About.com Rating

Synopsis: In this sequel to the zombie movie Contracted, Riley races against time to uncover the truth behind the disease that's turning his body into a rotting corpse.

Cast: Matt Mercer, Marianna Palka, Morgan Peter Brown, Anna Lore, Laurel Vail, Najarra Townsend, Suzanne Voss, Alice Macdonald

Director: Josh Forbes

Studio: IFC Midnight

MPAA Rating: NR

Running Time: 78 minutes

Release Date: September 4, 2015 (limited theatrical/on demand)

Contracted: Phase II Movie Trailer

 

Contracted: Phase II Movie Review

In 2013, Contracted put an interesting spin on zombie lore, treating the infection like an STD that slowly rots victims from the inside out in an ultra-gruesome fashion that's helped earn it enough notoriety -- for better or worse -- to warrant a sequel.

The Plot

Picking up where the first film left off, Riley (Matt Mercer) finds himself newly infected with the enigmatic ailment that overtook Sam (Najarra Townsend). As his body starts to fall apart -- quite literally -- he tries to track down the mysterious stranger named BJ (Morgan Peter Brown) who gave Sam the disease, while simultaneously deflecting the suspicions of a police detective (Marianna Palka) who wonders how he's tied to the string of dead bodies left in Sam's wake. Complicating matters is the fact that the necrotic sickness is spreading to others, spawning a zombie outbreak that threatens the city.

The End Result

While Contracted's most enduring legacy is its gross-out Cronenbergian "body horror" effects, its power actually lay in the human drama of the tragic storyline, with Townsend as Sam and Caroline Williams as her mother delivering emotional performances that added a dose of realism to the fantastic plot.

Without them, Phase II suffers, with unsympathetic characters (something the filmmakers seem to understand, as they kill off practically everyone) and a plot that moves away from the first film's intimate portrait of suffering into a more generic zombie flick that becomes increasingly dumb as it progresses.

For those who just want the gory decomposition scenes that earned Contracted its notoriety, Phase II delivers ample ickiness to have you squirming and feeling your body parts to make sure they're firmly attached. However, the uniqueness of the original's sexual transmission goes out the window, replaced by the more expected bites and bloody excretions as the virus's primary mode of spreading.

While I give the sequel credit for not merely mimicking the first movie, the creative decisions here sink it into mediocrity. Most glaringly off-putting is the emergence of BJ from the shadows to become some sort of ridiculous Bond villain intent on using the plague to give birth to a global apocalypse. Speaking of which, the premise that we could be on the ground floor witnessing the birth of a zombie apocalypse has potential, but the film seems to lack the drive (or budget) to fully commit to the sort of chaos needed to make us feel like we're on the front lines.

Part of the reason for the disappointing end result is the fact that Eric England, who did such an impressive job writing and directing Contracted, wasn't involved in the sequel on any level -- not even as producer (which is a bit surprising, given it revisits some of the scenes he wrote with additional footage added in). It's thus a follow-up that, despite the original's grisly trappings, rings hollow.

The Skinny

• Acting: C+ (Solid but lacks the dramatic heft of the first film.)
• Direction: C (Fails to step out of England's shadow.)
• Script: D+ (Goes a more generic zombie route with bland characters and a ridiculous villain.)
• Gore/Effects: B (Continues in the original's tradition of over-the-top gruesomeness.)
• Overall: C (Succeeds as gross-out fare but drops the ball when it comes to character and plot development.)

Contracted: Phase II is directed by Josh Forbes and is not rated by the MPAA. Release date: September 4, 2015 (limited theatrical release/on demand).

Disclosure: The distributor provided free access to this movie for review purposes. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.