Starring: Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon
Plot: This wild sci-fi vision imagines a freaky future where diseases caught by celebrities are put on the market for injection by their obsessed fans.
My Review and Thoughts:
I grew up being a sci-fi fan. I think sci-fi cinema is one of the hardest to pull off because Sci-fi is something that you have to dig deep into the imagination and showcase something that is truly original yet also has to be so far out there and yet also has to be somewhat believable.
So when I go into a sci-fi movie, I automatically have low expectations because so many sci-fi films fail. I'm not talking about the garbage you see on TV on the Syfy channel, pieces of crap created with no budget and are worthless pieces of entertainment that only belong as a doorstop. I'm talking about true thought-provoking science-fiction, something that digs into the imagination and floors the viewer.
There are so many worthless science-fiction movies and very few science-fiction movies that are truly golden. There are very few sci-fi masterpieces. There are very few sci-fi films to be remembered. I'm not saying all science-fiction movies have to be masterpieces or thought-provoking. I'm saying they at least have to accomplish their goal of being a science-fiction film. A sci-fi film that's worth discussing thoroughly. A sci-fi that entertains and not just bores or makes the viewer feel stupid watching.
Antiviral is an independent sci-fi film. This is a true visionary talented original eye-opening and disturbing awesome piece of cinema.
How far would you go as a fan of your favorite star, celebrity. This day and age we buy autographs, we buy objects that have been worn, showcased by celebrities. We stalk wthem and people even kill them. People worship them day in and day out because they have no life, so what better way to become a part of your favorite celebrity then to share their illness, their disease, their sickness.
I am surprised I have not heard more about this movie. This is a shockingly brilliant film. This film is also disturbing and disgusting and just vile. Thinking of the things that people would do blows my mind and it's not so far-fetched either.
Antiviral is a 2012 Canadian sci-fi horror film directed by Brandon Cronenberg. Yes that last name sounds familiar because he is the son of one of my favorite directors David Cronenberg who directed such masterpieces as Videodrome and Naked Lunch and Crash and many others but I am sure that Brandon probably does not like being compared to his father.
I am sure Brandon wants to be in his own category and with this movie he does. He is truly original, truly a gifted talent and yet he still does those odd, strange, reality twisting ideas and imagination that his father is so good at doing. Antiviral is a film that enters a different realm and twists a different tale of unique imagination and a thought provoking reality that lingers deep inside the viewers subconscience.
We all at one time in our lives have idolized something or someone. We all have looked up to someone, all have envied something in our life. How far does that idolization go?
This movie steps above and beyond the idea of stalking. Above the idea of infatuation, for this steps into the idea of lunacy, but like I say Brandon captures the sadistically accurate example of how far people go to idolize another person. We as a society are obsessed with celebrities, obsessed with fame, we watch reality TV and obsessed over rich people making them richer, we look at their stupid life as they play along with the stupidity and where the ones that are stupid enough to watch it, stupid enough to follow them, stupid enough to seek them out. It's different watching a movie and enjoying a movie or liking a star but when it gets to the point of dealing with the life and death and the obsession of a star through looks and body and most of all envy, it becomes to much.
There is a real cute statement toward the beginning of the movie where the main character says it gives you the Shivers (there is a pause) as you all know David Cronenberg directed and wrote the 1975 Sci-fi Horror Shivers.
The acting is extraordinarily flawless. Your main character Syd March played wonderfully by Caleb Landry Jones is breathtaking. He is a gifted actor and creates a brilliant performance that should be remembered.
There is a twisted mix of cannibalism in the idea of creating Steaks from fat cells of celebrities, giving it a truly disgusting idea of how far our obsession of fame would peak.
This is by far one of the most original sci-fi films I've ever seen or most original movie I have ever seen. Brandon Cronenberg has truly created an outrageous flawless concept through an imagination of visual images and the overall aspect of humanities quest for fame.
I thought the society that I lived in was crazy and obsessed with celebrities and reality TV and redneck duck hunters and fat little kids that fart on tv and people that are obsessed with beauty. The Antiviral future society is one screwed up twisted disgusting ordeal and yet it's not that far fetched.
This is a golden movie. This is a film that should be remembered. It's a film that should be talked about. It's a film that should have a cult following, for this is a film that is on my top list to be seen, to be owned, to be appreciated. This is a new favorite film of mine. Truly a twisted visual masterpiece of pure human insanity.
Acting is flawless. The direction is flawless. The story is flawless. This is truly a magical, visually stunning, brilliant, thought-provoking, breathless, modern sci-fi, horror, drama, classic.
I cannot speak enough about Caleb Landry Jones in his starring roll. He gave it his all. He made you feel his pain, his suffering, his obsession but most of all his disturbing actions. He made you believe in what he was doing.
It's a movie that disturbed me. This movie opened my mind to things that I cannot even think of. The imagination in this film was brilliant. This film creeped me out, it disgusted me. This film made my gut turn a little bit, for this is a truly horrible idea of thinking that people could possibly do this.
I highly recommend this tour-de-force. I highly recommend this independent film that leaves a lasting impression. I highly recommend it to anyone that loves great cinema.