Contracted
Short description
Samantha, a young woman in her twenties, has a complicated life: her relationship with her girlfriend Nikki has grown distant, her mother is overbearing, and she struggles with other pressures. After a drunken night at a party, she has sex with a stranger, a decision that she soon comes to regret. She wakes up feeling unwell and assumes she has picked up a sexually transmitted infection, but the symptoms keep getting worse, and her appearance begins to change in ways she cannot explain. Samantha's efforts to get answers lead nowhere, while those around her grow increasingly alarmed.
Contracted is a 2013 American horror thriller written and directed by Eric England, his debut feature and the first of the two films he had directed as of its release. Najarra Townsend plays Samantha, with Caroline Williams, Katie Stegeman, Alice Macdonald, Matt Mercer and Simon Barrett in supporting roles.
On IMDb, the film holds a rating of 5.3 from around 18,000 votes, while on TMDB it also sits at 5.3, from roughly 559 votes. A critics' rating of 5 out of 10 from 15 reviews places it in similar territory to the audience scores. The film runs 84 minutes and was produced by BoulderLight Pictures and Southern Fried Films.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film's director, screenwriter, and producer, Eric England, later spoke about how difficult it was to find an actress for the lead role. Some refused due to the low fee. Others considered the film's plot too daring, while others cited being busy. Eventually, Nejarra Townsend was found for the role of Samantha, who wanted to try her hand at it despite her agent's objections. England honestly warned Townsend that she would “cry” from the makeup application process and that after being seen in this role, no one would want to have sex with her. Townsend replied that she liked the script, and everything else didn't matter, and she got the role.
- Initially, the script contained much more sex and nudity, but according to Eric England, the producers J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margulies (exceptionally religious people) forced him to remove almost all of the corresponding scenes from the film. As a result, England created a very art-house film, which, from his point of view, made the whole story even more refined, without focusing on sex.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
