Contracted

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Contracted
Starring Najarra Townsend, Carolien Williams, Alice Macdonald, Katie Stegeman
Directed by Eric England

Synopsis:
While attending a party, Samantha (Najarra Townsend) has a one-night stand with a mysterious stranger.  The next day she begins experiencing an odd sickness, and learns from her friend Alice (Alice Macdonald) that the guy she was with was being sought after by the police for a mysterious reason.

Samantha fears what is happening to her, but is too afraid to go to the doctor.  Her mother (Caroline Williams) fears she's suicidal again, and she has a tumultuous relationship with her girlfriend Nikki (Katie Stegeman).  She worries Nikki will leave her, so she keeps it a secret.  As the days progress, the disease gets worse, and slowly Samantha learns that this is no ordinary STD.

Review:
There are certain movies out there where you really need to feel about the main characters.  To make them someone you want to root for, to see good things happen to.  Without this close connection, the movie is missing something vital.

Unfortunately, that's what happened with "Contracted."  The premise is amazing, the story was compelling and the ending was great, but it wasn't able to reach the highest peak because the character of Samantha was possibly the most annoying, stupid, and downright ride person ever, so you found yourself rooting for her destruction.

She gets this disease and instead of going to the ER, she carries on like nothing happened.  She refuses to go to the police or the doctor because she worries this will end her relationship with Nikki, and if you saw how their relationship was before then, you'd wonder why the heck she would care so much.  Her friends try to help her, but she lashes out at them, even uttering the most stupidest thing I've ever heard: "you're supposed to be my friend, you're supposed to hide this and not bring it to the light."  Yes, that's the best advice.  You're dying, so might as well die a slow terrible death than go get medical treatment and fear people will think you're a whore.  Perfect plan.

Summary:
Truly some gross-out moments and a great mystery, but there needed to be a character to root for.

My Rating: B+

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