ILL: Final Contagium (2019)

This is a film I have been personally following since its conception stage and have been greatly anticipating its release. The exciting horror anthology was directed by four very talented extreme horror directors from around the world (a Chilean, two Italians and a German), who have joined forces to bring us a new extreme body horror anthology with something to say.

Indie horror is a genre that has seen an abundance of films released in various formats in recent years, some have been good yet many have been lazily produced reproductions of other films. Ill: Final Contagium, while dealing with a subject matter previously covered in many films, does bring an original feel to the theme, expressed within the text and visuality of the four stories told.

The first of which, “Contagium“, directed by Chilean filmmaker Lucio A. Rojas and written by Rojas and Ximena del Solar, details the beginning of a global pandemic originating from an experiment by the military. It is a nicely stylized segment possessing a modern feel, while reminiscent of older works from 70s and 80s thrillers about biochemical agents being used to achieve certain results, be it by terrorist acts or corporations with evil intent. It is a great start to the film and gives us exposition, showing where the virus originated from, though not giving much detail as to the exact reason for its creation and the motivation of its creators.

The segments stars Felipe Rios, Ximena del Solar and Rayloren Mata, who do a great job. The largely effective VFX, makeup by Abigail Ruiz and fittingly tense music by Ignacio Redard also deserve mention.
The second segment, titled “Gully“, directed by young Italian filmmaker Lorenzo Zanoni and written by Luca Nicolai, tells the story of a young man who, as a result of a good deed which somehow turns to somewhat innocent greed, becomes the unwitting victim of a painful metamorphosis.

Owen (Tommaso Arnaldi) is a slacker who lives off the good graces of his grandmother (who allows him to live in her apartment rent free) and his loving girlfriend, Stella (Silvia Morigi), who works hard to pay the bills. He enjoys a carefree lifestyle of sitting at home all day, eating junk food and playing computer games, all the while pretending to be looking for work. One day he witnesses a pedestrian getting hit by a car and tries to help the injured man. Owen feels he deserves a reward for his assistance and for potentially saving the man’s life and in a weak moment steals something he should not have. From that point on we see his degredation, perhaps punishment for this deed.

While the story is a fairly straight forward one of crime and punishment, there is a beautiful love story hiding in there and it leaves the audience wondering if the punishment here fits the crime.

FX make up by Athanasius Pernath is sure to make viewers feel incredible unease and greatly enhances this segment by the young and very promising Zanoni.

Next is “The Body“, directed by Italian filmmaker and MyIndie featured artist, Domiziano Cristopharo with screenplay by Pasquale Scalpellino. It is a sad tale of a transsexual woman obsessed with beauty, who resorts to home cosmetic surgery in order to save money and suffers grave punishment for her vanity.

The segment stars long time Cristopharo collaborator Chiara Pavoni in the lead role with a supporting cast of Arianna Bonardi, Francesco Giannotti, Giorgio Agri and MyIndie featured artist, Poison Rouge.

The Body possesses a more giallo and grotesque feel than the others and the cinematogrpahy, also by Cristopharo, is as usual, top notch. SFX makeup by Athanasius Pernath (a.k.a. Domiziano Cristopharo) and makeup by Silvia Bastet is beautifully grotesque. The music by Antony Coia, who also composed the superb opening/end titles theme, is also excellent and a great addition to this piece, which leads us to the final segment…

“The Cabin“, written and directed by German filmmaker Kai. E. Bogatzki, is a post-apocalyptic tale in which a father (Max Evans) does all that he can to save his infected son (Justin Salowski).

It depicts a time in which money has become the only means that can allow the infected to stay alive by potentially purchasing an antidote produced by big pharma. The segment takes place in a forrest cabin, where the father has isolated his son and attmepts to make scheduled runs into town to get supplies and somehow get hold of more cash to hopefully gather the necessary amount for the cure for his son. It is shown partly in video recordings the man documents on his video camera to leave behind some kind of record of their ordeal. 

Bogatzki shows his talents quite well with some steady direction and interesting visuals, aided by some gruesome VFX. A fine way to end the anthology.

Ill: Final Contagium is technically sound and extremely well executed. Production/Set design in all four segments is largely convincing and helps draw the viewer into the story. It is undoubtedly an admirable effort by all four international indie filmmakers involved and conveys a valuable and familiar message which is definitely applicable today. It does not hide its social commentary of today’s world governments, big pharma and the possiblity of such outbreaks in our current reality. It also unleashes a criticism on us, as human beings, for all our faults when it comes to greed, power, laziness, vanity, lust and disregard for our fellow beings.

For the above reasons, this film stands out in the current landscape of indie horror filmmaking and is one of the better anthologies I have seen in recent times. I hope it is applauded for that and receives some highly deserved praise for what it brings to the table. When it comes to indie horror, I am a believer that it is time to raise the bar and create some more intelligent, philosophical, higher quality product than what is generally offered these days and Ill seems like a great move in that direction.

Entertaining and inspiring. 8/10.