Contracted (2013)

"Contracted" was actually a nice surprise of a movie, and a very refreshing and innovative take on the zombie genre.

The movie starts out in a fairly average manner, hinting at this being somewhat of a teenage movie, but then it does take a very nice and bizarre twist for the unexpected.

The story is about Samantha (played by Najarra Townsend) who is struggling with an overly caring and protective mom (played by Caroline Williams) and also struggling with her sexuality and relationship to Nikki (played by Katie Stegeman). When at a party with her friend Alice (Alice Macdonald) Samantha gets together with a strange guy in a moment of drunken stupor and has unprotected sex. Over the course of the next three days, Samantha's life comes crumbling down, as does her physical body and mind...

I will say that the story actually picked up a great pace and turned rather interesting come day 1 and forth in the storyline. And the story was really helped nicely along by some really great make-up and effects, as the three days came and went and we witness the deterioration of Samantha.

But of course, everything is not all good in "Contracted". One thing I didn't really understand was how people around Samantha, and particularly the doctor, could be so blind and ignorant to the deterioration of Samantha and her state of decay. How everyone was either blind or ignorant to what was going on, sort of added an element of stupidity to the movie, and a bad mistake from the director.

That being said, then I will say that I overall enjoyed director Eric England's vision in "Contracted" and his interesting approach to the zombie genre. And I will say that, with my devotion to all things zombie, then "Contracted" is well worthy of a place in any movie collection of anyone who enjoy zombie movies.

The ending of the movie was actually very satisfactory and fulfilling to the storyline, and it was a nice touch and a good ending in my opinion. Cheesy and predictable? Sure. But good, nonetheless.

Fmovies: As a big horror fan, particularly the body horror subgenre, I was excited to see this movie at Chicago International Film Festival. Unfortunately, it's so utterly, astonishingly preposterous that enjoyment was impossible. "The Toxic Avenger" is more plausible and well-reasoned than this.

The main character almost immediately suffers a horrible symptom that would have any sensible woman dialing 911, but she opts to work a shift at a restaurant instead. I'll grant the filmmakers that maybe her disease is dialing up her stupidity, but 30 minutes in, her outward appearance is horrifying - the makeup effects are the sole redeeming element - and none of the other characters seem to notice, despite the fact that these same characters made a point to tell her how horrible she looked 10 minutes earlier, when she had no outwardly visible symptoms. Then again, a trip to the ER, rather than to a doctor whose STD exam doesn't require the patient to remove her jeans, would have ended the movie 15 minutes in.

Worst of all, the director is too cowardly to really go for the gross- out, other than the opening shot and one well-executed shot near the midpoint. Every other opportunity to make the movie truly horrifying is fumbled. For example, the medical exam could've been a terrifying "Dead Ringers"-esque nightmare, but instead it was just stultifying nonsense.

I would like to say that it's so bad it's good, but it is most decidedly not. The ability to elicit laughter might have made it passable, but instead it only elicits groans. I'm happy that the filmmakers were able to sell this dreck to some apparently rohypnol-addled exec at IFC, but they've already been paid. There's no reason to feel obligated to spend money on this mess. It'll be streaming soon enough. Skip it, unless you want to spend an evening going, "Seriously?!?" and "Really?!?" for 85 minutes. If it's low-budget gynecological horror you want, rent "Teeth" instead. It's disgusting AND clever.

I can actually think of worse movies, so I won't give this 1 star. Others have covered the movie as a whole, so I'll center on something specific.

The main character *finally* sees a doctor despite her symptoms that should have sent her to the emergency room day 1. I have to conclude from the scene with the doctor that the script writers have never once in their lives been to a doctor. The doctor she visits confines his examination to peek in her ears and a glance at the gangrenous rot at her crotch and then suggests moisturizer. Moisturizer? SRSLY?! I once had a milder rash in the nether regions and that got me a direct diagnosis and a prescription.

I can hear the script writers now: "If we had a doctor actually *be* a doctor, then she would have gone to a hospital, been treated and we wouldn't have the movie we made." That's right, you morons: it's called a "plot hole!" You write something else. Perhaps instead the doctor could have misdiagnosed or the hospital could have been the incubation point for spreading the contraction to others, but, no, the doctor became the yenta next-door saying "oy! just rub a little lotion on your bleeding crotch-rot and you'll be OK." Now transfer this stupidity to the actions of all the rest of the characters in the movie and you've got a good idea of what you're getting into... or avoiding.

Contracted fmovies. Having read tons and tons of very negative reviews on this movie, I prepared myself, as well we warned my dad who was going to watch it with me, that we probably should not expect something great from it. As it turned out, I was right. This movie isn't great; it was ALMOST great.

The first half of the movie is quite fast paced. The movie cuts straight into the core of the events and both my usually impatient dad and I were quickly drawn to the story line. The plots are very predictable, as the main character, Samantha has one night stand with a mysterious and suspicious man, and afterward finds herself starting to have unexplainable physical changes that keep getting worse and worse.

A lot of people may be annoyed by the way Samantha reacts to her terrible body changes and think that it just "doesn't make sense". That is exactly what my dad kept saying during the whole movie: "how can she let it be?" "why doesn't she go to the hospital?" "a normal person wouldn't even ignore that!". While I understand why people make similar remarks, I totally disagree with them.

What is most enjoyable about this movie is that we are seeing a girl being totally powerless and desperate as she faces the changes of her body. As the story develops and her situation gets worse, we can see that Samantha is partly in denial of what is happening to her, partly trying to play normal, partly being obviously lost and scared, and partly desperate to solve the "problems". To me, the horror that this movie tries to deliver, is not through any gore or violence, but through the desperation of the main character. And I think the movie has done a pretty damn good job in portraying that.

However the ending of the movie is absurd and feels incomplete. A lot of things were left unexplained, and both my dad and I felt like what could have turned out to be the most interesting part of the movie was somehow missed. All in all, this movie really just isn't excellent, but it isn't totally tasteless or as bad as deserving such a low rating. The movie starts out strong but it keeps going down until it hits the bottom at the end. Despite all the flaws it has, dad and I had a lot of fun watching this movie together. With some more thorough development and imagination, this movie could have been GREAT.

I can understand why there are so many poor reviews for this film, but I'm giving it a 5 purely and simply for the effort and hard work that Najarra Townsend clearly put into this movie. She actually put in a good shift as Samantha, putting lots of energy and emotion into her part, the talent ultimately outweighed the script.

In brief, Samantha is at the party of her friend Alice. Let down by her absent girlfriend she hits the drink hard. An anonymous man BJ gives her a spiked drink, and ends up making out in his car with her. The next morning Sam wakes up pale, with flu like symptoms and cramps. The following day she's passed a lot of blood, has developed a rash, and her shift at work is disturbed by loud noises in her inner ear. By now she's worried enough to visit her Doctor, who brilliantly diagnoses 'head cold and rash (glad he's not mine,) by the third day she's fully deteriorated, blood shot eyes, lost hair etc, poor girl is a mess. Things go on to get even worse as she lashes out on those trying to help her.

Now I'm a bit on the squeamish side, and a movie like this isn't particularly up my alley, but I braved it out, if you've got a weak stomach ignore, as some of it's a bit nasty, it does however reach a point where all reality is lost, she got so bad at one stage it became easier to watch. Poor girl had a rather useless mum, a dreadful girlfriend, who managed to be from Australia, South Africa, The USA and somewhere near Scunthorpe all with her multiple accents. As for her GP, bless him he must have trained at Hogwarts.

The soundtrack was a little irritating for the first 10 minutes, it was a little dated.

Surprisingly well acted I thought, the moral is never have a one night stand with a man with a fuzzy face :-) 5/10 (come on she deserves that for at least trying.)

Contracted: harsh reviews so far, therefore I'll be the first to change the pace a little.

I've watched horror ever since I can remember, love it, all types, slashers, zombies, ghosts and so on. I graded this one with a 6, maybe a little more than I should, but it definitely has to be over 5, and I'll give you the reasons: 1) the plot was pretty OK, more complex than you see at others 2) characters were divert, one of that, one of this, pretty much natural people 3) dialogue: seems dumb sometimes, might be OK if you consider the nature of the situation each time 4) the ending: did not see that one coming, I for one thought it was heading to a different conclusion.

I actually was drawn into it, I will not criticize the fact that it didn't rely on gore, blood or nudity, always loved diversity. So, to this strange little movie, that shows how a girl can change over the days, I say: bravo! It was not great, but it does move you slowly to the edge of the seat.

Contracted: worth a shot!

Cheers!