1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Contagio-To Film or Not To Film, March 24, 2010
This review is from: Contagio (DVD)
Contagio is, with the bottom line, a low budget movie. Really. It's a simple story that would rank along John Borman's "Deliverance" or Ethan Coen's "No Country for Old Men" if the director and writer Steve Sessions had a proper budget. The plot has simple everyday locations that the characters move around in like these. While vacationing in the woods, Calvin and Iris find their lives in danger after a government satellite, without warning, crashes near their campsite and releases a deadly cloud of gas-not a rocket fuel as the officials say, but some form of biological weapon. The "cloud" has spread over a wide area, killing animals and people. The ensuing cover up and attempted "cleanup" of undesirables-folks who know the truth-is the focus of our story as not only do they dodge biosuited soldiers, gunship helicopters and "cleanse" bombing stealth fighters, but the deadly contamination as well. The resulting end would be a staple of any Romero "Dead" feature if I have ever seen one, but there are no spoilers here!
The director lets the story unfold kind of slowly, and the difficulties of dealing with the ultra low budget is obvious with the camera work. Contagio was shot on video. The gas victims and broken leg makeup is top, and the suspense is not bad. But hand held camera shots only seem to work with some features, like Blair Witch or Battlestar Galactica, so it seems to pull against the film here. Contagio was shot in one week. How does it fare? The biohazard troopers are realistic. The actors are from the director's past features staples, or have experience in other low budget horror and science fiction SOV features and once again, it has a very low budget. So gauge it as it is. If you are looking for a Hollywood 40 million dollar epic here look elsewhere. These types of low budget shoots are targeted for a niche clientele that Brain Damage Films, the distributor, has tailored to exclusively to allow low budget film makers to release their works. Session's Contagio premise is dark, suspenseful, and could have been a major piece had Steve Sessions, really, had a real budget. But like most movie doers, he works with what he has-and it comes out entertaining.
Some of the director's past works-all available internationally-Cremains, Hellbound, Malefic, Dead Clowns, Southern Gothic, At The House of Madness and Torment, all demonstrate his horror writing and film making talents if more money were spent on production. Lionsgate distributed one. Some have even been on cable! Contagio is a break in a new direction, and although the concept is interesting, the director should stick to what he really does best-in my opinion-supernatural horror. I have to respect the talents and pains of low budget directors who get the product done rather than mulling over doing nothing at all. Considering the odds and thousands of no budget productions that are produced monthly and never get distribution I have to say his B,C,D,F,W,X and Z grade movies have done him pretty well. His site is b-horror.com. Sure, folks, I'm a big fan of Steve Sessions. But I'll tell it how it is. So enough said. Someone give this man a proper budget!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
