spain continuing this trend and possibly becoming the next go-to source for horror cinema, much like Southeast Asia was in the late 1990s through the early 2000s?

That would be great! We have a lot of friends (Juan Antonio Bayona [THE ORPHANAGE], Gonzalo López-Gallego …) shooting great genre films, and I hope this continues for a long time.

Finally, REC 2 leaves the doorway open for another sequel, and according to the IMDB there are not one, but two sequels being worked on: REC Genesis, currently slated for 2011 and REC Apocalypse slated for 2012. Can you give us any hints as to what we might expect?

It’s true. We’re working in 2 more REC films. The first will begin production next November. I will direct Genesis and Jaume will handle Apocalypse; the first is a prequel and the second a sequel, and with them we’ll close the circle.

REC 2 opens with a limited theatrical run in the United States July 9th, and is currently available on Video on Demand.

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First Pictures from HATCHET 2 Feature Danielle Harris and Tony Todd

Here are the first official pictures to be released for Adam Green's upcoming sequel HATCHET 2, which will make its official debut at the London Film4 FrightFest.

HATCHET 2 picks up right where the original left off, with HATCHET survivor Marybeth (Danielle Harris replaces Tamara Feldman from the original) learning more about the curse of Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder) and returning to the New Orleans swamp to kill him. Tony Todd returns as the Reverend Zombie.

HATCHET 2 is scheduled for release in the United States this October.

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PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (2010) Teaser Trailer Released

One of the biggest horror letdowns of 2009, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, is getting a sequel. How there can be a sequel to "documentary" footage released by the families of the deceased couple is unclear at this point, but anyone whose willing to get fooled twice can find out when PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 is released in the United States on October 22nd, 2010.

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FRONTIER(S) (2007) Movie Review

FRONTIER(S) 2007

While Paris riots in the aftermath of a political election, a group of young friends pull off a daring heist and escape from the city in two cars to look for a place to lie low. They are separated during their escape, and the first car with Tom and Farid come across a secluded hostel where they spend the night. The pair find themselves way over their heads though, when they learn the hard way that the keepers of this inn are a family of psychotic cannibals. Though they try to make a getaway, they are overpowered and soon become the first, but not last, victims of the evening.

When Yasmine and Alex finally arrive at the hostel, they are incarcerated by the family and it seems their fates lie with Tom and Farid. But when the family discovers that Yasmine is pregnant, they decide in their twisted logic to make her the newest member of the family, so that they will have an heir to carry on their sadistic rituals and traditions. Yasmine, who in only a few short hours has been driven to the brink of insanity, makes a desperate attempt to fight back, but what chance will her new found survival instincts have against a savage family in the middle of nowhere?

If you’ve ever wondered to yourself after taking in a viewing of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE “that was great, but it would be even better if it were in French” then wonder no more. Director and writer Xavier Gens’ feature-length debut, which has been described as France’s answer to HOSTEL and SAW, owes much more in story and attitude to Tobe Hooper’s survival horror classic then the recent string of “torture porn” horror movies that have plagued this decade. Though to be certain, Gens’ execution of on-screen violence is much more in tune with Eli Roth’s gallons-of-gore approach rather than Hooper’s reliance on imagination to fill in the blanks.

Much like Hooper, Roth, and many others in between, Gens is determined to put his characters through sheer and absolute hell, and wants to make sure you are there for every painful second. Employing plenty of documentary-style and shaky-cam cinematography, as well as some rapid and jangly editing to heighten the fear and disorientation, Gens sticks tightly to his main characters as he follows their descent through insanity and toward their ultimate fate. Gens, much like many of his contemporary horror colleagues, coats everything with a slimy grime to give it that now standard gritty feel. And it all feels so derivative, like a grocery list with all the exact items needed to guarantee a familiar meal, without experimenting with the recipe.

What does make the film stand out is the performance by lead actress Karina Testa as Yasmine. This is Testa’s first horror role, after starring in several French comedies and dramas, and comes out with a home run swing. Her dedication to the craft of screaming and looking good while drenched in fake blood should ensure her return to horror in the very near future, and she makes a welcome addition to the elite stable of the “final girl”.

But what about the relentless violence? Does it do justice to the hype that has been building up since the movie showed at the Toronto Film Festival back in 2007? Gorehounds, rest assured that you will be quite satisfied in what Gens brings to the table, even if most of it feels like it has been seen before. There is plenty of unrestricted bloodletting and vicious effects galore to be had as the film makes its way toward its finale. And almost all of it is classic in-camera physical effects that have been carefully crafted. Of particular note to wait for is a sequence that could have almost been lifted from MEN BEHIND THE SUN, and an incident with a table saw that would make HAUTE TENSION's Marie proud.

While there really is nothing new to be had with FRONTIER(S), it does successfully manipulate the defined variables of the survival horror genre, and keeps France on the radar as a source for some twisted entertainment. And Gens does provide a slice of pleasing entertainment, providing your definition of entertainment is four twenty-somethings being decimated by a family of inbred Nazi cannibals with a flare for giving sermons.

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International PREDATORS Trailer Shows the Bloody Goods

The international trailer for PREDATORS, which gives us a preview of all the gory mayhem that will untold when the film hits theaters in the United States on July 9th, is the ultimate apology for ALIEN VS PREDATOR and ALIEN VS PREDATOR: REQUIEM. Featuring bad-ass posing from the bad-ass characters including Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Danny Trejo and Laurence Fishburne and plenty of skull-and-spine tearing promises a bloody good time.

Synopsis: Predators, a bold new chapter in the Predator universe, shot under the creative auspices of Robert Rodriguez, stars Adrien Brody as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they've been brought together on an alien planet... as prey. With the notable exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers - mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members - human "predators" that are now being systematically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators.

PREDATORS is directed by Nimrod Antel (VACANCY), produced by Robert Rodriguez, and features Derek Mears (Jason in the FRIDAY THE 13TH remake) as one of the main Predators.

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Screenshots from Upcoming Piranha 3D

Alexanda Aja, he of HIGH TENSION and THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake, is coming out with a remake/reboot/re-imagining/semi-sequel to PIRANHA this summer, PIRANHA 3D. Here's a few screenshots for the upcoming summer spectacle, which churns into theaters August 20th.

To quote Milhouse "I'm more worried about piranhas. Did you see that movie where they send a nuclear submarine to fight the piranhas, and one of them swims right down the periscope and bites the guy in the eye, and he goes, "Aah! Aah! Aah!", and that old lady told him it would happen?"

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