JUAN CARLOS FRESNADILLO

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB. 

United Kingdom/Spain, 2007.  Fox Atomic, DNA Films, UK Film Council, Figment Films, Sogecine, Koan Films.  Screenplay by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Rowan Joffe, Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Jesus Olmo.  Cinematography by Enrique Chediak.  Produced by Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich.  Music by John Murphy.  Production Design by Mark Tildesley.  Costume Design by Jane Petrie.  Film Editing by Chris Gill.  

It has been six months since the ‘rage’ virus virtually wiped out Britain’s population after turning its citizens into flesh-eating zombies. The US government has announced that the virus has been conquered and it is now safe to repopulate England, allowing for the repatriation of citizens who had been safely whisked away during the initial crisis to return to their homes. This includes the two children of survivor Robert Carlyle, whose wife (Catherine McCormack) he assumed for dead after he left her to fend for herself in a house full of the bad guys.

She returns, and what is discovered too late is that she is a carrier of the virus but is not personally affected by it. Naturally, mayhem ensues, and while it is a fun and energetic thriller, this sequel to the 2002 film doesn’t have the pulse-pounding terror that the original had. Big-money sequels to low-budget sleeper horror hits tend to be incredibly abysmal (file under Witch, Blair), but this one isn’t that bad; just don’t expect more of the same brilliance that Danny Boyle provided.