When Neil Marshall made THE DESCENT in 2005, he created an original and atmospheric horror movie that was genuinely unsettling and bloody scary (not to mention scarily bloody). It was a slow burn scarer that took its time and use the darkness as its greatest weapon. The audience could only see what the characters could see and that put them right in there with them.

The sequel throws all of that out of the window. True, since we already know what the creatures are that are in the caves, the same style wouldn't work, but what we get instead are a series of jump moments that are caused by sudden appearances and loud noises. That works for a while, but soon gets a bit repetitive.

The time and effort taken in the original to create real characters of the six women isn't replicated here either with the members of the rescue team barely introduced before the running and the screaming starts, which makes it harder to care when the blood starts to pump. And there is plenty of blood. Both the humans and the creatures in the caves are spiked, bitten, squashed, pulverised and otherwise pulped in many spurting moments.

Claustrophobes beware, though. Even though the natural light idea gives way to more traditional filming concepts where there seems to be quite a lot of light much of the time, there is still a sense of being underground and hemmed in as the team are trapped, squeezed and even have to swim underwater in very narrow spaces. This is not for anyone who doesn't like enclosed spaces. It has to be said, however, that the caves this time around seem a whole lot drier and dustier than we recall.

THE DESCENT PART TWO intends to milk the success of the original for a few extra pounds, but it is efficient enough in putting the gore on the screen, has a couple of plot surprises that are good, if not astonishing, and is perfectly acceptable as a not-too-scary movie for a Friday night beer and kebab movie.

The DVD comes with deleted scenes, a making of documentary, galleries, commentary and various design galleries.

Trailer