In a blackly satirical near future, a thriving industry sells celebrity illnesses to their obsessed fans. Employee Syd March's attempts to exploit the system backfire when they involve him in a potentially deadly mystery.
The allure of easy money sends Mary Mason, a medical student, into the world of underground surgeries which ends up leaving more marks on her than her so called "freakish" clients.
Directors:
Jen Soska,
Sylvia Soska
Stars:
Katharine Isabelle,
Antonio Cupo,
Tristan Risk
It's Christmas Eve, the city goes dark, and the few remaining tenants of The Ravenwood find themselves trapped in their building. And they are not alone.
Director:
Robert David Sanders
Stars:
Barbara Streifel Sanders,
Joseph Dunn,
Ian Malcolm
After his parents are killed in a car accident, Cody is left dealing with enormous guilt, caring for his younger brother and the persistent thought of how to bring his parents back to life.... See full summary »
A man imprisons his estranged junkie friend in an isolated cabin in the boonies San Diego to force him through a week of sobriety, but the events of that week are being mysteriously manipulated.
Directors:
Justin Benson,
Aaron Moorhead
Stars:
Peter Cilella,
Vinny Curran,
Emily Montague
A disturbed and delusional high school student with aspirations of a career in medicine goes to extremes to earn the approval of her controlling mother.
Syd March is an employee at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans. Biological communion - for a price. Syd also supplies illegal samples of these viruses to piracy groups, smuggling them from the clinic in his own body. When he becomes infected with the disease that kills super sensation Hannah Geist, Syd becomes a target for collectors and rabid fans. He must unravel the mystery surrounding her death before he suffers the same fate. Written by
Rhombus Media
Much of the blood draw scenes in the film were real. See more »
Goofs
Before Syd puts the virus into Edward Porris's lip, we see the plunger of the syringe has been pulled back a bit, as it would be had Syd filled it with the virus. However, in the close up of the needle piercing the skin, you can see the plunger is all the way down, so when it was stuck into Edward's lip there was nothing in it. See more »
I really liked this film. It's not without its flaws, but I give it major points for a unique, interesting concept and its sterile visual style.
As a horror and sci-fi fan, I wish there were more films like Antiviral. Ones, that either on their own or by effectively combining the two genres, bring new ideas to the table and use thoughtful art direction. Sadly nowadays, most just regurgitate the same old concepts and then throw gratuitous amounts of special affects on top to make them feel "new". Antiviral seems to step out of that box.
As mentioned, it isn't perfect, but a really great film for sci-fi/horror fans looking for something less cliché and more unique, something that can be hard to find within these genres today.
It's a pretty low-budget film, so don't expect a ton of crazy sci-fi special effects. But this is exactly one of the things that works for it. It feels futuristic, but only just enough so that it feels like the not TOO distant future. This fits perfectly with the idea of people being so obsessed with celebrities they pay to be infected with their diseases. Since our society is already relatively obsessed with celebrity culture, Antiviral's world feels distant, but not too far off.
One issue is that the plot can feel a bit unfocused here and there. Viewers won't feel lost, but this flaw does prevent Antiviral from being a really solid film. Also, the acting and dialogue feel contrived at times. But I did enjoy Caleb Landry Jones's portrayal of Syd.
14 of 22 people found this review helpful.
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I really liked this film. It's not without its flaws, but I give it major points for a unique, interesting concept and its sterile visual style.
As a horror and sci-fi fan, I wish there were more films like Antiviral. Ones, that either on their own or by effectively combining the two genres, bring new ideas to the table and use thoughtful art direction. Sadly nowadays, most just regurgitate the same old concepts and then throw gratuitous amounts of special affects on top to make them feel "new". Antiviral seems to step out of that box.
As mentioned, it isn't perfect, but a really great film for sci-fi/horror fans looking for something less cliché and more unique, something that can be hard to find within these genres today.
It's a pretty low-budget film, so don't expect a ton of crazy sci-fi special effects. But this is exactly one of the things that works for it. It feels futuristic, but only just enough so that it feels like the not TOO distant future. This fits perfectly with the idea of people being so obsessed with celebrities they pay to be infected with their diseases. Since our society is already relatively obsessed with celebrity culture, Antiviral's world feels distant, but not too far off.
One issue is that the plot can feel a bit unfocused here and there. Viewers won't feel lost, but this flaw does prevent Antiviral from being a really solid film. Also, the acting and dialogue feel contrived at times. But I did enjoy Caleb Landry Jones's portrayal of Syd.