Review of Contracted: Phase II (2015) by Bethany C — 22 Jan 2016

The body horror is strong in this one. There's pus, wounds not healing, It's all about the gross out. But there's really not much behind the plot. For the most part, the purpose of the film seems to be body gross out horror. The plot is extremely thin. In fact, the plot seems to just be lurking around in dark rooms searching for a man who's face you never really see. The real plot just seems to be to spread the zombie plague as much as possible.

What was a unique concept in the first one is just silly in this one. The great part about the first film in the series was how vague it was. You knew it was probably zombie-ism, but it wasn't obvious and you got to watch the lead character have no idea what was going on. That was what was terrifying, and it was a metaphor for very real terrifying things (STDs, sexual assault, etc). They diluted the concept from the original, that it is spread through sexual contact. In this film it's just spread through something as simple as drinking from the same glass. The dilution of the concept renders the plot even more silly. The plot, frankly, isn't the point.

Without the body gross out horror, this would be the most boring movie there is. The original was great for a whole slew of reasons, but as soon as they continued the concept past patient zero, so to speak, it lost all entertainment value. If there's a clever way to show the outbreak of a zombie virus, this is not it. Furthermore, maybe if the "villain" was built up a little, there would be more suspense. Instead, he was just sort of there. The final scene was expected, if gross.

All in all, please let there not be a phase three.

This film definitely disturbed me, so the stars it's getting are thanks to that. It takes a hell of a lot to gross me out. This honestly challenges "Human Centipede".