SCREAM YOUR ENTHUSIASM (22)
By:
December 13, 2024
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of favorite horror movies. Series edited by Heather Quinlan.
CONTAGION | d. STEVEN SODERBERGH | 2011
At the time of its release, the scariest thing about Contagion was obviously the disease itself. A shapeshifting virus that dissolves human brains, it mutates so quickly that it becomes twice as contagious in a matter of weeks, making it the deadliest pathogen in history.
But watching it again after the pandemic, the most prescient and nauseating aspect of the film is Jude Law’s performance as Alan Krumwiede, purveyor of blatant disinformation to boost his clicks and profits. The Internet is a delivery system for lucrative falsehood, and he jumps on it, with the fervor of a game show host who sold steaks in electronics stores.
“That’s the brand. I say the right thing, nobody shows up for their shot. Maybe they’d rather roll the dice with forsythia. I can make that happen. I just wanna know I’m in the best possible position when I do.”
The real disease isn’t a germ, but the deliberate dissolution of shared truth for a few bucks.
Horse dewormer. Inject bleach or maybe sunlight. Microchips in the vaccine.
The other element in Contagion which resonates hard with me years later is the skinny blond teenager who doesn’t get to go to prom. She watches 144 days of her life swirl down the drain, no prom, not even the most minimal human contact.
I spent many a night in the spring of 2020 zooming around the empty freeways of Los Angeles with my own skinny blond teenager behind the wheel, getting in practice time as her driver’s test and SATs kept getting postponed again and again. No senior prom and all Zoom learning. “Daddy, I didn’t learn anything last year.” “Just keep driving, kiddo. The freeways will never be this empty again in your lifetime…I hope.”
Of all the movies I could have lived through, why did it have to be this one and not Duck Soup?
SCREAM YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Heather Quinlan | Crockett Doob on THE SHINING | Dean Haspiel on TOURIST TRAP | Fran Pado on M3GAN | Erin M. Routson on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT | Adam McGovern on THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER | Michele Carlo on THE EXORCIST | Tony Pacitti on JAWS | Josh Glenn on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) | Kathy Biehl on HALLOWEEN | Annie Nocenti on ROSEMARY’S BABY | Carolyn Campbell on WAIT UNTIL DARK | Marc Weidenbaum on DAWN OF THE DEAD | Amy Keyishian on SHAUN OF THE DEAD | Gabriela Pedranti on [•REC] | Mariane Cara on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY | Trav SD on FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY | Colin Campbell on EVIL DEAD (2013) | Lynn Peril on NIGHT GALLERY | Heather Quinlan on THE CHANGELING | Kenny Simek on REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA | Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons on IT (1990) | James Scott Maloy on CONTAGION | Nick Rumaczyk on THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF | Max Alvarez on THE INNOCENTS | Michael Campochiaro on BLACK CHRISTMAS.
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