Wow. I love The Dead, which I blogged about here. But I think I love The Dead 2 more. Instead of being a direct sequel, it’s simply a different story that completely amps up the intensity, action, and emotion while retaining the feel of the original, with desolate landscapes (in India this time) and classic, eerie as hell slow zombies.
This time around, an American engineer learns his girlfriend is pregnant with his child. Oh yeah. And her father hates him and doesn’t want him near her ever again. And one more thing. There’s a horrific zombie outbreak and she’s trapped in the slums in which she lives with her parents.
Our hero sets out to save her and their unborn child. Holy shit. His initial encounters with zombies are fucking terrifying. I was seriously on the edge of my couch. He is repeatedly swarmed by these things. Just the initial scene of him trying to get away from them by power paragliding wrecked me!
Soon, our hero encounters a young boy—the ideal opportunity to train for fatherhood. The boy helps guide him across the country, on foot, in a car, and even on a motorcycle. A scene of them driving through dark fields at night on a motorcycle with zombies suddenly appearing in the headlights is nightmarish. And a scene in which they hole up in a building at night with a zombie peering in at them through cracks totally capture the sense of dread and total paranoia that would keep me sleeping with both eyes open too. It’s really hard to sleep that way.
Just like the first film, the zombies are perfectly soulless and demon eyed. I hate them…in a good way. Few are the films that can make lazy undead in a predominantly daytime setting a frightening experience. I’m also drawn to the too infrequent zombie film like The Dead 2 that can deliver scares while creating characters I can connect to and care about.
No. Not a visual spoiler. That’s not his girlfriend.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Dawn of the Dead worshippers can spend the rest of their lives dropping to their knees for that film. If you need me, I’ll be praying in the church of The Dead.
