Antiviral (2012)

After becoming infected with the virus that killed superstar Hannah Geist, Syd March must unravel the mystery surrounding her death to save his own life.

Director:

Brandon Cronenberg

Writer:

Brandon Cronenberg (screenplay)

Stars:

Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Lisa Berry

4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Caleb Landry Jones	...	Syd March
Sarah Gadon	...	Hannah Geist
Douglas Smith	...	Edward Porris
Joe Pingue	...	Arvid
Nicholas Campbell	...	Dorian
Sheila McCarthy	...	Dev Harvey
Wendy Crewson	...	Mira Tesser
Nenna Abuwa	...	Aria Noble
Lisa Berry	...	Lucas Clinic Receptionist
Malcolm McDowell	...	Dr. Abendroth
Donna Goodhand	...	Woman in Waiting Room
Adam Bogen	...	Lucas Clinic Security Guard
Salvatore Antonio	...	Topp
Matt Watts	...	Mercer
Dawn Greenhalgh	...	Jane

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

virus | celebrity | injection | extreme makeover | security camera | 

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Taglines:

What If You Could Feel Like They Do ...

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 November 2012 (Iceland)

Also Known As:

Antivirus

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 3,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alliance Films, TF1 International, Téléfilm Canada

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During production, Sarah Gadon and Caleb Landry Jones both decided not to meet or rehearse prior to the filming of the hotel room scene where Syd takes a sample of Hannah Geist's blood. They both felt it would help preserve the separation of the characters within the story.

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Connections

References Broken Tulips (2008)

User Reviews

Cronenberg Reborn

Is Cronenberg finally back to the body-horror genre? Yep, in a re-birth through his son, Brandon. What David hasn't done in the last 10 years is done here by Brandon. Dad's influence is obvious from the very first shot up to the last shot of the film. I found connections, clues, winks and homages to David's old films throughout the entire movie - I'm not sure whether they were intentional or just my intuition, but I recalled Videodrome, Shivers, The Fly, eXistenZ, Naked Lunch and Crash. If you were missing the old Cronenberg style, you're gonna love this movie.

The script is very original and contains some interesting ideas. The lead actor does a pretty decent job in his role; I wouldn't go as far as saying it's Oscar material, but it's good enough for this part. The production design is pretty good and interesting, although minimalist. So is the cinematography, which is "minimalist" in the sense of being static (or close to that) almost the entire film, with very few exceptions here and there; I guess it worked okay for the film, yet it was enough for me to be distracted by it more than once - I myself would have preferred to see a more dynamic camera-work.

The movie is not perfect. It gave me the feeling of "something is missing here" at times - including in its ending - but all in all it was pretty impressive as a first feature-film for Brandon, both as a writer and a director (although if I compare it to Duncan Jones' Moon, the latter wins big time). I'll definitely look forward to his next film - much more than to David's next film, sadly.