Viral (2016)

Following the outbreak of a virus that wipes out the majority of the human population, a young woman documents her family's new life in quarantine and tries to protect her infected sister.

Directors:

Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Writers:

Barbara Marshall, Christopher Landon

Stars:

Sofia Black-D'Elia, Analeigh Tipton, Travis Tope

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sofia Black-D'Elia	...	Emma Drakeford
Analeigh Tipton	...	Stacey Drakeford
Travis Tope	...	Evan Klein
Michael Kelly	...	Michael Drakeford
Machine Gun Kelly	...	CJ (as Colson Baker)
John Cothran	...	Mr. Toomey
Stoney Westmoreland	...	Bill
Linzie Gray	...	Gracie Lemay
Judyann Elder	...	Mrs. Toomey
Philip Labes	...	Gangly Kid
Brianne Howey	...	Tara Dannelly
Alexa Fischer	...	CDC Investigator
Brendon Eggertsen	...	Party Jock
Jennifer Say Gan	...	CDC Agent
Matt Knudsen	...	CDC Agent

Storyline

Emma and her sister Stacey are normal teenagers in a small town, when a mysterious infection begins to spread. With the town quarantined, and their parents stuck on the other side of the barrier, the girls have a blast eating junk food and sneaking out to go to parties. But when the disease starts to infect people they know, the girls, together with their neighbor Evan (Emma's secret crush), barricade themselves into their home. But it may already be too late, as the infection is already in their midst, and Emma will be faced with a choice: protect her sister or survive the virus.

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Plot Keywords:

blood splatter | bubble gum | cannibalism | centers for disease control | contagion | 

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Taglines:

Fear what's inside

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent content, some language including sexual references, and teen partying

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the science class, the descriptions of parasites Toxoplasma gondii and botfly are true, not just made up to support the story.

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Goofs

When Emma gets a text message from Stacey on the first day of the story, the date on her phone says Thursday, October 2. When Emma gets a text message from Evan on the night of the following day, her phone display still reads Thursday, October 2 even though story-wise it should be Friday, October 3.

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Quotes

Evan Klein: [the Drakeford sisters are confronted by a Evan's infected stepfather] Don't worry... he can no longer see us

User Reviews

Had potential....

Viral starts out interesting and compelling. Forget that it follows every cliché in the book concerning viral outbreak / zombie / infected films. Even the main character was likable. Until the events started to cause uproar and chaos.

Then suddenly cautious Emma Drakeford (Sofia Black-D'Elia) becomes a total idiot. What is the point of a mask if you keep removing it? I swear she keeps taking that damn thing off at moments where it was needed the most. That kind of stupidity is just infuriating. Her big sister Stacey Drakeford (Analeigh Tipton) is even worse who for some reason can't be bothered to care what is happening around her outside her little world. She gets bored by breaking news reports,warnings and presidential speeches about health care and safety measures. Instead she chooses to ignore what is happening not so far from her home and party instead. She even suggests her little sister shouldn't take things so seriously. Yeah, real good advice Stacey! Still I was fine with that since I was hoping that the film at least would give us something nice on the side to chew on. Like some real hair rising thrilling scenes or some bloody and gruesome action. But no, the jump scares are predictable to a tee. And the few scary or creepy moments that could have been terrifying are ruined by the severe lack of tension or dread. The whole movie suffers from not making it clear how dire the situation is. It relies too much on the imagination of the audience and in this case I find that unacceptable. The clicker zombies or infected sounded too much like the ones in video game Last of Us. I am not sure what to think of that. If directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have borrowed or were heavily inspired by the fungal zombies of that game would it have hurt them to take it to next level and come with some of their own ideas thrown into the mix to make it more interesting? Predictable monsters are boring. So all you have to do is make them unpredictable to make it fun. These clickers were as scary as fluffy bunnies and cuddly bears.

I already wasted too many words on this since I can't tell you how disappointed I was. Viral had real potential. But nothing creative has been done to make this film stand out from the rest. If you have seen a million zombie / infected films like I have you expect more. This is a complete waste of your time. So do not watch this!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 July 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Peste

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$551,760

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blumhouse Productions, Busted Shark Productions, Chapter One Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1