Dead Trigger II

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***Dead Trigger II*** is a 2020 American animated action horror film created using Plotagon by Sammy Knight. It is the fourth animated film that Sammy has created using Plotagon, following *A Distant Fantasy*. It is also the sequel to the 2019 animated film *Dead Trigger*.

The film takes place a year after the events of the first film, where this time around a man named Jack Sherman has polluted a river with toxic waste stolen from the chemical plant. With the river being capable of zombifying anything that comes in contact with it, zombie expert Tara Conlan and police chief Henry Cervantes must stop this new zombie threat from potentially becoming the start of an outbreak.

Dead Trigger II was released on October 3, 2020 to a very positive reception, praising the animation, characters, story, and voice acting.

A sequel was in development, but was later cancelled on March 14, 2022. Leaving the Dead Trigger films as a duology.

## Plot

Plotapaulis President Richard Winkler hosts a party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the heroism of Police Chief Henry Cervantes, and two zombie experts: Tara Conlan and the deceased Buck Andrews. Not long after the party, a madman named Jack Sherman steals a canister of toxic waste from the Plotapaulis chemical plant and pours it into the river of Supplementary Park, only to be arrested by Cervantes. He, Tara, and fellow officer Amie French investigate the river's effects by tossing a guinea pig into the river. Assuming it to be disintegrated, they leave the river alone.

The next morning, Cervantes stands guard near the river due to paranoia of anyone falling in. Schoolteacher Tod Hernandez spots a deformed guinea pig (the same one that was thrown into the river), which latches onto his face. Cervantes uses his bat to kill the animal, but accidentally knocks Hernandez into the river. Cervantes' appearance on the news bulletin confirms to Tara, who was watching the broadcast from her hotel room, that the guinea pig turned into a zombie from the river, and the two go to Jack's cell to interrogate him. Jack assumed that he could tame zombies, hence the reason for the polluted river. To put that mentality to the test and to see if the same method used last year would work this year, Winkler suggests they load the zombie Hernandez, who was recently captured by officer French, into the same cell.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gregory Drake is working on a chemical cure for the virus using a zombie tooth left over by student Jessica Dimps last year in case the same method doesn't work twice. Tara stops by the hospital to assist. The day after Hernandez was loaded into the same cell as Jack, neither zombie was cured and they bust out of the cell. Attempting to intervene, French gets scratched by Jack, who in turn gets inadvertently shot in the head by French. Assuming Jack to be dead, Cervantes spreads the news to Winkler and Drake, but then comes back to the station to find him alive and takes him to Drake to have his brain investigated with the belief that a bullet in the brain is the cure, only to find no bullet inside.

French, in human form, finds Cervantes at the hospital after getting cured by Wilson Harold, the manager of the chemical plant, who shot her in the woods after cleaning out the river with employee Damien, who unbeknownst to Wilson got infected by Hernandez. Tara and Cervantes search the library for answers, but they only find the old zombie beliefs that zombies die from a destroyed brain. Tara meets construction worker Simon Nils out in the street and is given an old book written by Robert Southey, who originally founded the word "zombie", containing the true stories of the zombies. She shares this with Cervantes, who notices at the back of the book a note in red handwriting that berates Southey's writings as nothing more than a madman vision.

The information is shared with Drake and they are informed by Winkler that Wilson reported Damien missing. Cervantes and Tara go out in the woods to find him, but come across Wilson, who was also going out into the woods. They also find that he, as a descendant of Southey, wrote the red note decades ago and buried the book in a field where it was eventually a construction site where Simon Nils found the book in the present. Hernandez sneakily grabs Wilson, who gets inadvertently shot in the head by Cervantes, who was aiming for the zombie, and Wilson's knife landed on Hernandez's head, curing him. They find Damien not long after and Tara uses Wilson's knife to stab his brain. With Damien cured, the threat is over and Cervantes and Tara are honored once again, with Southey's book being set to be officially published in public libraries.

## Characters

Tara Conlan - A zombie expert who works with police chief Henry Cervantes to tackle the city's second zombie threat.

Henry Cervantes - The police chief of Plotapaulis who works with Tara Conlan.

Richard Winkler - The president of Plotapaulis.

Dr. Gregory Drake - A doctor who spends the film examining and figuring out the cure to the new-found zombie threat.

Wilson Harold - The owner of the chemical plant that was robbed by Jack Sherman. He is revealed to be a descendant of Robert Southey, the first person to record the English word "Zombie".

Jack Sherman - A man with low chemistry grades who ends up robbing the chemical plant and polluting the river.

Additional characters include a few other stock characters like:

Police Officer (known in the film as Amie French), Mr. Hernandez (known in the film as Todd Hernandez), Damien, Dr. Lee (known in the film as Janet Lee), Crazy Cat Lady (known in the film as Sophie Kennedy), Builder (known in the film as Simon Nils),  Ms. Green (known as Diana Green), Carla (known as Carla Red), Scott, Jessica (known as Jessica Dimps), Lizzie, etc.

Additional non-stock characters include:

Florence Cervantes - The wife of Henry Cervantes.

Philippe and Leslie Johan - The Channel One 12pm news anchors.

Pete Harlem - The principal of Plot High School.

etc.

Other characters can be seen at the one-year celebration at the beginning of the film.

## Reception

### Critical response

The film was very well received upon its release. Based on 26 assessments on the likes vs. dislikes ratio, 100% of assessments were positive (26 likes and 0 dislikes). It is currently the most well-received film from Sammy Knight to date.

Jackster Does Plotagon states at the end of the premiere, "Overall, yes, this movie is a step-up from its predecessor. While yes, there are a few issues regarding the editing, and the finale could have been a little more action-packed, the movie had a very engaging and interesting story, like its predecessor, animation that is a huge step-up from the first movie, characters that still retain their greatness from before, the bits of humour we do get are funny, ​and the SHOCK factor is HIGH compared to the first movie." DBG Channel praises, "It lacked intense action, however, it makes up for that with some shocking moments, and with screenwriting. Oh, and some GREAT VFX." TheNinjaGuy Studios and Henry the cool Plotagonist also gave positive reviews, declaring the film better than its predecessor.

## Cancelled sequel

In August 2021, Sammy stated that a sequel to Dead Trigger II, titled *Dead Trigger III* was in development, which was planned to be released in 2023.

However, on March 14, 2022, the sequel was announced to be cancelled in favor of *The QuestBlade Incident*.