Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium DVD Review

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Title: Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium

Region: One

Genre: Horror

Stars: Laurie Maria Baranyay, Simon Burzynski, Samantha Clarke, Mike Dalager, Christopher Estes, John F. Henry III, Justin Ipock, Stanley J. Klimeczko, Anna Lebom, Jacob Lopez, Joe C. Marino, Michael Noon, Jackeline Oliver, Donald Osbourne, Stephen Sanders, Julian Thomas, Andreas Van Ray, April Wade, Kevin Wetmore, Jr., and Michael Moon

Writer: Ana Clavell

Director: James Dudelson and Ana Clavell

Feature length: 103 minutes

Extras: Feature Length Filmmaker’s Commentary, Making Of Featurette, Anchor Bay Previews

Languages: English Dolby Stereo Sound

Subtitles: N/A

Packaging: Amaray Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 16

Sound: Stereo Sound

Year of DVD Release: 2005

Home Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

I suppose this was timed for DVD release with the debut of “George A. Romero’s Land Of The Dead” and upon initial first site, the packaging for Anchor Bay Entertainment’s “Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium” looks like it could somehow be a legitimate sequel to “George A. Romero’s Day Of The Dead.” However one should never judge a DVD by it’s cover and if nothing else about this film can be stated without any form of subjective interpretation, I will state right now that the title of this film is misleading because it shares little to no continuity whatsoever with George A. Romero’s “Living Dead” series and anyone buying or renting this DVD thinking they are getting something along the lines of Romero’s four zombie films will likely be disappointed. Having a straight to video feature film that could bridge the four films in Romero’s “Living Dead” franchise is not a bad idea at all. With Romero involved in some capacity to oversee the project, I’d wager fans would get an interesting expansion of the universe Romero created. Unfortunately this film is not it by a long shot. “Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium” has more in common with “The Return Of The Living Dead” and “Re-Animator” than it does any of Romero’s films. In fact I shouldn’t even mention those other films because I’d hate for anyone to put this movie in a category with those films. What frustrates me the most is the musings of the filmmaker’s that expect fans to take this feature either as a prequel or a sequel to George A. Romero’s “Living Dead” series. Pretending somehow everything would just go back to normal to such a point that one would never even notice that the world was once overrun by flesh eating ghouls is asking for too much suspension of disbelief and I don’t think as a prequel “Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium” really fits in as is.

I am not even sure why there is this need to have an official reason for why the events around the re-animating of corpses is necessary since Romero has already given viewers enough possibilities to ponder and no reason will ever be satisfactory. It’s best left to the imagination of the viewer. In fact not being certain why the dead are returning to life makes the films scarier. About the only thing that’s worth noting about this straight to video zombie flick is that it does have good makeup effects for an independently produced non-studio production. A few other elements that screw up continuity with Romero’s films are having talking zombies. The zombies in Romero’s films are still evolving and have not yet reached a capacity for speech and reasoning as depicted in this film. Also in Romero’s universe a zombie can bite you and as a result you will become a zombie. We’ve seen this in all of the films. In Romero’s universe you can also re-animate as a zombie after being attacked and killed by zombies as long as there is enough of a brain and remaining body parts for the ghoul to rise. Finally in Romero’s universe regardless of whether you are the victim of a zombie attack, survive a zombie attack, or live to a ripe old age and die of natural causes, as long as the brain is intact, the body will re-animate. Romero himself makes this very clear in the audio commentary for the Director’s Cut DVD of his recent film “Land Of The Dead.”

The process of changing into a zombie in “Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium” is more reminiscent of “The Return Of The Living Dead” where the victim slowly grows pale and gradually loses his or her pulse and body functions shut down yet the infected is still walking around wondering what is happening and succumbing to cravings for the flesh of the living The act of ripping and eating the flesh of the living somehow causes the virus to finish the job of turning into a ghoul and it also mutates victims further so the father you get from patient zero, the more like a traditional zombie an infected person will behave. It is sort of like in a vampire film where the act of drinking another’s blood solidifies the vampire’s transformation. As soon as I started to see zombies tempting other living dead with body parts basically saying, “You’re one of us” like some homage to Todd Browning’s “Freaks” I wanted to take the DVD disc out of my player and toss it in the garbage, but I sat through it all anyway. I’d be a lot more forgiving if this were just another zombie flick, but this is an attempt to make one think this has something to do with Romero’s series.

I don’t even understand how one can get away with calling this “Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium” unless they got the rights to do so from whoever holds the rights to that film or name. I mean if I made an independent film and went out and sold it for a profit under the title “Star Wars Episode 3.5: Galaxy Of Oppression” or “Terminator 4: Children Of Judgment Day” I would get sued so fast I’d have to sleep in the courtroom. The bottom line is this is not a fan film made just for the fun of it or a calling card to send to an Agent or something. This is product with a misleading title that’s intended to be sold to or rented to consumers. Now as a reviewer you could tell me to mind my own business, but it’s hard to deny the film’s title is misleading so unless you are searching for some good gore effects or are still curious enough to see why I felt mislead about this film or whatever your reason might be, just be aware that as far as I know this is not an official entry in Romero’s “Living Dead” series.

Picture wise, “Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium” looks great with a sharp (1.85:1) aspect ratio enhanced for 16 by 9 televisions and a clear English Stereo Soundtrack. There’s a filmmaker’s commentary with Writer/Co-Director Ana Clavell and Producer/Co-Director James Dudelson as well as Cinematographer James M. LeGoy. The filmmaker’s commentary is screen specific and I must admit that the filmmaker’s seem like their nice folks. They have a nice speaking demeanor and they do have some interesting ideas. There is a conscious attention to create characters with believable forms of mental illness since the majority of takes place in a mental institution and that does show some thought went into the making of this film. There’s also a making of featurette (12:44) with cast and crew interview clips as well as spoilers so if you buy or rent this DVD, do not look at the featurette until after you’ve watched the movie. Finally, there is a reel of trailers (12:44) for others films available on DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment, which include “George A. Romero’s Day Of The Dead”, “All Souls Day”, “It Waits”, “The Evil Dead” and “Demon Hunter.” “Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium” is available on DVD now from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

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