Contamination

Director(s) - Neil Chase (Where Did I Go, Spin the Wheel) and David Heacock (Boneyard Racers, Babageddon)

Starring - Neil Chase, Brandon Horth (Spin the Wheel), and S-Raj Kumar (The Zombie Apocalypse in Room 14F, Smile: It's Only the End of the World)

Release Date - 2025

Genre - Action/Thriller

Tagline - "The danger is within"

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     My October horror binge is in full swing.  I've seen some awesome horror titles so far this month and I don't plan on slowing down anytime soon.  As I was looking at my planned list of movies to watch this month I realized that I had an action thriller I needed to review.  While it was not a horror film in a traditional sense, it still looked enjoyable with just enough suspense to get me in the holiday spirit.  The film, Containment, was directed by Neil Chase and David Heacock.  I want to thank Neil for reaching out and allowing Horror Society and myself the opportunity to check it out.

     The film follows a group of soldiers who are tasked with recovering sensitive information from a secret lab thought to be compromised.  What they don't know is that the facility is ground zero for a virus from out of this world that can infect those that come in contact with it.  

     I went into this one knowing very little about it besides some of the info Neil sent over when he asked me to check it out.  While I wish it was a bit more horror-centric, I still enjoyed it for the most part.  It's a military centered thriller with some sci-fi elements that works.  It may not be making it's way to everyone's October watchlist but it still needs to be seen some other time during the year.  The acting in this one is pretty well done.  The characters are very generic and exactly what you would expect from a film centered around career soldiers sent on a special forces operation.  The cast does a decent enough job portraying them in front of the camera.  I would have liked them to have a bit more personality about them but it fits the film and they do a solid job.  The story for this one is I had seen a few times before but with some minor changes.  The basic premise is a group of soldiers go to a secret facility, in Alaska I believe, to retrieve the data from their research.  The people there are infected by an extraterrestrial virus that can jump from host to host just by contact.  I've seen similar stories like this, especially from the SyFy original age, that followed parasites, alien spores, zombie virus, and even a vampire like disease.  Hell, I think the plot is almost identical to a Dean Cain flick about zombies.  With that being said, it is enjoyable but way too long for the story we do have.  A good 20 minutes or so could be trimmed while keeping the story intact.  Finally, the film has way more visual effects than I was expecting.  These do stand out and are not necessary for the progression of the story.  Also, the film doesn't really showcase on screen deaths like I would have liked.  We get a lot of gun shots and deaths associated with that but the effects are minimal or non-existent for most of them.  Overall, Contamination is a enjoyable action thriller that works for the most part.  I would like to several things changed to improve the quality but it's fun as is.  Check it out.