Contracted Phase 2 (2015)

Contracted Phase 2 (2015)
directed by:  Josh Forbes
starring:  Matt Mercer, Marianna Palka, Morgan Peter Brown, Anna Lore, Laurel Vail, Peter Cilella, John Ennis, Suzanne Voss
format:  Netflix Streaming

(out of 5)

The Movie:  Giant fan of the first film.  Totally caught me off guard at the end that it was a "zombie" movie.  Never realized the girl was infected with a zombie contagion until the very end of the film.  This one of course did not have the punch the first one did.  I do not expect a sequel to be better than the first but I do expect them to follow suite with the first or previous film otherwise why not just remake the idea.  I was both excited and unsure when I saw that this movie had a part two or I guess a Phase Two.  I just expected this one to have a "Quarantine" style cheap sequel with cheap easy cgi-effects and a bunch of jump scares.  Gladly wrong this time.

The Acting:  Yeah zero complaints here.  Riley (Matt Mercer) and his girlfriend Harper (Anna Lore) both were on point with the decaying body and mind.  Both Contracted movies do an excellent job at conveying the desperation of the victims.  Very much enjoyed the grandma as well (Suzanne Voss), she added a tad bit of comic relief.  The police woman(Marianna Palka), well she was the weakest link in the movie but really that's no complaint her character was entirely believable.
The Gore/Fx:  This is an fx movie.  Or should I say nasty fx movie.  Yes for sure it's more complicated from a writing/directing stand point but if you took out the gross out slicing, puss-squeezing, and bloody vomit scenes the impact would not be felt the same.  This is why I can't stand it when people complain about say the quarter scene from Bone Tomahawk or the head slice scene from Apocalypto.  Claiming that only the horror and gore hounds need to see such atrocities.  No gore and nastiness happens in real life and no camera angle, sound, or dialogue can pull out the negative emotions a good bloody or putrid effect can produce.  I'm sorry the fact that you are so offended by it proves it did it's job and this movie loves proving that point.  Well done practical effects too no lazy cgi blood and gore.

The Script:  Up to par with the first one for sure.  Group of hipsters going about their lives while one of them is infected or "Contracted" and trying to number one find the source and number two stay alive.  Really enjoyed the characters in this.  Most especially our villain from the first film who raped Sam and began this whole infection.  You find out more and more about BJ the rapist the more Phase 2 goes on.  Really felt they jumped from his story to Riley's well.  Not pulling you too far from the main plot and then putting you right back in after some quick background story development.  Well done.
The Shots:  So many great close-ups of just gut wrenching horror!  These movies are awesome for gross out money shots I love it!  I'm a gorehound though so it's all par for the course when you have a zombie film of any kind.  Well any good kind anyway.
The Music:  Nothing out of the ordinary or exception here.  Not bad but overall just kind of mediocre.  The sounds on the other hand were all pulled together well.  Sounds of pushing infected pockets of yellow fluid and meal worms out from wounds were spectacular.  Plus you have a super high pitched sound that seems to be a kind of side effect of the virus.  Kudos there.

The Rating:  4 out of 5 Bloody Handprints.  A couple scene flubs.  Nothing too much to complain about.  I suppose it was a bit "zombified" unlike the first movie but then again the infection has just begun and the first film is about the very first of the infected so that really explains that.  Good but not better or as good as the first.  But that's hardly a bash.