Sunday 25 September 2011

Day of the Dead 2: Contagium

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:2005
Country of origin:USA
Director:Ana Clavell, James Glenn Dudelson
Genre:Zombie name-dropper
Starring:Justin Ipock, Stan Klimecko, Laurie Baranyay
Rating:3/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411269/
Tagline:Every day has a beginning
Favourite line:"Welcome to my world…..SLUT."

Let's start with a given:
Naming a movie as sub-standard as this one as a sequel to one of the all time classics of the genre is a bit of a silly thing to do. True enough, it instantly attracts interest from those who love the original, but can only serve to contrast the quality of material on offer with that of the source and, clearly, it just isn't going to stand up.
You wouldn't write a romantic tragedy and call it Romeo and Juliet 2, now would you?
Would you?
Yes you, Clavell....
Anyway, what we have here is a rather unconvincing story of a state sanitorium where the inmates, all of whom have severe mental trauma's, discover what appears to be a thermos flask(!), open it and unwittingly release an agent that transforms whoever comes into contact with it into a slavering zombie.
Yep, that old chestnut.
Cue lots of running around, people shooting, neck rips, amputations and so on.
That's it.
That's all you get.
And that's fine. As a splatter movie, this succeeds on its own terms.
The effects, whilst not particularly realistic do have the requisite yuck factor, and there are some genuinely unpleasant moments; the arm rip sequence, the zombie refusing to be a zombie who has internal organs thrust in her face whilst another intones 'smell good don't they.'
As a sequel to the legendary Romero movie, this was doomed to failure from the outset. Whilst I may not quite forgive the temerity of the title, I can at least see beyond it and reluctantly admit that the movie will have made more money as a result of the titular implication.
If you want lots of gore, this ain't half bad, if you want subtle subtext and intelligent commentary, stick to the Romero output.

No comments:

Post a Comment