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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.
Fatal Contact: Bird Flu In America
EMAILPRINTMOVIE: ABC, Tuesday 5/9 at 8:00p (120 minutes)
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 14 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this show >
Show Info
Genre(s): Drama
First Air Date: May 9, 2006
Summary
Starring Joely Richardson, Stacy Keach, Ann Cusack, Justina Machado, Scott Cohen, and David Ramsey
This ripped-from-tomorrow's-headlines, made-for-sweeps disaster movie posits a scenario where avian flu not only spreads to humans, but becomes epidemic in the United States. If the Kleenex people aren't sponsoring this, they're crazy.
Also On The Web: Official Show Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Hollywood ReporterRay Richmond
It's an exceptionally well-produced, -written and -directed cautionary tale that's more than worthy of its sweeps scheduling.
Read Full Review >The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
It is a soberly and compellingly told tall tale, and quite alarming.
Read Full Review >USA TodayRobert Bianco
The good news for those who are pressed for time is that if you've seen the ads for Fatal Contact, you've pretty much seen the movie.
Read Full Review >Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
With its sterile, facts-on-the-ground approach and stilted dialogue, fleshed-out characters are secondary to scary numbers here.
Read Full Review >Washington PostTom Shales
The docudrama style carries an aura of awful, if not awesome, authority.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
I admire the producers' decision to not go all Charlton Heston with this, yet they have still made what is, in spite of the docudramatic veneer, a disaster film (social chaos, plucky survivors, essentially hopeful) crossed with a horror movie (mortal bodies fatally altered by contagion, fundamentally unsettling). Just a dull one.
Read Full Review >NewsdayVerne Gay
Just substitute the words "Bird Flu" in the title with "Sharks," or "Bees," or "Hurricane," or "Twister," or "Large Gorilla," or "Mothra," and you end up with (and almost always have) pretty much the same story line. Killer attacks! People die! Human kindness and compassion prevail! Fade to credits!
Read Full Review >Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
That we don't care [about the characters] is just testament to the paint-by-numbers nature of this sweeps flick.
Read Full Review >VarietyBrian Lowry
Unfortunately, the producers appear to have chosen a title and then cobbled together a movie to fit it, albeit one that lacks a story structure or, for that matter, an ending.
Read Full Review >Wall Street JournalDorothy Rabinowitz
"Shameless" has always seemed a term best reserved for rare occasions, especially in this age of reality shows... Even so such an occasion has arrived with the scheduling of ABC's May sweeps entry, "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America."
Read Full Review >New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
A wretched disappointment.... "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" doesn't just have the smell of death. It also reeks of failure.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this show is 4.1 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
adam b gave it a10:
Carolyn dando is absolutely outstanding in her role...well done
Ssam N gave it an8:
From a medical perspective this movie is quite accurate with a minimal of science fiction involved. Sober presentation with little flourish. The standard inept media folks or viewers will not appreciate its factual approach and the message of tragedy it imparts. You are looking at the future folks not at your usual moronic action movie.
Sam gave it a2:
This movie isn't trying to entertain you, it's trying to scare the living shit out of you with the bird flu and "when" it will become an epidemic. Jesus Christ, please help us if this is called entertainment.
go poi gave it a2:
Not gonna happen should get HIS facts straight! 1) There is, right now, a 50% mortality rate with the bird-to-human strain. 2) There are virii that kill 100% of their hosts; they just die out with their hosts tho. 3) This movie couldn't instill fear in a six-year-old, so poorly produced was it. What a mess!
Jo J gave it a1:
Hilariously Bad!
H5 N1 gave it a1:
I give this a "1" because the birds were cute. Otherwise boring and a waste of time.
Not Gonna Happen gave it a0:
Some of this movie is not even close to being true. There's no such thing as a strain of a virus that can kill 100% of the population it infects. There's a 5% mortality rate, not 50%. This movie should have had its facts straight before it started producing. And another thing... all this movie really managed to achieve was instill more fear and paranoia in people that were already fearful and paranoid of the bird flu. Let's get real here, its not gonna end the human race like this movie states. It was awfully gruesome as well.
