THE DEAD 2: INDIA *** UK 2013 Dir: Howard J Ford / Jon Ford. 98 mins
American engineer Joseph Millson, like his unrelated predecessor Rob Freeman in THE DEAD, is forced on a perilous road trip 300 miles across zombie-infested India – on a mission to rescue his pregnant native girlfriend from the increasingly dangerous Mumbai slums.
Teamed up with a precocious little boy in an odd but chemistry-free variation on the Indiana Jones-Short Round partnership, Millson is an unengaging hero in this disappointing sequel. Although the film, like its predecessor, is leant novelty and production value by the rich location shooting, this time around the zombie scenes are underpowered and the gore FX unimaginative. It also suffers from an unappealing “heroine” and a script that meanders when it should be sustaining tension. Amidst the fallow spells, there are a couple of stand-out sequences (particularly one involving a young mother trapped in her car) and an impressively downbeat climax.
Review by Steven West