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Tag Archives: Contagion
Poster for “Contagion” (2011)
Warner Bros. Pictures.
A few quick words on the premiere of “The End of the World” (2013)
An Pan-Seok’s “The End of the World” miniseries (2013) appears to be an intelligent, if a little understated, Korean epidemiological thriller. I was engaged enough by the first episode to rate it a 7 out of 10, and I’ll probably keep watching it to give the show a chance.
It reminded me of Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” (2011), though the dramatic elements here are even more underplayed — at times the first episode even felt like a documentary. It’s a bit slow, but it really looks like screenwriter Park Hye-Reon has done his homework. (The miniseries was based on the novel “Infectious Disease,” by Bae Young-Ik.)
Assuming the series retains the tone and pace of its pilot episode, I believe this would appeal to only serious fans of disease thrillers. To them, I’d recommend it.
A few quick words on The CW’s “Containment” (2016)
The poster for The CW’s new “Containment” seems like a ripoff for some exceptional poster art for 2007’s outstanding horror movie, “28 Weeks Later.” That is just one of a few offhand references that the TV pilot seems to make to the film. At one point, a panicked character blurts out the phrase “zombie apocalypse,” even though that has nothing to do with the plot.
Whatever. Judging from the pilot, the new sci-fi thriller seems like a more or less average outing. It isn’t bad, exactly, but it’s got plenty of room to grow. Right now it seems like a undistinguished, mainstream television treatment of “Contagion” (2011). I’d give it a 6 out of 10.
And, hey … just to add to the confusion, last year there was a really good British independent sci-fi-thriller, also entitled “Containment,” that also portrays a fatal disease outbreak. I reviewed it here at the blog. It almost seems like The CW is adopting the “mockbuster” strategy of capitalizing on viewers’ confusion of their show with superior properties.
Oh, well.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 