The Descent ending explained: Does Sarah survive in the end?

The Descent, written and directed by Neil Marshall, was released in theatres in the United States in 2006, after receiving success among UK audiences about a year earlier. The highly acclaimed British horror film starred Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, MyAnna Buring, Saskia Mulder, and Nora-Jane Noone. They played the roles of Sarah, Juno, Beth, Sam, Rebecca, and Holly, respectively.

The Descent follows a group of people who embark on a cave exploration trip in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. While there, they become trapped in an unexplored cave with cannibalistic creatures whom they nickname as Crawlers.

Sarah, the film's main protagonist, struggles to keep up with her surroundings throughout the film's course but ultimately survives. Another character who survives the terrifying experience is Juno. The news of their survival is confirmed in the second installment of the movie.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers. Please read at your discretion.

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Sarah's survival is confirmed in The Descent Part 2

Part 1 of The Descent ended on a very peculiar note. It ended with the audience having the impression that Sarah was dead after hoards of crawlers swarmed her in the end. This was shortly after she had experienced some sort of a hallucination which made her believe that she had escaped the drudgerous cave despite still being trapped in it.

However, in part 2 of the film, it is revealed that Sarah has successfully escaped the cave and is suffering from amnesia. She is also helping a group of people locate survivors in the cave from the previous incident Sarah was a part of so that they can investigate the case of the crawlers.

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Juno is still alive in The Descent

In part 1 of The Descent, it is implied that Sarah's friend-turned-foe Juno has met her end. However, in the second installment of the movie, it is revealed that she is still alive. Additionally, it is also revealed that she had spent all her time in the cave trying to come up with escape tactics, in which she had made considerable progress.

When Sarah allies with Sheriff Vaines, Deputy Rios, Dan, Greg, and Cath to explore the caves in search of survivors, she doesn't expect to encounter Juno again. However, when things go awry for the group, Juno appears and seems to assist them, as she is more familiar with the cave than the others.

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Beth did not survive in The Descent

One of Sarah's best friends, Beth does not make it out of the cave alive in the film's first installment. Beth experiences a painful death as she is attacked by the crawlers and left to die. When Sarah locates Beth she is already taking her last breaths.

In those last breaths, she gives Sarah a pendant worn by Juno confirming Juno's affair with Sarah's late husband Paul before his passing. Beth also reveals that Juno had attacked her and left her to die.

Beth requests Sarah to help her relieve the pain of dying a slow death and asks her to kill her. Sarah reluctantly agrees and kills her by smashing a huge rock against her head. She then goes after Juno and confronts her on all her misdeeds, leading to a very messy physical and psychological altercation between the two.

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The Descent is available for viewing on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies, Apple TV Plus, Fandango at Home, and YouTube TV.