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.
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