Netflix has a wide variety of horror films that can scare the living lights out of the audience. However, certain films do not require to fall under the category of horror to be considered equally ominous and scary.
In his fifth collaboration with Steven Soderbergh, following Ocean’s Eleven film trilogy and The Informant!, Matt Damon starred in the 2011 film, Contagion, which is considered one of his most terrifying films.
With its unique premise and fresh perspective on the thriller genre, Contagion had amassed rave reviews and brilliant box office collections before fading into memory. However, following the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the film hit closer home as it ominously foreshadowed the events that ravaged the world since 2020.
Albeit an exaggerated pandemic scenario, the film sees a woman returning from Hong Kong with a strange respiratory disease that kills her and subsequently spreads rapidly. As the mortality rate continues to increase, the leads must race against time to find a cure for this global pandemic.
With a brilliant ensemble cast, including Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard, the film curiously predicted events that would destroy the normalcy in the world nine years later.
Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, also credited for The Bourne Ultimatum and The Informant!, made the film scarier by making the virus the real antagonist- intangible, unseen and deadly. The brilliant mix of science, realism, destruction and desperation worked in tandem with Soderbergh’s superior artistic vision.
The director takes the audience on a dizzying waltz through various countries, including Macau, Hong Kong, Chicago, Atlanta and more, to document the horrifying spread of the virus and its consequences.
The severe and frightening pace of the film drives in the despairing idea of isolation and death that alarmingly resonated with our current predicament, thus leading to a rise in viewership of the film.
On March 1st, 2022, Contagion began streaming on Netflix US once again, and viewers can relive the terrifying journey via this Matt Damon film.
