F. Sudol follows up his gritty and disgusting animated zombie thriller “City of Rott” with a sequel that’s now computer animated, wider in scope, and continues the narrative of the original. Sudol seems to have an interesting fascination with rogue warriors and the elderly, propping much of his heroes up in the same molds, and a refreshing change of pace from the typical sexy warriors we see in post apocalyptic entertainment.
This time around Sudol moves on from 2D animation in favor of a computer animation process entitled Chess Piece, where the characters mainly just hover around like pieces on a board. It’s an interesting format if one I wasn’t a complete fan of. But it’s a unique approach from a director that is always interested in new ways to unfold his tales. This time around there’s much of a science fiction element with a focus on the origin of the zombie virus, and where the deadly worms that infect their hosts stem from. Harry, the brother of elderly Max from the first film has also managed to survive the zombie apocalypse.
He spends his days wandering around for supplies and kicking rotter (zombie) ass with his style of Walker Fu, and finds himself in the middle of the war ensuing underneath the zombie hordes. Meanwhile as scouts roam around the city foraging supplies, and helping a tyrant named D’Vower command over uninfected land, a masked warrior named Zivouhr follows their every steps, murdering them and bringing the rotters in closer to the untouched skyscraper ruled by the evil D’Vower. Much of “City of Rott 2” revolves around a larger series of characters this time, all of whom have their own goals and ulterior motives in a world ruled over by the walking dead. The conflict rages on with Zivouhr wielding his sharp sword against them, and undermining their influences.
“City of Rott 2” bears an interesting and more layered narrative, allowing for more follow-ups and sub-plots to focus on survivors and people that have survived on their own wits. Sudol also delves deeper in to the source of his zombie virus, and the potential to cure it. I’m not too sure how I feel about Sudol’s new method of storytelling yet, as the Chess Piece style is interesting, but detracts from the gritty gross aesthetic that “City of Rott” pulled off so well. There was a disgusting aesthetic with the first film and much of that is missing here. That said, “City of Rott 2” is definitely ambitious and supplies an entertaining and blood splattered zombie epic filled with action, plot twists, and the patented Walker Fu.