The Contracted duology are a pair of sequels based around a sexually-transmitted zombie virus.
Contracted, released in 2013, is the story of Samantha, a shy young woman whose drink was spiked at a party by a stranger named BJ, and she contracts the disease that slowly rots her away over the course of three days, both physically and mentally.
Contracted: Phase II, released in 2015, picks up where the last movie left off, only this time, focusing around Riley, as he attempts to seek out BJ and find a cure.
Tropes common to both movies:
- The Aggressive Drug Dealer: Averted with Zain, who seems like a reasonably nice guy for a drug peddler and doesn't try to push his... wares on others. Although he did sell roofies to BJ, which set the events of the first film in motion.
- Body Horror: Both films deal with a necrotizing STD that physically rots its host within days before turning them into zombies. This is a given. People bleed from their genitals profusely at first, then develop black veins showing through their skin, develop bloodshot eyes, lose fingernails, begin to visibly rot and finally have milky white eyes and then go full zombie after that.
- Downer Ending: Neither film is given a very upbeat conclusion.
- Embarrassing Initials: Brett Jaffe.
- Just Before the End: The first movie revolves around the patient zero of the epidemic, and the second movie focuses on the very, very early stages of the zombie apocalypse.
- Lack of Empathy:
- In the first film, there's Nikki. She's utterly callous toward Sam throughout the film. After learning Sam had been with a man (it was rape) she's disgusted and dumps her (it's uncertain if she realizes this, but if so doesn't care at all).
- In the second film this apparently was BJ's entire reason for spreading the virus. Although he also claims to have Knight Templar motive.
BJ: A new beginning, an eternal night, wrath like never before cleansing society and all I ever wanted was to feel. To feel anything, pain, love, anger. - Meaningful Name: BJ has a tattoo of "Abaddon" on his hand, and says "Abaddon's coming" at the end of his rant calling for humanity's destruction. "Abaddon" literally means "destruction" in Hebrew, and is given to an angel in the Book of Revelation who brings a plague of locusts against humanity, and sometimes also a bottomless pit in which the dead dwell, both very appropriate to invoke.
- Our Zombies Are Different: They’re the product of a sexually transmitted disease from a Serial Rapist who carries the disease, but is immune. It causes people to decay over the course of three days, and to reanimate upon death. After that, everything's pretty straight-forward.
- Plaguemaster: BJ. He carries the disease, and while he doesn't display any apparent symptoms, he still might smell of rot, since he has air fresheners in his car.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Zain, the Affably Evil drug and arms dealer is always Played for Laughs anytime he's onscreen in an otherwise dark and depressing couple of movies.
- Serial Rapist: Brett “BJ” Jaffe is a particularly nasty one. He carries the zombie virus, but doesn’t display any symptoms and as such, is immune. And he deliberately infects women with it, either consensually or not.
- The Virus: The infection in the films is transmitted by fluids (e.g. saliva, semen or blood) and transforms people into zombies over the course of a few days.
The first film:
- Affectionate Nickname: Samantha's friends and her lover Nikki call her Sam frequently.
- A Man Is Always Eager: Riley. When Samantha initiates sex with him near the end of the movie, he barely stops to question it, even though she is: visibly sick; had aggressively rejected him only a short time ago; and he has no reason not to expect that Alice will walk in on them, since they're in her living room and Sam told him she was out back.
- Ambiguously Bi: Samantha. Though she insists throughout the movie that she is a lesbian, she has apparently had relationships with men in the past and she seduces Riley near the end of the movie. Nikki reinforces the idea by calling her a ‘confused little girl going through a phase’ at one point.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: After spending the entire film trying to cope with her infection, Samantha dies in a car crash and returns as a zombie.
- Asshole Victim: Nikki, who was constantly trying to control Sam's life and generally treated her poorly and badmouthed everyone close to her.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. By the end of the movie, Sam's hair is coming out in clumps, her skin is chalk white, and she has rotten teeth, bloody/cataracted eyes, a gigantic sore on her mouth, and no fingernails. Alice flatly states that she looks like shit.
- Bolivian Army Ending: The film ends with a fully zombified Sam being called to by her mother while a pair of cops shout at her to freeze. Samantha charges at her mother, the screen goes black, and screams and crunching sounds are heard.
- Despair Event Horizon: Sam goes off the deep end when Nikki gives her a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech and tries to shut the door in her face.
- Disappeared Dad: Sam's overbearing mother is a big part of the film. Her dad isn't mentioned or seen though.
- Does Not Like Men: Nikki in spades. In fact, she utterly despises them and makes this clear more than once. She's particularly annoyed by the fact that, being a lesbian, she gets even more attention from them. After learning Samantha had been with a man, she dumps her (while it isn't clear if she's aware this was rape, it's due to obvious distaste).
- Dogged Nice Guy:
- Riley, to Sam. He appears to be genuinely attempting to be nice to her, but just doesn't realize that she isn't interested.
- Alice, too. She appears to have Sam's best interests in mind by trying to keep her away from Nikki, who she suspects is a bad influence (and considering Nikki's behavior towards Sam, she isn't wrong). Of course, Sam will have none of this, and buys into Nikki's accusation that she's trying to keep them apart because she wants Sam for herself.
- Sam herself to Nikki, who treats her with contempt throughout the movie.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Samantha is a pretty good example of this already, but by end of the movie her skin is almost translucent, which makes her hair stand out all the more.
- Eye Scream: A subdued example. Samantha’s eyes both become hideously discolored; the iris of one eye turns completely red, while the other develops a gross-looking cataract. Played straight in the sequel, where we see Sam's corpse in the morgue; the cops shot her in the eye, leaving behind a gaping entry wound. Riley’s eyes go through the same process after he gets infected.
- Failed a Spot Check: Alice apparently doesn’t notice that some random stranger she’s never met and whom no one seems to know is crashing her house party and giving drinks to her inebriated friend. Riley also botches his own spot check when he agrees to have unprotected sex with a girl who is visibly very sick and was violently rejecting him not an hour ago, and who probably doesn’t smell very good at this point, given that she’s literally rotting from the inside out. Granted, she put on a ton of makeup and dimmed the lights, but come on, guy.
- The Faceless: Whenever BJ is onscreen, his face is hidden in shadow. This is averted in Phase II, however.
- Fan Disservice: Sam is frequently shown in her underwear while bleeding heavily from… below. And that’s not even mentioning the sex scene between her and Riley, where she’s rotting and maggots are falling off that same area. There's also the scene where Sam kisses Alice, then promptly vomits blood into her mouth.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Averted and played straight when Samantha attacks Alice. She knocks her down and bites her throat out, which we get to see, and then grabs a stone pestle to bash her head in. The camera switches to Alice’s perspective and cuts to black right as the pestle lands.
- Green Thumb: Samantha has one. The opening credits of the movie show her tending to her flowers, she excitedly chatters about her dendrobiums during her lunch with Nikki, and she’s hoping to get into a floriculture competition.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Sam's mom, who's Catholic, clearly disapproves of her having a relationship with another woman.
- Idiot Ball: Pretty much everyone grabs it at some point. Zain starts things off by selling roofies to someone he doesn’t know at a party full of intoxicated young women. Samantha takes the ball and runs with it from there. She continues to insist that she’s fine and refuses to seek help or go to the police, even as she’s hemorrhaging from her vagina, vomiting blood, losing her hair and fingernails, and slowly going blind in one eye. Her doctor also snags it when he doesn’t insist on holding Samantha for observation or just straight up putting her into quarantine, although it turns out that he's the mastermind behind the whole thing, so he probably wanted her to go back out and spread the virus. The ball then gets passed to Sam’s mom, who assumes that she’s using drugs again, even though she’s clearly sick and not high. Even Samantha’s boss, who gets all of about three minutes of screentime, manages to grab it when he lets her deliver food to a table after seeing how awful she looks. Riley wraps up the game of Idiot Ball Toss when he eagerly agrees to have unprotected sex with a girl who violently rejected him only a few hours ago, not questioning her obvious physical ailments.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: As her symptoms progress, Sam heads to the restaurant where she works for a stiff drink or two.
- I Love the Dead: The movie opens on BJ having sex with a corpse. Things go downhill from there.
- I Want My Mommy!: Invoked. Samantha's last conscious act is to call her mother and tell her that she wants to come home.
- Jerkass: Everyone in the cast comes off as a jerkass at one point or another.
- Nikki is the biggest one of the bunch, as even before she dumps Sam after finding out that she was with a man, despite the truth being that she was drugged and raped by BJ, she comes off as a passive-aggressive Control Freak who just seems to have no respect for anyone around her, including Samantha, who Nikki mistreats to the point that she comes off like an abuser, treating her like crap and badmouthing everyone close to her. She even sinks as low as to keep Sam's letter of acceptance without telling her. She's such an asshole that it's very hard to feel bad for her when Sam strangles her to death.
- Samantha treats her mother like shitnote and lashes out at pretty much everyone who tries to help her, especially Alice. Although it's debatable how much of it is Sam actually being a genuine jerk or her infection having an increasingly detrimental effect on her mind.
- Zain openly admits to selling date rape drugs to a stranger and doesn’t seem all that sorry about it.
- Riley can’t seem to take the hint that Samantha doesn’t want him around and gets weirdly possessive and confrontational when he tells her he saw her with BJ.
- Samantha’s mom does show actual concern for her daughter's well-being, but she's also judgmental and overbearing, and she's been unwilling to accept her sexuality to the point that she apparently has called Sam a dyke to her face before. Later, she angrily accuses Sam of using drugs again, even trying to stage an intervention.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Samantha isn't a very nice person to a lot of people around her. But she has understandable reasons to be that way towards Riley (who has been stalking her even after she's rejected him and he won't take no for an answer) and her mother (who is shown to be very insensitive and judgmental as well as unwilling to accept her sexuality to the point that she directly called Sam a dyke right to her face.)
- Kick the Dog:
- Nikki coldly dumps Sam and calls her a sexually confused little girl after learning she'd been with a man (even though it was rape). It's unclear if she knows or cares about that. Notably, this is what causes Sam's Face–Heel Turn.
- While Riley was always rather creepy towards Samantha, it just comes across as unnecessary and cruel of her to have sex with him with the intention of infecting him.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Sam has long hair, stylish feminine clothing and is meticulous about her makeup, while dating another woman. However, given she seduces Riley later, she might be bi.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Samantha, after she bites into Alice’s throat. She reacts with confusion and horror.
- Oh, Crap!: There are a few of these.
- Samantha, upon learning that the police are searching for the man who raped her at Alice’s party, and that he’s apparently considered extremely dangerous.
- Alice also gets one when Samantha barges into her house after murdering Nikki. Alice’s expression during the latter part of the conversation strongly suggest that she knows exactly what Sam has done.
- Riley gets probably the worst, as he first discovers that he’s just had unprotected sex with a girl whose body is literally crawling with maggots, and then discovers Alice’s bloody corpse in the bathtub.
- Only Sane Man: Alice comes across as this. In the beginning, she encourages Samantha to try and have a good time at the party in an attempt to help her get over her break-up with Nikki and generally trying to keep Sam away from her - and rightfully so, given how poorly Nikki treats her. Later, after Samantha becomes sick, Alice repeatedly tries to convince her to go to the police or the hospital. Unfortunately for her, this is what winds up getting her killed.
- Our Zombies Are Different: At least at first. Samantha contracts the zombie virus through sexual contact, as does Riley. After that, it progresses pretty similarly to any other zombie infection and can be spread via body fluids and bites.
- Patient Zero: Either the corpse BJ has sex with at the very beginning of the movie, BJ for being the carrier who transfers the virus to Samantha, or Samantha to be the first infected person to show symptoms.
- Pet the Dog: Samantha's mother briefly tells her that she's proud of her for having her plants accepted into the gallery.
- Rape as Drama: Samantha was infected with the virus by BJ drugging her drink, then getting her into his car in the inebriated state to have sex. He doesn't stop when she asks him to either. Afterward, she doesn't remember most of this due to it being rohypnol.
- Sanity Slippage: As she physically rots away from the virus, Samantha also starts becoming less and less mentally stable until she commits two murders.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The doctor that Sam's mom calls to help her stage an intervention bails out immediately when Sam tears off her sunglasses to reveal the extent of her physical deterioration.
- Shower Scene: Notably not played for fanservice; it starts with Sam scalding her hand because she's losing sensation in her extremities, then goes on to show that she's developing Tainted Veins and losing her hair in clumps.
- Slipping a Mickey: It's revealed that BJ spiked the drink he gave to Samantha with rohypnol, which he used to get her out to his car so that he could rape her, after which she blacked out.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: A cheerful, upbeat pop ballad plays over the end credits, just after Samantha turns into a zombie and kills her own mother. There is also the soft, serene music that plays as Samantha is cleaning herself up and hiding the evidence after murdering Alice.
- Stalker with a Crush: Riley tends to follow Sam around, attempting to hit on her.
- Strawman Political: Zig-zagged with Sam’s mother. She’s a devout Catholic who strongly disapproves of her daughter’s homosexuality, but at the same time, displays genuine concern for her well-being and admits to being proud of Sam when she tells her that her entry into the floriculture competition was accepted.
- Trauma Conga Line: Poor Sam. She gets raped and infected with a zombie virus, is smothered by her homophobic religious mother, stalked by an old friend, has her plants rejected by the gallery because the owner doesn't recognize her due to the extent of her bodily decay, is given the silent treatment by her control freak girlfriend who later dumps her on the basis that she'd "been with a man" (even though it was rape), and finally ends up in a car crash that kills her and causes her to come back as a zombie.
- Villain Protagonist: Samantha starts out as a friendly, if not timid, young woman but as the disease starts to progress in her, she becomes more unstable and aggressive, to the point where she murders Nikki and Alice, and has sex with Riley with the intention of getting him infected.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: We get to watch Samantha vomiting blood into the toilet, and later Riley throwing up after he discovers the extent of Samantha’s decay the hard way.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Sam spends the majority of the film rotting away from The Virus, which was deliberately forced on her by a despicable Serial Rapist. Then she goes absolutely apeshit at the end, murdering Nikki for rejecting her, and Alice, who she blamed for said rejection, and has sex with Riley to transmit the disease as revenge for stalking her. Finally, she dies and turns into a zombie, and kills her own mother. Just goes to show what a miserable three days she had.
The second film:
- And I Must Scream: Harper dies, is zipped up in a body bag, then left in a morgue storage as she reanimates.
- Actionized Sequel: Mildly, although there's a lot more gunfire involved, and BJ's Evil Plan is played like something out of an action-packed crime thriller.
- Ax-Crazy: BJ. Goes around spreading his disease by way of rape? Check. Records unhinged rants in his basement about how the world deserves a Zombie Apocalypse? Check. Keeps a zombified woman chained up in said basement? Check. Shoots up a hospital while threatening to blow himself up? Check.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Being the carrier of the virus, BJ survives Riley’s bite, and is hospitalized. Although he fails to kill Detective Young, she’s obviously infected, anyway, and is likely to turn soon. And the plague's only going to continue spreading across the city, and likely the world in time.
- Black Comedy: Ricky, the security guard, sees Debbie scratching violently at the giant rash on her arm, and all he says is, “Oh hell no” and casually walks away.
- Evil All Along: It's revealed that BJ is The Dragon to the doctor from the first film.
- Eye Scream: Harper removes her own eye while trying to take out her contacts.
- Hypocritical Humor: Zain is mortified when Riley asks him for guns, but gives in and admits he has them.Zain: Fucking guns, bro? Do I look like Ted-Fucking-Nugent? (Beat, looks at Harper) Don't answer that. Dude, I sell fucking recreational shit here, okay? I sell good times, I help people and I don't fucking kill them, okay? (Beat) How much cash you got? (Gilligan Cut, a bunch of guns and ammo are lying on the table)
- I Am the Noun: "I am the end."
- Knight Templar: BJ's first Motive Rant contains hints of this, but he contradicts it in his second one, where he makes it clear that he's little more than a sociopath.BJ: What you deserve is disease. What you deserve is plague. All the people around you, your sons and daughters, your brothers and sisters, their bodies stacked around you like firewood leaking blood and pus. All the physical that you held so dear. Everything that turned you on... now rotted and stinking from the very... (yelling at the zombified woman he has chained up) QUIET! (Beat) Abaddon is coming.
- Lighter and Softer: Slightly. It has a little more Black Comedy than the first, and at times, comes across as more of a crime/action movie than it does a grueling Body Horror flick, and is more of a straightforward Zombie Apocalypse movie than a cautionary tale about date rape and STDs. The ending is no less grim than the first movie, though, and in fact, is even worse.
- Madness Mantra: "I am death. I am disease. I am the end. I am death. I am disease. I am the end."
- Misanthrope Supreme: BJ explains in a Motive Rant that he utterly despises humanity and wants nothing more than to see them all wiped out by his hand.
- Narm: Invoked with the song that Dewey plays at Alice’s memorial. James is quick to point out just how hokey it is.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Here, BJ is not only a Serial Rapist, but a sociopathic Misanthrope Supreme who wants to exterminate the human race.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Riley is about to buy some guns off of Zain, only for him and Harper to be caught by the police and then taken to the hospital, where Harper dies and is trapped in a morgue storage, and Riley is killed by BJ and then comes back as a zombie, then is shot in the head, killing him off for good.
- Smells of Death: Implied to be the case with BJ. He has a bunch of air fresheners hanging up in his car.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: At the beginning of the movie, Sam is shot by the police after killing her mother. Riley also dies, although that only happens at the end.
- Took a Level in Badass: Riley goes from being the quiet stalker out for Sam’s affection to a zombified Determinator ready to go after the man responsible for the plague.
- Took a Level in Kindness: As of the sequel, Riley is a much nicer person and not just a creepy stalker. He's shown to care for his grandmother, and to regret standing by while Sam was being raped. He does not, however, refuse to get violent when Harper's classmate tries to stop him from taking her along on the trip to find BJ.
- Zombie Apocalypse: One has started by the end of the movie.
