The Dead 2: India

An infectious epidemic spreads through India as an American turbine engineer (Joseph Millson) learns that his pregnant girlfriend is trapped near the slums of Mumbai. Now he must battle his way across a 300-mile wasteland of the ravenous undead.

The biggest complaint this film seems to receive from people is that it is a repeat, or rehash, of the first film. An outside in a foreign land who has to travel across great distances while fighting off zombies. And that is a fair complaint.

But the Ford brothers do it well, with an amazing cinematography, and beautiful color palette, that showcases the beauty of India. Not to mention better than average zombie effects. For what is probably a relatively low budget film, it looks like a Hollywood-caliber production.

The dead are returning to life and attacking the living. An American wind turbine engineer with the help of a local boy attempt a 300 mile journey to reunite with his pregnant Indian girlfriend.

Brothers Howard and Jonathan Ford add an usually unexplored religious angle with the obligatory social commentary subtext making The Dead 2: India as relevant as it's predecessor. While not as eerie as the first and briefly lacking some logic in both dialogue and decision making, with Nicholas Burton's (played fittingly by Joseph Milson) seemingly six sense knowledge of what's going on there's still plenty to enjoy.

The India setting and on location shoot gives part two a realistic gritty, dusty and atmospheric feel. The traditional shambling dead are creepy enough and retain an air of menace with their biting and tearing of flesh, although their white eyes, now an over used effect do feel slightly dated. That said, there's plenty to enjoy - more gun-play, more blood and more zombies. With gripping stand out scenes, the crashed car execution, convoy executions, parachute escape and a car going over a cliff to name a few. The directors also deliver some excellent visual moments, a motor cycle blazing across the Indian wastelands, forgotten temples, grand cities, hovering helicopters, jets and burning slums to name a few.

This Ford Brother offering is probably the most grounded undead film since their first outing and Romero's original trilogy. The director/writers again manage to give their zombie outing scope with a fantastic naturalistic visual style as the engineer and boy go from one village to the next complemented by Imran Ahmad's music score.

Overall, while not as tension filled and ominous as The Dead, The Dead 2 doesn't try to reinvent the wheel giving the viewer a much needed solid and serious piece of zombie entertainment. Recommend.

I really loved the first "Dead" movie the Ford Brothers did. I can't say the exact same about the sequel. It's not bad, but it feels a bit like a rehash, much of the same again, just in another location. We have a story added and a motivation for our lead character, which saves this from complete rip-off tag. But that is not enough to make this an improvement of part 1.

One of the main things that weighs more here, than it did in the previous movie, is the fact that the non actors have bigger roles to play and mostly fail in convincing. It's crucial to have someone make you feel the drama they are going through rather than just saying their lines. The movie has still some redeeming factors (lead actor, effects especially considering the budget and of course the sheer mentality of the directors going after their dream once more). For some it will feel like an endless movie though, especially if they didn't like the first one in the ... first place

True to its title, the story unfolds in India. While it's a challenging setting, it differs from the constant extreme landscapes of the first installment. In India, we do get a taste of this, but the main challenges of survival mostly lies in the largely populated cities, which has led to utter chaos.

While this zombie movie was reasonably good, I couldn't help but notice a few significant flaws, including one aspect that appeared downright impossible and other elements that seemed nonsensical. My speculation is that these issues were likely overlooked due to constraints like time or funding.

All in all, this movie wasn't all bad; there were moments I found good and others not so much. It notably contains one of the most sorrowful and gut-wrenching scenes in any zombie film I've encountered.

Although I enjoyed this one somewhat, I can't say it's one of my favorites.

At times, "The Dead 2: India" (2013), seems like a carbon copy of its predecessor three years earlier. Both "The Dead" and "The Dead 2" portray American male protagonists on a lengthy overland trek to reach a wife or girlfriend. Both were shot on location in an overseas setting. (The original took place in Africa.) And both portray a second protagonist who is a native of the country. (In this case it's a little boy portrayed by Anand Krishna Goyal. Even a curmudgeon like me has got to admit — that kid is adorable.)

I liked the first movie a bit better. This one feels a little hastily put together, in terms of its script and directing.

It does manage to succeed somewhat with the things that made the first film decent viewing. Its desert locations are beautifully shot, and the filmmakers bring back some of the original's slow-burn horror elements. The zombies here are usually as slow as snails — slower even than the zombies of George A. Romero's genre-defining early films. But they're also quiet, and they converge en masse when our hero lets his guard down. And the occasional appearance of a rare feisty specimen lead to some genuine jump scares. The movie also effectively employs what appears to be a low-budget special effect — the monsters' eyes are of an opal-white, otherworldly color. (I'm guessing those are colored contact lenses?) The trick works, the zombies are scary, and "The Dead 2" successfully provides a kind of "creeping horror" that is rare for today's horror films.

That wasn't enough, however, to rescue this movie entirely from feeling like a retread of the original. I'd describe this as an average viewing experience for a horror fan, and I'd rate it a 6 out of 10.