{"id":677,"date":"2014-10-12T13:15:27","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T17:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=677"},"modified":"2026-09-17T13:44:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:44:42","slug":"contracted-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=677","title":{"rendered":"Contracted-2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contracted-2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Eric England<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Najarra Townsend<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #184<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"70296585\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed October 12, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: B-<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems that many reviewers of Contracted (2013) are looking for a deeper meaning to the film or debating whether a particular scene was a rape or a consensual sexual act.<\/p>\n

I looked for neither and just took the 2013 independent horror film at face value.<\/p>\n

I don’t view the film as worth overanalyzing or digging too deep beneath the surface.<\/p>\n

The plot is rather basic.<\/p>\n

Samantha is a young woman on the outs with her girlfriend Nikki. She goes to a party where her friend Alice gets her drunk, and Samantha winds up talking to a handsome stranger named BJ.<\/p>\n

Samantha agrees to have sex with him in his car, but at one point begs him to stop. It is unclear what transpires.<\/p>\n

The next morning, Samantha wakes up feeling strange- she assumes she is hungover, but gradually her hair, teeth, and fingernails begin to fall out, and her eyes are hideously bloodshot.<\/p>\n

Her symptoms slowly worsen as she transforms into a strange monster.<\/p>\n

In the mix are supporting characters, Riley, who is in love with Samantha even though she is a lesbian and rebuffs all of his advances, and Samantha’s Mom, who is convinced that Samantha is using drugs again (which she is).<\/p>\n

I did not find the film to be a metaphor for punishing women or lesbians for a one-night stand. I viewed it as a fun, Saturday late-night horror flick.<\/p>\n

If I were to dissect the film critically, the premise is rather absurd- a young woman turning into a zombie\/monster after having sexual relations with a stranger.<\/p>\n

Silly, but I am not expecting highbrow art from this type of film. The acting, especially of the actress portraying Samantha, is below average at best, and horrid at worst.<\/p>\n

The three central female characters (Samantha, Nikki, and Alice) are presumably all lesbians or bisexual; especially Nikki is irritated when a man dares to hit on her, as if they should magically already know she is a lesbian.<\/p>\n

Nikki is very unlikeable. She seldom returns Samantha’s calls and keeps pushing her away.<\/p>\n

I did not buy any of the three as lesbians- not to be stereotypical, but they each had feminine-only qualities.<\/p>\n

The way Samantha’s mother kept insisting that Samantha was on drugs became irritating by the fifth time she brought it up.<\/p>\n

Why did Riley pursue Samantha ad nauseam when he was aware that she was a lesbian? What is BJ’s motivation for presumably giving Samantha a drug? She was already drunk enough to have sex with him- why did he want to turn her into a monster?<\/p>\n

This plot point is unclear.<\/p>\n

The film is not character-driven; it is strictly plot-driven, and like most horror films, is meant to be that way. The finale is quite satisfying, as Samantha’s fate, along with her mother’s, is left up in the air.<\/p>\n

The same cannot be said for Nikki or Alice, as both receive their just desserts.<\/p>\n

Contracted (2013) isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s a fun little horror film to enjoy. Just don’t ask too many questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contracted-2013 Director Eric England Starring Najarra Townsend Scott’s Review #184 Reviewed October 12, 2014 Grade: B- It seems that many reviewers of Contracted (2013) are looking for a deeper meaning to the film or debating whether a particular scene was a rape or a consensual sexual act. I looked for neither and just took the … Continue reading Contracted-2013<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13,41,217,122,345,402],"tags":[12679,12678,3892,12680,3893],"class_list":["post-677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2013-films","category-horror-films","category-indiefilms","category-indie-horror","category-gay-films","category-lgbt-horror","category-horror-zombie","tag-alice-macdonald","tag-caroline-williams","tag-eric-england","tag-katie-stegeman","tag-najarra-townsend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=677"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24529,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677\/revisions\/24529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}