DVD Review: The Dead And The Damned II

The Dead And The Damned II is a surprisingly good zombie movie about a man on a mission to scatter his wife’s ashes in the ocean. Lt. Colonel Sawyer (Robert Tweten) comes home to find the nearly unrecognizable remains of his wife and daughter. He takes the wedding ring from his wife’s hand and places it on the chain containing his dog tags, then incinerates the remains and gathers the ashes in a container. One of the things that I really appreciate about this film is that it is much more about how survivors interact with each other than it is about destroying zombies. In fact, Sawyer isn’t all that concerned with the zombies, killing only those he needs to in order to reach his very personal goal. This is not a man who is out to save the world, but of course he can’t ignore a woman in trouble that he meets along the way.

That woman’s introduction is handled quite well. Stephanie (Iren Levy) is outside a grocery store, waiting for a safe moment to venture inside. We see a man coming up behind her, trying to warn her. He quickly learns the woman is deaf. Of course, it’s a bit surprising that a deaf woman could have survived this long on her own. She communicates with a dry erase board, and the man convinces her to come home with him. She is soon on her guard, and the man grabs her. So it isn’t only zombies which one has to worry about in this world; there are also lonely, horny men. And that makes sense, given the fact that most people are dead and society has broken down. I also love that the man is quite awkward in his attempts to either woo her or rape her – he seems to go back and forth between the two – and you get the sense that he was never adept at dating and now just too much time has passed and he has lost all patience with the process. In a world without zombies, he might have been harmless.

The film also introduces us to a little girl named Emma. Her mother tells her they have to split up, that she has to go far away. A zombie appears in the window, and Emma asks calmly, “Is that daddy?” This is a wonderful moment, and it’s soon revealed that it isn’t just Daddy that the woman has to protect Emma from – she also has to protect her daughter from herself. “You saw how Daddy bit me,” she tells Emma. It is scenes like this one that make the movie better than the typical horror movie. The mother is torn, wanting to hold her daughter, but knowing she has to let her go.

We know from these early scenes that Sawyer is going to run into a woman and a little girl, almost like replacements for his lost family. That is, you get the sense these are two he can save in place of his family, that they will provide him with a second chance, and a reason to live. For it’s clear early on that Sawyer does not intend to live beyond the accomplishment of his goal, that once he scatters the ashes into the ocean, he plans to rejoin his family.

What I like is that the film creates a believable world. There is a scene where Sawyer’s vehicle is stopped at a roadblock. So we know there still are some police. Sawyer reasons with them, saying he needs to get through, that he’s not infected. One of the cops responds, “If I let you through here, you will be.” It’s a really nice scene that doesn’t end with the expected confrontation. He finds another way into the quarantined area. And these people aren’t stupid. When zombies surround Sawyer’s car, he doesn’t shoot them. “My ammunition is way more important to me than that vehicle is,” he tells Stephanie. By the way, Sawyer wears armor to give himself some protection against the zombies.

Sawyer and Stephanie meet a man who keeps a zombie in a pit to learn about it. Wilson has learned that newly infected zombies are still able to run, but that the others are slower and easily eluded. And this film actually gives a reason behind the zombie apocalypse. Though a couple of scenes go on a bit long, overall I like that this film takes its time. I could, however, do without the odd religious angle (“We’re the good guys,” Wilson says, holding up his cross as if to prove it – ugh). And in early scenes, it is confusing whether each zombie we are seeing is the same one, for they all wear light-colored flannel shirts (is Emma’s dad also the zombie outside the grocery store?). These are relatively minor complaints. And though the ending is a bit weak, the journey to get there is definitely interesting enough to make this film worth watching.

The Dead And The Damned II was written, edited and directed by Rene Perez, and was released on DVD on October 7, 2014. The DVD includes the film’s trailer. I should also note that I have not seen the original The Dead And The Damned, and this story does manage to stand on its own.