Contracted has a great idea and first act, but the execution becomes more and more mediocre as it goes on. Set over the course of a few days in L.A., the film opens with heroine Samantha (Najarra Townsend), estranged as of late from her girlfriend, going to a social gathering at a friend's house. Inebriated, the night ends with a confused and unpleasant sexual encounter with a stranger. The next morning, she begins to show signs of illness: unusual bleeding, an enhanced sensitivity to sound, disorientation, etc. Her situation turns from bad to worse as her health deteriorates minute by minute, causing her urban life to spiral into chaos and violence.

An undeniable truth: disease is frightening, from the intense pace at which a virus can spread to the very idea of destruction coming from within one's own body rather than from an outside force one can bargain with or combat. For a while, Contracted captures and exploits medical paranoia, playing as an intimate, character specific variation on Contagion by way of the nastiest, most primal urges of early David Cronenberg. Gore adoring genre fans will enjoy the old-school body-horror jolts as Samantha's eyes turn blood red and she is parted from her hair and fingernails.

Simply put, though, I am not a fan of the direction in which the second and third acts head: rather than send the character through the system (Center for Disease Control, containment, surgery, hospitals as prisons), a path which could prove fascinating, frightening, and topical, it continues to focus on bland personal conflicts. As Samantha disguises her face and tries to navigate various personal feuds, interest and suspense fades, which is a shame because, for a while, this film hits a serious nerve.

C+