Even though I did not like Contracted, because I am a completist, I watched Contracted: Phase II, which is somehow weaker than its predecessor. It follows the last person that the protagonist from the first film gave the zombie virus to, but now I’m supposed to believe that he is a nice guy and a great catch that all the women want even though he was a complete stalker who slept with a woman who was decaying. Despite going to a doctor, he hides certain symptoms so I’m just going to be generous and say that caginess is a side effect of the virus.
Contracted: Phase II seemed to believe that we needed a reason for the zombie outbreak, and we would not be satisfied with the fact that some people are rapists, and sometimes rapists are like Typhoid Mary. Now we have some wild doomsday conspiracy, and you know it has to be lame if you promise me an apocalypse, but I’m still disinterested. At least retroactively it explains why the first protagonist’s doctor seemed like a perfect candidate for a malpractice lawsuit. The virus is now way easier to contract, but still, what have you been up to grandma?
One of my big pet peeves is when a different actor plays a pivotal role. You could recycle one of the restaurant patrons in the first film awkwardly sitting beside her friend at lunch as a nurse, who was memorable because of the awkward staging of that first scene, but you couldn’t get the same rapist? Do better! His voice was fairly memorable and not even vaguely similar to the actor in this movie. Shout out to the black security guard who took one look at the craziness going on in the office and turned on his heels because he knows that he is not getting paid enough to die. Also shout out to the healthy drug dealer who clearly knows to keep these nasty people at arm’s length.
Do yourself a favor! Stay away from Contracted and Contracted: Phase II and watch Zack Snyder’s remake Dawn of the Dead. It is way better than this low rent, ripoff, unearned gorefest.