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are some fantastic zombie films that have elevated
the genre to stratospheric heights, and there are
others so spectacular in their badness that they
plunge it to such depths that you'd need a
bathysphere to reach. It's safe to say that
"Day of the Dead 2: Contagium" falls
squarely in the latter category. Having nothing at
all to do with any of the "Living Dead"
films directed by the genre's master, George
Romero as the "2" in the title might
suggest, this cinematic abortion is best left to
fade into obscurity and never be spoken out loud
again.
The film takes us to
Pittsburgh
,
PA
, circa 1968, where a captured Russian pilot is
taken to a military hospital. Discovered on the
pilot are several vials of a deadly virus, which
naturally are opened, and turn everyone exposed
into the walking dead. Soldiers arrive to contain
the outbreak, but not before someone tries to
smuggle one of the vials out of quarantine, only
to lose it in a nearby ravine.
Flash forward to the present
day, where the hospital has since been converted
into a mental institution for the nutty set. The
past and present clash when patients on work
release discover the same vial lost many decades
ago and brings it back to their ward because, why
not? The vial eventually gets opened (again),
setting the virus loose once more to transform
patients and hospital employees alike into
zombies. The survivors, besides having to fend off
flesh-craving creatures that used to be their
buddies and co-workers, must now keep it from
spreading into nearby towns cause, well, that
would be bad, right?
Originally titled just
"Contagium", "Day of the Dead 2:
Contagium" was retitled when the producers
realized they had a bad film of cosmic proportions
on their hands. Their great idea was to try to
pass the film off as a sequel to George Romero's
1985 zombie classic "Day
of the Dead". It's not, just in case you
were wondering.
It's bad enough that the
film's producers insult the audience's
intelligence with this pathetic ruse, but to add
insult to injury, they can't even spell the title
correctly. You would think that with a budget of
$9 million, somebody at Taurus Entertainment would
have invested in a spellchecker and discovered
that it's not "contagium", it's
"contagion". Not that this is a major
flaw that, if corrected, might have helped the
film. Oh no, that would be like curing acne on a
leper. He's got bigger problems to worry about.
The script by Ana Clavell and
James Glenn Dudelson is an illogical and boring
mess, consisting of cardboard characters, overused
clichés and predictable scares. A major problem
is the lack of the living dead, who are not really
around for most of the film, which is a problem if
you're trying to fool the audience into thinking
your movie is associated with Romero's
"Living Dead" films.
The only interesting idea
"Contagium" manages to come up with by
itself is the concept of zombies developing
psychic abilities that allows them to be both
telepathic and empathic. You'd think the writers
would have expanded on this concept, since it's a
clever idea and adds a new dimension to zombie
lore. But the filmmakers never get that smart, and
the idea falls by the wayside as a result. There's
also mention of an antidote, but that also gets
left behind, as if anything creative was looked
upon as an anathema and must be avoided at all
costs. Good for them, because they've done a
stellar job in this department.
"Contagium" is also
plagued by continuity problems, the most obvious
being the nature of the virus itself. It quickly
turns the living into zombies in 1968, but seems
to take its sweet time in the year 2005. Worse yet
is the dialogue, which is so bad you wonder if the
writers had, on a whim, let the paperboy perform
brain surgery on them. Unfortunately the writers
are as talented as the directors, and since
they're the same people -- well, you get the idea.
Matters aren't helped by the
film's pacing, which can't even give glacial
migration a run for its money. Not that there's
anything interesting to watch, because there's
nothing even remotely attractive about the film to
keep an eye open for. The whole thing is visually
stunted, with seemingly no thought put into camera
angles or even lighting. The cast is no one you've
heard of, which is just as well since a high
school drama club could have performed better. No
offense to high school drama clubs around
America
.
Gorehounds might be slightly
satisfied with the amount of bloody effects
onscreen. They might not look realistic, but
there's enough to go around, especially near the
end when, predictably, all hell breaks loose. It
might be inspiring to think that the filmmakers
didn't let an obstacle like a general lack of
talent prevent them from completing
"Contagium"; that is, until you actually
have to sit through the movie. Then you realize
"Contagium" is not only an exercise in
incompetence, but also a blatant attempt at false
advertising. As the saying goes, never trust a DVD
by its cover.
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