Day of the Dead 2: Contagium

There are bad movies, worse movies and awful movies. Many of them are quite watchable, assuming that you know what you're getting into and are prepared.

Day of the Dead 2: Contagium isn't one of those.

This film is just plain lousy, as if no one involved in the production really cared about it. The special effects would make Tom Savini cringe in embarrassment. The dialog is dumb, the acting wooden. Many moments of extraneous "drama" are thrown in for no discernible reason. Possibly they wanted to form more of a plot than other zombie movies; if so then it was a failure. Long before you can get into the plot you're distracted by the guns that don't appear to be shooting, the too-obviously fake blood and the actors who can't seem to get into their parts.

Editing and direction? Nonexistent. Cuts between scenes are abrupt, without any kind of lead in whatsoever. Camera angles? Forget it. Anything at all redeemable about this movie? Nope.

Go watch one of the Romero movies. Even if you've seen it a dozen times, it'll be more interesting than this.

I am a zombie aficionado. Unfortunately, most zombie films stink. This is pure and simple fact. So now I've watched Contagium (I refuse to honor it with a Day of the Dead sub title, since it doesn't deserve it and is in no way connected with George Romero) and The Dead Next Door in the same week. Well, thats about three hours of my life wasted. This was simply a crappy, bad film. While it had better production values than say, any Italian Giallo Zombie film of the 80's and left crap by J.P. Bookwalter and Todd Sheets in the dust, it was still garbage. The writers didn't know if they wanted to make a Romero type Zombie film or a Return of the Living Dead Zombie film, so the zombies bounce back and forth between the two. The lame opening tries to tie this craporama in with the Romero films, but don't buy the hype. Every Day Has a Beginning is simply a rip off of "Every Saga Has a Beginning" from Star Wars and tries desperately to sucker the viewer into believing this has something to do with the Romero Films, the five opening minutes of any of Georges epics are way better than this movie. While there are a few nice gore scenes, there is no logic or real continuity in the story itself, which kills the whole movie. Watch this crummy waste of time if you must, but don't be surprised when the credits roll and you scream "WHY DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF? You've been warned!

Right off the bat I have to say that "Day of the Dead 2: Contagium" has got to be one of the worst movies I've stupidly sat through in years (though my thumb strayed to the speed-scan button a few times during interminable stretches of padding). I have a feeling this thing was made with some other title in mind like, for instance, plain old "Contagium", but the filmmakers were saddled with the tag-on "Day of the Dead 2" by crass marketing hacks. I'll give the makers of this drek the benefit of the doubt. But there is no doubt that they should never, ever make a movie again. As noted by other posters, "DOTD2:C" cherry-picks bits and bobs from other genre offerings and turns them into an emetic pile of poo. The acting ranges from awful to competent, but the writing and direction are heinous. That it was a labor that took years to realize boggles the mind. Talk about "why bother?" A must avoid on every level.

On a personal note: I made the double mistake of watching it right after George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead", which no doubt made "Contagium" even more toxic a shock to my system. It was like following a beautifully cooked piece of filet mignon with a dessert of dog vomit.

I wasn't having high hopes for this movie when I was about to see it. However, I also didn't imagine it could've been this bad. The acting was as if the cast was reading the script in front of you, the special effects was basically drying glue off on the skin and peeling it off (this was amazing to me when I was in kindergarten), and throughout the movie a whole bunch of philosophical nonsense is thrown at you. The movie was an hour and a half long, which could've been finished at an hour tops. This movie was more of a prequel to the Dawn of the Dead remake, rather than Day of the Dead because the zombies in this film also ran. I didn't like the fact that some of the zombies could talk also, and the idea of certain "super" zombies. This movie was a nightmare and should be avoided at all costs, DO NOT let the title fool you.

Day of the Dead 2: Contagium is a disgrace to Romero and all his works.

Now, I know I'm gonna take a lot of flack for liking this movie, but oh well. I thought it was funny. I love being able to watch first a movie that scares the living crap out of me and then one i can laugh my butt off to. Yeah, the acting sucked, my 10 year old can do better make-up effects with play-doh, and the plot line was so holey that i swear it belonged in church, but if we cant laugh at a cheesy movie, then why does Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler continue to make movies. Of course, if you are too anal to enjoy watching cheesy movies from time to time, stay outta the horror section of the video store, cause for every 1 great horror movie, there are like 50 cheesy ones.