Zombie Massacre 2: Reich of the Dead (2015) User Reviews

It's as messy as mashed up zombie brain, and it's not worth your time to piece it together.

[quincytheodore · 2/10 · 31 July 2015]

If you like watching poorly acted soldiers exchanging nonsensical banters about war while occasionally shooting Nazi zombies, you might last the first act. However, if you want actually plot or coherent dialogues, you'll do better watching bloopers from any other war movie. This is as vague as narrative as it can be, even by standard of B-movie.

There's basically no structure to the story at all. People would tell war stories for half of the movie, engage in obscure overly dramatic military propaganda and suddenly the shooting starts to happen. Characters pop out of nowhere and disappear altogether from the story, no one knows what happen to that one guy who was there earlier nor do they seem to care.

Zombie and Nazi are mixed into the narrative, yet the soldiers' reactions are inconsistent. It's as though someone shuffles random screenplays and just tosses them together. Acting is wooden, not that the material offers anything conclusive. It's marred with vague gibberish and at times dreamy near hallucinogenic scenes. Don't expect any finesse to technical aspect either, cinematography and effect are low budget mediocrity.

A lot of pretentious talk about war without war itself, it will painfully bores audience like zombie bites and by now capitalizing on zombie fevers feels like an old gimmick.

Bor-r-r-r-r-ring

[themoment-64201 · 3/10 · 30 July 2015]

The first 30 minutes nothing happened. It was a very long wait until we saw our first zombie. Then crying zombies. Then shooting shooting shooting. Then blood trails. But no shortage of gore. I just wish the characters were remotely interesting or at least had some decent dialogue.

I've heard of writers being paid by the word, but this is the first time i truly believe someone was being paid by the minute.

It wasn't until almost 70 minutes into the movie that anything actually began to happen, but by then, few would care... and in comes the clichéd nazi scientist who couldn't deliver a line to save his life. But let's top it all off with dream sequences that serve no purpose.

"My time is precious" says the crazy nazi scientist. Based on the seemingly endless monologue, he seems to have all the time in the world.

Poor acting

[chelseamalarkey · 2/10 · 31 July 2015]

This movie might be watchable if the acting wasn't sooooo poor! I mean how some of these people call them selfs actors is beyond me, it like they are robots, i almost didn't make it through the movie.

A lot of the movie doesn't make sense, like the random flash backs of a woman in a field with a sheet... And why a zombie would drag a dead guy onto some stairs to eat him?? And how all of a sudden he wants to go to the hospital, when the whole movie he's like we should get out of here!

The zombies look good but that's as far as it goes, with zombie movies if they are slow there has to be a lot of them to make a good zombie movie. I would say there was 50 zombies at the most and over half get shot down at once.

Just don't watch it, it will just annoy you in every way possible

We are the hands of God

[nogodnomasters · 1/10 · 15 August 2017]

This is not a sequel to "Zombie Massacre" and if anything it is an unconnected prequel. A small band of allies are operating in rural Germany (?) where there is a doctor who creates zombies which we see about 30 minutes into the film. Like zombies, the film was lifeless if not pointless. If you watch the "making of" part of the DVD, they actually admit they didn't want to make the film and did so only because it would be an easy money maker. So the bottom line I got out of it was you had to buy the film to be de facto called a "sucker." Very disappointing. Pathetic writing. Actors-Thanks for the effort.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Terrible !

[lucdevaux · 1/10 · 14 January 2020]

What a waste of time. Really not worth viewing. Bad acting should have warned me. When I saw "dead" Charlie blinking in the background, I should have known this wasn't worth My time. I kept hoping for improvement but this is One of the worst movies I have ever seen.

You would think zombies and Nazis make for a good combo...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 20 June 2016]

Yes, I am a sucker for all things zombie, and more than often that fascination leads me to watch some very questionable movies. Questionable even though the DVD cover makes the movie seem a lot more interesting than it actually turned out to be. And "Zombie Massacre 2: Reich of the Dead" was no exception.

This movie was a drag to get through, especially because it was unfathomably slow paced. You are more than 30 minutes into the movie before the first zombie rears its ugly head. Ugly head indeed. Especially because all zombies were outfitted with what could best be described as latex masks bought at a local Halloween vendor. But hey, points for trying at least. And hand on heart, then a fake latex mask still is better than just some poor gray make-up on the face.

But the movie is slow paced and very little of any interest happens throughout the entire movie, and there is not even enough action throughout the movie to make up for the lack of speed and progress. And a storyline so simple that even an actual dead person can keep up with it is insulting to the audience. There are no surprises, no twists, no turns, no nothing here to be had. I suffered through the movie so you don't have to.

The story is about a small group of American soldiers trapped behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany during World War II. Trapped and pinned down by enemy fire, they seek shelter in an abandoned Nazi compound. But some foul and sinister secret broods in the musky old Building.

Right. Well, the storyline was straight forward, I will say that much. But way too simple to be entertaining. And the make-up and special effects were just downright bad. Not bad enough to actually be funny and entertaining because they are bad. Just plain bad.

The acting in "Zombie Massacre 2: Reich of the Dead" was adequate for a movie such as this. I have seen much worse acting in low budget zombie movies because, so at least the movie had that working in its favor.

And the atmosphere of the movie was also working well in favor of the movie, because there was a good sense of the movie actually taking place during World War II. And it is always a plus in my book when Germans actually do speak German in war movies. So a rotten thumb up for that as well. Oh, and also the props and costume department should get some credit, because they added some authenticity to the movie as well with what they managed to put together.

However, the overall movie was just a stinker. Pardon the pun. If you enjoy zombie movies, then "Zombie Massacre 2: Reich of the Dead" is not a good choice for a night's worth of entertainment, as there are far better movies available.

Waste of time

[chzra · 2/10 · 19 August 2015]

How to start?

Acting is bad. Long stares (almost South Park style long) and low dialogue make it pretty unwatchable. I rarely don't finish a movie, but with this one I was tempted so hard just to let it go. But I endured. First zombie appears after 30 minutes of our soldiers wandering around the forest, and when he appears, he cries. Never before heard of a zombie crying, but hey, first time for everything. The logic of characters doesn't exist, they behave like children, not like soldiers.

But masks are decent, gore when displayed is well done, and the scenery is well picked. Other than that, just not worth the time.

Bad taste zombie outing

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 14 August 2015]

Another zero-budget zombie film, from the Italian team who made the poor EATERS. The good news is that Reich of the Dead is a lot better than that film, although still not particularly good; the problem is that the story plays things out very predictably on a tight budget, so there's no room for anything memorable or original. FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY this isn't!

Instead, what we get are a couple of characters wandering around some gloomy locations and occasionally encountering some zombies that shuffle around. The zombie threat is zero as is the horror content, although this is definite a bad taste vibe going on in the way the zombies are all dressed in concentration camp uniforms - they were former prisoners experimented upon by a mad surgeon.

The one thing Reich of the Dead has going for it is some surprisingly decent direction; no shaky-cam work here, just solid cinematography which makes the most of the dreary and drab setting. It's probably the best direction I've seen in a low budget zombie flick, so it's a shame it was wasted on such a non-starter of a story. Too much of the slender running time is padded out with boring conversations on the nature of war and B-movie veteran Dan van Husen barely gets a look in.

Ughh...

[gigusx · 2/10 · 20 August 2018]

I can' remember the last time I was so bored watching a movie, even just few minutes till the end I was considering turning it off just because there just wasn't anything keeping me interested. If you're looking for a full action-packed, gore movie you will be very disappointed, the titular zombies are not only are extremely dull (like the rest of the movie) and predictable, they don't pose much threat besides what characters themselves manage to bring upon themselves. Also, the zombies don't show up until halfway through the movie, so there's that.

There isn't a lot in the movie that deserves a praise, maybe not-awful soundtrack (guess that's where the 2nd star came from). The dialogues are beyond awful and so is the writing in general, the characters are people you'll wish to never see again and there is no humor beyond the irony of how bad they managed to make this movie.

Zombie Massacre 2 is a movie that tries to be too serious and too smart but has neither the budget nor talent to back up its ideas. You'll not find any exciting scenes here, the ones that come close are ALL included in the trailer, so do yourself a favor and watch that.

Even more of a massacre than part 1

[kosmasp · 3/10 · 13 November 2015]

Actually not really. But it sounded good. Like the title sort of. But then again, we've been there, seen that. Something that cannot be said about the characters in this, who are oblivious to what is going to happen. To distinguish itself, the movie tries to go meta or even philosophical if you will at times. There's a muddled time-line or at least a "flash", which seems unnecessary, complicating things further, getting in the way of any fun this could've been.

Still better than the first one, this hasn't really put anything in its favor acting wise. Effects are decent for a low budget movie or if you're willing to lower your own expectations. But the story will not keep you at the edge of your seat, the ending will rather confuse (until part 3 will be released? If it's going to be released that is) than enlighten you ...

Enjoyable

[dctr666 · 6/10 · 21 June 2020]

Well, another no-brainer, low budget, bad acting, kind of "trash-movies" from the 80s, with a touch of a more modern era... Like I've said in the first one, this is no award winning movie, but it entertains a lot (and it's a breeze of fresh air, to find something like this, after having to spent 2 or 3 hours with boring movies like Hereditary or Midsommar)... Blood, gore, action, and a bad script, make, this film, a very entertaining piece...

Well... No

[seres-93920 · 1/10 · 14 January 2022]

It takes 1/3 of the movie till something really starts. And then it's all predictable.

The acting is lame, the zombies look "scary" but I'm a bad way.

I fast forwarded the movie after some time.

Completely useless

[borgolarici · 2/10 · 22 June 2022]

The worst crime of this movie is being completely not entertaining. Nothing happens for at least half of the movie, the script is boring and every single scene drags on to death except for the ones involving the zombies or action (which would still be equally bad, so it's an empty complain).

Boring

[marc-581-654533 · 1/10 · 20 November 2020]

Boring. Nothing more to say... Pure waste of time.

Worst Zombie Movie so far

[andreasweiss-73531 · 1/10 · 22 March 2021]

With that Rating it Must have been really Bad, but it is far worse than I expected. Bad acting Bad camera.

A Welcome Effort In A Plundered Genre

[HughBennie-777 · 26 June 2015]

Finally, a much-abused and disgraced genre is given some respect. And ZM2 creates effective suspense without compromising on shock value and copious, disgusting gore. Sturdy performances (especially Dan van Husen, Aaron Stielstra, and Andrew Harwood Mills) mark this a WWII horror-thriller which supplies more than screaming and unwatchable characters who behave with minimal logic. The moody, superb cinematography and production design only complement the project. A worthwhile effort which will please fans of gritty war drama and splattery spectacle alike. Directors Ristori and Boni deliver. Bullseye.

Not bad, but problematic.

[ihal · 5/10 · 3 April 2020]

Not a bad zombie flick overall, but the problem is in the details. The lack of proper combat movement, especially among the German Army is ridiculous. More like a death march. The ending was muddled and unsatisfying.

Promising, but poor script and lack of action makes it disappointing

[gabriel_sanchez · 3/10 · 19 March 2021]

After the events of Zombie Massacre (2013), you would imagine that this film would be a sequel. You are mistaken. This film is not even a prequel.

Zombie Massacre 2: Reich of the Dead (2015) details an independent story set in WWII. A small group of American soldiers finds shelter in an apparently abandoned building as they try to call for help.

We know that things are going to get worse. And the film does a good job of keeping the tension going. I was waiting for a zombie to appear at any moment, but the tension continued and continued. And continued. And continued ...

When you get to the first zombie action, you've already watched a third of the movie. This is not bad, but the zombie encounter is disappointing. Disappointing enough that you label this movie "stalled." And you are correct: the film is really stalled.

In the film's setting, I assume that "zombie knowledge" is not a common thing. Still, it seems that the story tries to explore the concept that a bite will turn you into a zombie, which I think doesn't make sense for the time portrayed in the film.

The performance is acceptable, but it is still weak.

The story as a whole does not present anything interesting. The ending tries to make everything mysterious and sinister, but I thought it was too confusing.

I would not recommend this film to any ordinary viewer, just for fans of zombie movies.

Lackluster Nazi zombie horror clunker

[Woodyanders · 3/10 · 27 January 2021]

World War II. A small platoon of American soldiers run afoul of lethal shambling zombies created by the Nazis. Sound good and exciting? Well, it just ain't. For starters, it takes way too long for the zombies to finally show up and when they finally do they are these miserable moaning guys sporting so-so rubbery makeup. Secondly, writers/directors Lucia Boni and Marco Ristori let the predictable narrative unfold at a painfully plodding pace as well as fail to generate any essential tension or creepy atmosphere. Sure, there's plenty of gore and spurting blood, but alas there's also a heavy gloominess evident throughout that sucks all the fun out of the whole thing. The dull grayish look and annoying muddled ending don't help matters any. Only Dan van Husen as an evil Nazi doctor and the decent acting by the rest of the game no-name cast manage to make much of an impression. Too drab and inert to be remotely enjoyable, instead this flick sizes up as a real joyless chore to endure.

Watchable

[Pairic · 5/10 · 9 May 2018]

Zombie Massacre 2: Reich of the Dead.

For the first 35 minutes this could be a typical World War 2 film. Germany, Spring 1945, US soldiers cut off from their unit take shelter in a deserted building after wiping out a German patrol. Exploring the building one soldier comes across medical diagrams and hears moaning. In a bloody basement ward he finds a concentration camp prisoner, but its a Zombie and bites him.

The other soldiers come under attack from Zombies in striped uniforms.and kill them. Yes, the nazis are turning prisoners into Zombies. A soldier rescues an escapee from the main hospital where the experiments are carried out and she leads him back to it.

Dr Mengele is responsible for these heinous transformations!

Produced by Uwe Boll this is a watchable Zombie film. 5/10'

Poor script and construction made view-able by acting and direction

[parseword · 6/10 · 25 September 2015]

Low-budget movies are often met with a stupid viewer attitude that says, constantly, "I'm better than this movie I'm watching." I think it's better to ask what one would want from the film and then to see if it delivers.

In this case, like the first ZM film, we have cardboard characters, poor pacing/scripting, and an overuse of CG effects. The good news is that, like the first film, we also get some good make-up work and practical gore (although it's odd that we only see two or three zombie types, the directors having gone to budget-friendly masks and a uniform clothing option that doesn't do the movie any favors).

But yet the thing's still watchable, largely due to the fine lead performances by Andrew Mills and Aaron Stielstra (Van Husen's cameo is a bit underwhelming, but I think that has more to do with scripting and a short production schedule than his work). A lot of the reviews here say the acting's bad, but I'm not sure what they're seeing. The acting amongst the squad is certainly a bit over-the- top, but that doesn't mean it's bad. It wouldn't be in place in a film like Under the Skin, but for this genre stuff, stylized acting makes sense and gives the film what little tone and drive it has. although that's maybe not being fair to the direction and production design which are mostly strong and good for a few great shots amidst all the CG splizz-ing of uniform-zombie-heads.

The horror is that people got paid for making this trash

[heretic369 · 1/10 · 19 July 2022]

Even my 82 years old grandmother got bored trying to watch this trainwreck of a horror movie.

Cheap effects, bad actors, terrible dialogue and "story"..

Avoid at all costs.

A mixed bag ...

[parry_na · 6/10 · 18 January 2016]

Watching this film is a frustrating experience; it's a mixed bag. Powerful moments, direction, location, nicely restrained CGI effects and pacing are punctuated with some wooden acting (Aaron Stielstra as Sergeant Calhoun and Ally McLelland as Matt) and some dreadful dialogue. We are witnessing hard-bitten soldiers trapped in an unforgiving environment facing, as the title suggests, the living dead – so naturally every sentence should be comprised of macho cliché and relentless expletives so out of context, the profanities are unintentionally quite funny. As a result, we spend a lot of time with people it is impossible to like. We can't even long for their deaths, because their stilted delivery doesn't provide us with any personality.

Only Andrew Mills as Will lends his role any pathos, sense of fear or even, dare I suggest, personality. That is why, in the scenes toward the end, when he is all but alone against the modest hordes of zombies, does the tension improve greatly. Luckily, the end credits supply us with character pictures to go with the actors, because it is hard to work out otherwise, who is who.

To concentrate on the positives, the visuals are stunning. There is a bleak oppressive nature to the choice of location, and the soldiers' sense of isolation and hopelessness is expertly conveyed. The film has a slightly grainy took to it, which enhances the punishing conditions – and by that token, the occasional flashbacks to Will's sunny, carefree childhood, come across as tear-jerkingly wholesome and idyllic, which imbues the return to his present predicament with an even greater emotional impact.

The ending is an enigma. Will is guided by a young woman to the sprawling run-down hospital run by Doktor Mengele, who is responsible for the creation of the undead hordes (another lunatic striving towards the perfect solider motif). The woman turns out to have been an hallucination. And yet, the end would suggest she is the spirit of Will's mother, which begs the question, why would she lead him to his doom – because that is exactly what Will's fate turns out to be. On top of that, a final scene suffused in the closing credits seems to indicate Will's entire experience has not been real at all, suggesting a 'dream ending' cop-out.

Zombies during war-time is a theme that has been visited several times ('Frankenstein's Army', 'Dead Snow', 'Dead Mine' for example) and works rather well. With a little more effort made to give the leads personalities, this would have been so much more satisfying.

Solid if problematic Nazi Zombie effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 30 January 2018]

Trying to find shelter for a comrade, a group of soldiers fighting in the middle of the war stumble upon a concentration camp officer hoping to spur the Nazis forward by turning the inhabitants into the living dead and must find a way to stop his nefarious plans.

This one ended up being quite the enjoyable Nazi Zombie effort. One of the more impressive elements featured here is the incredibly strong atmosphere created showing their journey through the wilderness. The opening of this one carries them through the woods trying to reach the camp that has a gloomy ambiance that works nicely with the fact that this one mostly takes place inside the concentration camp which is a decided advantage. As that sense of oppression and gloom afforded by the setting leads into the action, that makes for a more realistic slant on the material at large since the zombies are given quite a more naturalistic slant here with the experimentations used to create them offers the film plenty to like. The encounters between the soldiers and the zombies are especially fun, from the first ambush in the ruins where they come shambling out of the walls in a surprise to the others when they emerge, the blazing gun-battle out in the middle of the compound where they encounter wave after wave of the creatures coming for them and the final burst where it shows the remaining soldiers and zombies battle it out in the outdoors surrounding the main camp which gives this a nice bit of thrills to go along with its graphic zombie makeup. These here do hold it up over it's few minor flaws, which extends mainly from the rather bland pacing here. There's not a whole lot of action that occurs throughout here as instead of getting plenty of encounters with the creatures, it tends to focus way too much on their exploits getting to the facility and trying to stay hidden that it manages to focus away from the zombie attacks for too long in such a brief effort. There's no reason for a movie like this at this length to feel dull so that it sticks out in any way here really gives itself away. As well, the ending is way too anticlimactic as instead of being a big showdown between the two forces, it devolves into a speech about the whole purpose for it all so it definitely ends on a whimper more than expected. With all the philosophical blather that it goes into about his history and mother figures being there, this one just doesn't really offer that great of an ending. Combined with the CGI blood-spray that occurs for many of the wounds, these here hold this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Boni and Ristori deliver the zombie goods

[amesmonde · 26 June 2015]

WWII battle worn soldiers come across a Nazi complex where experiments are taking place to resurrect dead prisoners.

Zombie Massacre 2: Reich of the Dead (2015) is dark, gloomy, more serious than their 2011 entertaining ride Eaters and more sombre and grounded than Zombie Massacre a.k.a Apocalypse Z.

Again filmmaker talents Luca Boni and Marco Ristori deliver a grim competently constructed bleak zombie horror that is stylishly shot with some good blood and gore effects presented on a saturated colour palette. The practical effects come better off that some of the CGI explosions and splatter. The sets and location look outstanding for the budget.

With actors Andrew Harwood Mills, Dan van Husen and Lucy Drive who is stunning as Erin the rest of the cast are on form and give performances as their picked off one by one that far surpass those in the first outing.

Zombie Massacre 2 is slower and more dramatic than Boni and Ristori's previous work, and while the story isn't the most original there's plenty of gore, creepy visuals, dead soldiers, vertical white stripes zombies, creepy faces and the like.

Boni and Ristori are becoming somewhat cult directors and need a breakout mainstream film but for the moment we have to wait a little longer, nevertheless, it's still agreeable zombie fodder.