Antiviral

Watching this when you’re at home fighting the flu is a treat par excellence. Antiviral is an unlikable movie in every way, with an apt satirical theme and sterile form. There is a lot of white, which adds emphasis to the coughed-up blood, injections with herpes viruses and eating of meat created from human cells in a laboratory. Actually, from the cells of admired celebrities. “Celebrities are not people. They’re group hallucinations.” Antiviral could entertain me if it had a sensible 80-minute runtime, but not like this. I otherwise like bizarre debuts by original filmmakers. (14.03.2023)

Very sick, very hard to watch, very Cronenberg. The comparisons with David Cronenberg’s early works would apply to Antiviral even if it was made by someone completely unrelated. It has many layers, even though the visual impression is different. And it’s actually the visual impression (the white glitz of the clinic against the nastiness that bubbles here and there) and the perverted atmosphere the main basis for my rating so far. I put it on sometime after midnight and I nodded a couple of times (it’s not exactly packed with action :-D). It needs at least one more viewing, but the film is certainly interesting. (12.02.2013)

Brandon Cronenberg does not deny his origins here, and so he presents a rather visceral and stomach-churning body horror which is a scathing satirical comment on contemporary society. Antiviral is based on a great idea - perfect for a short film. The only real problem with this movie is that Cronenberg has selfishly stretched it out to a lengthy 108 minutes. (05.11.2021)