My First Do-Over
Last night, I decided to find a suggestion for day 14 of my horror movie marathon. I used a site called All Flicks that lists available movies on Netflix by their IMDB rating. Assuming one from the top would be worth my time, I picked Extinction (aka The G.M.O. Chronicles). Within fifteen minutes, I stopped the film. How could this movie get such a high rating? It sucked big time. Seems like there are a lot of movies called Extinction and the ratings got switched around. Feeling cheated, I thought a do-over was in order and went back to doing it the old-fashioned way. I closed my eyes and randomly picked one from my queue.
Samantha (Najarra Townsend, Limelight, The Toy Soldiers) doesn’t look good. Her eyes are bloodshot, her hair’s falling out and maggots have taken up residence in her crotch. She’s got an STI, or more like an STZ, if you know what I mean. Over the next three days, Samantha’s body and life will slowly fall apart.
Contracted is one of the more original horror films I’ve seen. Though it isn’t as strong as last year’s It Follows, it does do a good job of mixing the realities of being sexually active with the tropes usually found in most teen horror films. There are a lot of icky moments and a subtle creepiness to how Samantha’s deterioration plays out. Things ramp up a little too much in the last twenty minutes, which felt extreme compared to the subtle psychological horrors of the first hour. Even with the uneven resolution, Contracted is well worth your time. Recommended.
Availability: Netflix Canada, Netflix US
RSS