The Black Sheep series looks back at the unpopular 2009 sequel The Descent Part 2, directed by Jon Harris, starring Shauna Macdonald

When you end up making an all-time classic movie, there’s a more than insignificant chance that a sequel will happen. This can be something that happens almost immediately like the Friday the 13th or Saw franchises or it can be a part of this new breed of legacy sequels that occur 20, 30, or even 40 years after their original entries. Both of these can work with the immediacy of striking while the iron is hot and following trends immediately or by being patient and tugging on the public’s nostalgia strings by bringing out the original actors and creative team. What doesn’t work usually is what The Descent Part 2 did, with original creator Neil Marshall stepping aside and the movie releasing four years after the original. It already had an uphill battle going against the first movies powerhouse out of nowhere showing and its… admittedly not as good. It either gets outright ignored or openly hated by most who discuss it. Sounds to me like The Descent Part 2 is Black Sheep material.

The first was released in 2005, and I remember going to see it with my co-worker and friend Kevin Johnston after we closed Blockbuster for the night. It was late at night, far later than I can usually make it to movies 3 kids and 20 years later, but the movie instantly grabbed me and even at 20 years old, I had a hard time sleeping that night. I’m not even claustrophobic, just afraid of being devoured by blind cave creatures in an unidentified part of the U.S. so I can imagine that only adds to it. I got the DVD and explored all the special features and the alternate ending too. The original ending has Sarah, our final girl and main character, waking up to a hallucination of her daughter instead of actually escaping. It’s a great and dour ending that plays with all of the other dreams and hallucinations she has throughout the movie. The other ending, the one that works for the purposes of having a sequel, just doesn’t have the impact or ferocity that the downer one brings to the table. Neil Marshall, the director of the first film, didn’t want to write or direct the sequel so he stepped into a producer role. Enter editor Jon Harris.