World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2 is a 2011 British horror film written by Kevin Gates. The film is a sequel to The Zombie Diaries.
The leads are played by Alix Wilton Regan, Philip Brodie and Vicky Aracio.
Plot:
A group of survivors take shelter in an army base after a deadly virus transforms most of the world’s population into bloodthirsty zombies. They receive a message revealing there are other sanctuaries in existence, but before they can respond, the base is overrun by the living dead, forcing a handful of the remaining survivors to search for those who sent it.
Ain’t It Cool News said “Zombie Diaries 2, like its predecessor, is your higher quality zombie film. The gore is top notch. There are quite a few scenes with true scares. And of course, it’s a nice homage to the original Dead trilogy with an adherence to Romero’s rules of zombie.”
Time Out magazine gave the film three stars out of five, stating that, compared to the first film “the production values in general are classier; and co-directors Michael Bartlett and Kevin Gates’s handling of the relentlessly grim, apocalyptic setting is more assured.”
The Daily Star awarded the film seven out of ten, stating “fans of fear will be suitably thrilled and chilled by the survivors’ bloody and grisly trek towards safety with horrifying run-ins with heartless human bandits who take the law into their own hands and turn out to be almost as nasty as zombies.”
It has also received negative reviews, receiving one star out of a possible five from The Independent and with Gorepress stating “World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2 also fails to improve on the mistakes of its predecessor: the acting is still shocking in places, the make-up insufficient, the scares almost non-existent, the plot emaciated and the DVD cover and title are once again horribly misleading. The DVD artwork features a giant, ruined cityscape and the words “World of the Dead” smacked over it, but we never see anywhere but Bedfordshire and the biggest building we witness is an old barn… which isn’t even ruined.”
The Guardian described it as “even less necessary than another prison drama”, while flickeringmyth.com says “The zombies themselves felt very non-threatening. It almost felt like they just organised a flash mob with blank-firing weapons and left it at that” before concluding that “World of the Dead: Zombie Diaries 2 just feels like a massive waste of time.”
The Daily Mail said “Kevin Gates’ moronic dialogue, liberally scattered with four-letter words, is as devoid of ideas as his direction, which is shared with someone called Michael Bartlett.”
World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2 received a limited cinema release in the UK followed by a DVD released on June 27, 2011. The film was released at US cinemas on September 2, 2011.
YouTube reviews:
