Contracted: Phase II

I was a big fan of the 2013 "Contracted" movie by director Eric England, and thus I was really anxious to see the continuation of the movie as the first movie left us with on a cliffhanger.

Right, well I must admit that my expectations were shot down quite fast here at the hands of director Josh Forbes. Whomever wrote the script for the sequel clearly weren't as intense in their creative writing as those working on the first movie.

This 2015 sequel was at best a mediocre movie that fumbled and stumbled all around as it tried to pick up the cliffhanger of the 2013 movie and then turned it into something that was nowhere as interesting or intense as the first movie. No, they took a very good idea and mashed it into something that was laughable and generic at best.

While the movie does continue on from where the first movie left, then the storyline in "Contracted: Phase II" just was a scrambled mess of trying to show more infections in people and trying to piece in some background of how this infection came into being at all.

The background story was just ludicrous, and it was actually infuriating that they opted for such a ridiculous approach to it all. Especially because it just unraveled everything that the first movie had built up so well.

It should be said that the effects in "Contracted: Phase II" are adequate, and they are actually the thing that keeps the movie afloat and saves it from sliding down into a level of being less than mediocre. But effects can only do so much, especially when the storyline is taking a nosedive.

The acting in "Contracted: Phase II" wasn't the most memorable of performances, and it certainly wasn't fully up to level with what was seen in the first movie. Perhaps it was because of the ludicrous storyline and script, because I do believe that the actors and actresses were doing fair enough jobs.

"Contracted: Phase II" is a very dissatisfying sequel, and somehow I wish that I hadn't seen it, because it really was a laughable movie, and it tainted everything built up by the first movie.

I will actually go as far as to say that watching "Contracted: Phase II" is definitely not a must, because letting the 2013 movie hang on a cliffhanger is a much more worthy ending to it. I was sorely disappointed with this movie, but stuck with it to the end to see it finished. And anything even remotely zombie is of interest to me.

"Contracted: Phase II" manages to land a very mediocre five out of ten stars rating from me.

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.

I kind of liked the first Contracted and now got to see the second part too. I watched both tonight in a row.

I was a bit skeptical towards the idea of a sequel. First it was a girl who got a disease and when I noticed that there's a sequel where a guy gets the same thing, I wondered if there's any chance for it to be good. Will the character's gender be enough material to create something new?

To my surprise the sequel does not only do the same story over but adds new twists to the plot. There's a crime thriller element (think of Seven) that adds more excitement.

I think the first part was more "fun" and entertaining as a horror film, and my personal favorite, but the sequel was more genuinely scary and thrilling. Well... also the fact that I watched it when the corona virus pandemic is on the news every day, it kind of made watching this movie a bit heavy.

As a sequel Contacted Phase II is quite good. It continues the story but adds also new ideas and brings the thrill to a new level. If you still have appetite for movies about deadly viruses, well, check it out. Watch both parts in a row like I did, and have nice 3 hours of rotting bodies.

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.

I'll be the first to say it: did not expect anything from Phase 2, nothing better than the original, no improvement, I only saw a lot of gore heading my way.

On the gore part, I was right, this one being a lot more brutal than the original, but the plot, is really good. They actually followed the story, quite nicely too, linked some pieces together, showed a better and more complex plot that leads to a good ending. It is hard to watch at times, but this is what this kind of movies usually bring, so get your stomach ready cause you'll need to.

Overall, Contracted: Phase 2, was a lovely sequel, and now I can't wait to see what part three will be all about. I mean, I hope this will turn into a trilogy and I'm guessing next on the list is the breakout of the virus. Probably a lot more gore too!

Cheers!