I often joke about how Carrie should be used in schools as advertisement against bullying and from now on, I’ll say the same thing about Contracted, since this indie horror movie works greatly as a cautionary tale about unprotected sex. I bet teenagers will think twice, after seeing the slow and painful degeneration of the girl’s body, leading to the ruin of her life.
The concept behind Contracted is something I have been thinking of writing for a long time, without ever being able to put my ideas on paper. To show the degeneration process of a zombie virus and the effects it would have upon the host’s mind is fantastic, and in capable hands, offers a lot of possibilities. Writer and director Eric England chose a different start by making the virus an STD. All the implications and questioning that would not be present, if the girl had been simply bitten by a zombie.
The degenerative process is very realistic, through great makeup and an excellent performance by Najarra Townsend, which combined, created some of the most unsettling and distasteful horror moments of the year. I believe it could have been heavier on visuals, with more gore, although this is more a matter of particular taste since it doesn’t affect the movie at all.
My only complaint about the movie is the behavior of some of the characters when faced with a clearly sickened Samantha. I can’t handle a character accepting to kiss someone after a face-to-face confrontation that reveals nothing more than rotting lips and teeth and bleeding eyeballs. Sadly, those incoherent behaviors are recurrent and they can be very frustrating, as they have a major role in the unfolding of events and most of the story revolves around relationships.
The final product therefore is quite satisfactory, as I’ve said — The experience is unnerving and the end was especially pleasing to me. It would be a perfect double feature with 2008’s Dead Girl.
Nice review. I agree with it as well, and nice idea as well to make it a double feature with Dead Girl