The Dead and the Damned II

aka The Dead, The Damned, and The Darkness

Director - Rene Perez (The Dead and the Damned, Demon Hunter)

Starring - Robert Tweten (The Obsession), Iren Levy (Little Red Riding Hood), and John J. Welsh (The Snow Queen)

Release Date - 2014

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "The darkness has risen"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     There is nothing I hate more than being lied to and I have seen several films over the years that just straight up lied to the unsuspecting viewer.  This commonly happens when the distribution company throws something appealing on the film's cover but it has nothing to do with the film whatsoever.  I recently reviewed The Dead and the Damned.  The film was a solid horror western but the cover depicted zombie cowboys wielding guns.  This never happened in the film but it was only a minor fib that I could live with.  Late last year I was sent the sequel to that film titled The Dead and the Damned II and the cover artwork featured more of the undead cowboys shooting guns.  Sadly. the film has nothing to do with that.  

     The film is set in present day and follows a soldier who is trying to make his way across country to rescue his wife and daughter.  The U.S. has become overrun with the undead and he was away on a mission when it hit.  He arrives only to find the remains of his wife with her wedding ring on her bony nub that was once his wife's hand.  He takes it and continues on his journey across the U.S.  Along the way he rescues a def girl and soon befriends an old man living in a rail car.  It is then that we learn that the undead are actually mutants that have been infected with a substance that was found in a meteor in the 1800s.  They then decide that the safest place to stay was at the dam.  They head that way and come across a small group of survivors in danger.  The soldier rescues them and discovers they have his daughter.  Reunited, he goes to the damn and clears it out so they can live in peace.   

     Now, after reading all that. do you see why I feel deceived?  The film makes you think it is another horror western which is a welcomed change to the current state of zombie films.  Instead, it is just like all the other zombie films except the main character sports body armor.  This was a big fucking disappointment especially after you consider the film's artwork on the DVD.  The acting in this one is another solid cast that delivered some amazing performances.  They all worked well together and their dialogue felt natural.  With that being said. there was times where it felt like the dialogue was just being said and not acted out in any fashion.  This resulted in several stale scenes.  The story for this one is one we have seen so many times before with a small connection to the western that came before it.  The only new additions to this story is the combat armor that some may argue is reminiscent of the armor wore by one of the elite special forces in Resident Evil film franchise and the def main character.  These changes does not change anything and we are once again given a WD rip off.  Finally, the film does offer up several bloody on screen kills with minimal practical effects.  In fact, the practical effects are some of the worst I have seen in awhile.  The mutant zombies look like the grandpa from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and they all look the same like the same mask was used over and over again.  Overall, The Dead and the Damned II is not a worthy sequel and is very dishonest with the viewer.  The film makes the viewer believe they are getting a certain kind of film only to pull the rug out from under them.  I can't recommend this one.