[3] It was first released on November 23, 2013, in the United States and stars Najarra Townsend as a young woman that finds herself suffering from a mysterious sexually transmitted disease after a rape.

Twitch Film has criticized the movie for its marketing, in which England describes the character Samantha's rape as a "one night stand".

[4] The original cast of the first film is featured in a sequel titled Contracted: Phase II, written by Craig Walendziak and directed by Josh Forbes.

[5] In a morgue, a man named BJ with an Abaddon tattoo has sex with a corpse that has a biohazard symbol on the toe tag; afterward, he handles an empty test tube while washing up.

Despite her protests that she is a lesbian who has not had sex with men for nearly a year, he is suspicious that she has contracted a sexually transmitted disease from heterosexual intercourse because of a rash that has developed in her groin.

Samantha flees the restaurant and returns to her doctor, who advises her to avoid contact with other people until tests can determine the nature of her disease.

[7] Veteran horror actress Caroline Williams was cast as the mother of the main character after England and film producer Matt Mercer approached her via her Facebook page.

[1] IFC Films released it in the United States in theaters and video on demand on November 22, 2013,[10] and on DVD on March 18, 2014.

[13] Rob Staeger of The Village Voice wrote the film moves from moralizing to under-explored themes while remaining full of stereotypical characters.

[15] In a mixed review, Andy Webster of The New York Times wrote that the "ending to this fable misses the opportunity for broader metaphorical resonance, but getting there has its own unnerving rewards".

[18] Dennis Harvey of Variety called it "a body horror opus" whose vague themes and unlikeable characters are not readily discernible as intentional.

However, Croll states that the major themes of the film are denial and self-deception, which color Samantha's own perception of the incident.

[4] A sequel featuring the original cast of the first film titled Contracted: Phase II, written by Craig Walendziak and directed by Josh Forbes, was released September 4, 2015, in the U.S.[5]