Day Of The Dead 2 - Contagium [DVD]

The misleading tag line is "Every day has a beginning" as if to give it some tenuous connection to Romero's movies. Well this day should have stayed in bed and rang in sick.

It has absolutely nothing to do with any other Living Dead movies so the Day of the Dead 2 title is a blatant misrepresentation or a misguided tribute. It is even set in Philadelphia and the hospital has a "Romero Wing" as a knowing wink to George Romero's classic zombie movies.

It starts off with a fireless firefight as the army breaks into a mental hospital that is over-run by zombies. These troops are undoubtedly the world's most pathetic bunch of soldiers. They carry guns that the FX people don't bother to appear to make an effort to look as if they have fired. No kidding, no flashes at all, just watch as the soldiers jerk their toy guns to indicate when they have fired, sound effects of shots are added later.

The film then unwinds into a series of annoyingly disjointed flashbacks. A group of hospital patients are, strangely enough, talking about the subject of death and immortality when they find a rusted thermos flask on an old military site. Once opened it reveals a ludicrous piece of alien junk that releases some floating balls, a few small lights and some purple mist that enshrouds those who are gathered around it. That night those contaminated start coughing and each sees a small bright light, this is NOT big budget. Their skin starts to peel, they find they cannot keep food down and any viewer with an IQ above double figures has figured it out by now, these alien objects turn people into zombies. The ONLY originality is they have some strange telepathy, possibly to emphasise the alien origin.

It's predictable in the extreme from hereon in. Throw in a lame love story, a harsh warden who you just know is going to get it big style, a crashed Russian spy-plane story with the obligatory military cover-up, and everything else the director could remember to put in the pot.

The hospital staff get armed, and the army get involved ooh! you can hear it reaching 1.2 on the tension scale. Once the zombies start to go on the rampage, especially the meatloaf like Marshall zombie, it gets a little more interesting but not enough to merit a second star.

Taking the source of the zombie outbreak away from Romero's semi-religious theme "When there is no more room in Hell....etc." and the chemical contamination from the more humorous Return of the Living Dead movies to the alien junk here at least slightly lessens the insult. The beauty of George Romero's movies is that there is no simple explanation as to why the dead are returning to life.

The movie the patients are watching on TV seems far better "Franken-hoe...." The director Jim Dudelson even has a cameo as a TV announcer, he has also, worryingly, just finished making another, sure to be straight to DVD, "Day of The Dead" movie. Albeit he is a producer so that might lessen the turkey quotient. Those like me who love crap movies will be anxious to view but not necessarily to own. Everybody else save your hard earned money.

I bought this film having never heard of it and, being a big fan of the Romero zombie films, had medium expectations. The cover art has the same zombie profiles repeatedly imposed on it which lead me think it must be rather dubious if they couldn't even get more than 3 silouettes, but nothing could prepare me for how shoddy and embarassing the film is.

First of all the set-up and theory as to how the zombie 'virus' came into existence is completely different from the explantions (or the creepy lack thereof) in the Romero films, which is annoying and audacious of the writers.
The direction of the film is pretty dreadful, basic mistakes and errors run throughout the film which makes it difficult to get through. The pacing is slow at best and the script often laughably bad. The attempts at characterisation are ham fisted and the whole 'mental asylum' plot set-up is silly and not really convincing. The beginning of the film could have been much more exciting but for the lack of special effects (the guns don't even seem to fire!) and more questionable directing decisions.
If there is one positive thing to say about Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (note that 'Contagium' is not even a real word) it's the lead actors. The two leads who play mental patients who are in love really do try as does the actor playing their doctor. The dialogue is poor but they are trying and it shows in some scenes.

As a huge fan of the genre I can say this is one of the worst modern entries next to 'The Zombie Chronicles'. I suppose it might be worth owning for the sheer novelty, and if you're a collector of zombie films you may find yourself buying it just so you can say that you own it. It is however a very, very badly made film that steals the title of a very good zombie film. Keep this in mind and you won't be dissapointed while watching it.

Last thoughts: A woeful mish-mash.

If you are a Zombie film fan, avoid this at all costs. It is perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen.

Ignore the description of the item, it has no relevance to any of ".. the Dead" films other than the producers figured they could get a quick buck by stealing the name of one of George Romeros' movies.