Contracted: Phase II

I liked the first one, so I was thinking the sequel would be tired. Although it didn't totally introduce anything nee, it was really enjoyable to watch. Holy cow, it was gross. There were up in your face gross out moments where you need to look away. But can't. But should.

Acting was pretty good, storyline was direct continuation of the first one, and they did it nicely. Don't expect it to be better than the first, but if you liked the first, then you'll like this.

This film is only 1 hours 18 minutes including end credits which is slightly shorter than the previous one, which had a run-time of 1 hour 24 minutes. The film has more special effects than the previous film and has a better plot.

Some characters from the first one reprise their role. The actress that played Samantha from the first film isn't in the film. The film shifts to phase 2, which means that the necroa virus is in the spreading phase. Since it is so highly contagious, it comes into notice of certain members of the F.B.I. Riley(Matt Mercer) who had sex with Samantha in the first film has now contracted the virus and it is now rapidly turning him into a zombie. He rushes to a doctor who takes a blood sample and tells him to wait for the results to arrive. Meanwhile Matt thinks back to the time Samantha was raped by an unknown stranger who passed this infection to her. Matt decides to track down this stranger in the hopes of finding a cure.

Verdict: the special-effects in the film are very good. There is a lot more action(even sub-machine gun action at one point) in this film. The acting and direction is okay to make this film above average. Again this film to me is just a time-pass film which I'll never watch again or add to my collection.

More Zombi Movies? Zombie 2(1979 Lucio Fulci Masterpiece), Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974), Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror (1981), George Romero's Zombie Trilogy: Night of the Living Dead (1968 colorized version available), Dawn of the Dead (1978 cult status film and considered to be the best zombie film ever made), Day Of The Dead(1985), C.H.U.D. (1984), C.H.U.D. II - Bud the Chud (1989), The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Return of the Living Dead II (1988), Return of the Living Dead III (1993 a.k.a Mortal Zombie directed by acclaimed director Brian Yuzna), Flight of the Living Dead (2007), Peter Jackson's Braindead(1992 the best Zombie special-effects I have ever seen and it is a cult status film and considered to be Jackson's masterpiece), Re-Animator(1985. Stuart Gordon's cult status film based on master of horror H.P. Lovecraft), Bride Of The Re-animator(1989 directed by Brian Yuzna), Beyond Re-Animator (2003. The final closing chapter and I consider this film to be Yuzna's masterpiece). As an after thought I add the Brad Pitt movie World War Z(2013) and George Romero's Land Of The Dead(2005).

Many thanks for reading. May you lead a long and happy life.

There seem to be a zillion flicks that come out of nowhere. They show up on youtube etc. All the actors and actresses look under 20 and you get the feeling they paid the production company to be in the movie. 95% of these things are hopelessly derivative and uninspired...they just crawl along.

This one though....a horror movie...has a few fresh twists despite it's reliance on the zombie/contagion genre.

It's good for what it doesn't do. It has pro editing.....it moves right along. We don't have mediocre photographers forcing us to spend 2 minutes looking at a tree cause they think it's a well set up shot.

It's sense of horror derives from-primal fears we all have to some degree in this paranoid age where everyone assumes 3veryone else is a virus...

It never gets artsy or pretentious...just serves itself up for what it is....namely, an effective low budget horror flick with terse effective plotting.

nicely done

Contracted: Phase II (2015)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Riley (Matt Mercer) finds himself growing violently sick from the virus he contacted so he sets out to find the man he believes is spreading it around.

CONTRACTED: PHASE II is a sequel that picks up where the original film left off but to me this here is more of a remake than anything else. I enjoyed the first film a great deal and this one here is basically just a copy of it, although it's not nearly as good. With that said, if you enjoy these body harming horror films then there's enough violence and gore here for you.

I think the biggest issue with this film is that it really doesn't offer us anything we didn't see in the first film. I'd also argue that we don't care for Riley like we did Sam in the first film. However, this type of film is made to make your skin crawl and there are several disgusting scenes here. As with the first there's a lot of gore, blood vomiting and creepy things being dug out of flesh. The violence and gore certainly matches the first film and it will keep fans into the picture.

The performances were all good and especially Marianna Palka and Anna Lore. Director John Forbes does a good job with the material and delivers a well-made and professional looking film. CONTRACTED: PHASE II isn't a masterpiece but it delivers what you'd expect it to.

If you have seen the original, you kind of know where this is going. And I will continue as if you have seen it. This time around it's a man who has the issue. The viewer might have a different issue though: We go through almost all the same things we did in part 1. Then again, why change a winning formula? Exactly, if you can "continue" something by adding to it.

The acting is OK and one can generally say that if you liked the first movie, the same will be true for this one. Predictibility aside, this has its fair share of moments that will freak you out, something the first one was able to do to. There are "contracted" movies that actually have major issues, so I guess we should be thankful for the better ones