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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: November 26th, 2024.
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, Lisa Berry, Sarah Gad
Year: 2012
Purchase From Severin Films
Antiviral – Movie Review:
The directorial debut of Brandon Cronenberg, 2021’s Antiviral takes place in a world where mankind's obsession with celebrity has been taken to absurdist extremes. For those who can't get enough of their favorite stars, television and tabloids no longer cut it, but, for those who can accord it, the Lucas Clinic has a solution. For a considerable fee, the clinic will inject interested parties with an illness taken from their favorite star, allowing them to share a part of their lives, so to speak. See, in this world, autographs and selfies aren't what the star-obsessed public wants anymore - they want to share their favorite star's illness, thus allowing them to be closer to their obsession than ever before and share something personal with them.
Enter Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones), the rock star technician/virus harvester at the Lucas Clinic. He makes a very good living for himself matching potential clients to specific diseases or illnesses but, unbeknownst to his employers, Syd has a side hustle. With access to all that the clinic has to offer, Syd is able to help himself to everything he needs to run his own bootleg operation out of his apartment, and he does this by smuggling the diseases out of the clinic in his own body. Essentially, he injects himself with whatever he needs and, once it's in his blood, he's able to recreate it as often as necessary using the clinic's technology.
Of course, this eventually proves to be a bad idea when he injects some of the illness that the clinic's celebrity spokesperson, the gorgeous Hannah Geist (Sarah Gadon), has in her bloodstream and it turns out to be far more dangerous than he could have possibly expected. Soon, Syd is quite sick and in need of serious medical attention. Without much time left, Syd has to find out how to cure himself all while trying to stay one step ahead of his competition, Levine (James Cade), and Dr. Abendroth (Malcolm McDowell), Hannah's doctor.
Cleary influenced by his father David Cronenberg’s output, Brandon Cronenberg’s script for Antiviral is whip smart and creative and manages to set up a startling work of science fiction before taking things into the body horror territory that you halfway expect him to, given his lineage. If it feels like he’s taking a little too much from his father’s output than maybe he needed to, the end result is a really strong feature debut for a filmmaker that has gone on to craft some seriously interesting films since (those being Possessor and Infinity Pool). Still, if his father’s influence is all over this, the younger Cronenberg does manage to hold our attention throughout the feature without any trouble. Antiviral gets genuinely gross as times, and the effects work for the film are excellent, but on top of that there’s a lot of biting black comedy and satire worked into the movie (which isn’t something you typically see in his father’s filmography) and that goes a long way towards making this movie as good as it is. The film clearly has a lot to say about celebrity worship and consumerism, taking things to an insane, but not impossible, extreme.
The performances here are very strong. Sarah Gadon, who also appeared in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis in 2012, is great as the clinic’s knockout blonde spokesperson, a celebrity famous for being famous in the same vein as the Kardashian of your choice and McDowell excellent as her rather unorthodox doctor. James Cade does a nice job as Syd’s main competition on the bootleg celebrity virus market but it’s Caleb Landry Jones who really steals the show. At times reminiscent of a young Brad Dourif, his portrayal of Syd is genuinely impressive, handling the drama, horror and yes, the humor, that the story offers up in equal measure with ease.
Production values are really good across the board as well. The effects work, as noted, is excellent and appropriately disgusting at times, while the score from E.C. Woodley and the cinematography from Karim Hussain, which gives the scenes in the clinic an effectively sanitized look that works nicely, really enhance things quite a bit. The production team also did a great job selecting some appropriately skuzzy locations for a few key scenes (including what was an actual porno viewing both establishment that used to exist on King Street in good old downtown Hamilton, Ontario).
Antiviral – UHD/Blu-ray Review:
NOTE: As this review is based on an online screener provided by Severin Films for review purposes, the technical portion and the extras review for this release will is not complete. If/when finished product is made available, we’ll update this review accordingly.
The stream offered for review presents the movie in a 1080p high definition transfer, framed at 1.78.1, while the UHD would, obviously, be a HVEC encoded 2160p transfer taken from a “4k scan of the 35mm protection internegative supervised by Brandon Cronenberg and cinematographer Karim Hussain.”
Audio chores on the stream are handled by a French language 2.0 Stereo track with optional subtitles in English
Finished product will be a three-disc set with extras spread out across the set as follows:
Disc One (UHD):
-Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Brandon Cronenberg And Director Of Photography Karim Hussain
-Trailer
Disc Two (Blu-ray):
-Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Brandon Cronenberg And Director Of Photography Karim Hussain
-Broken Tulips – Short Film Written And Directed By Brandon Cronenberg
-Anatomy Of A Virus – Making-Of Featurette
-Reviving A Dead Cell – Brandon Cronenberg And Karim Hussain Discuss The Restoration
-Brandon Cronenberg: A First-Time Director's Vision
-Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary By Brandon Cronenberg And Karim Hussain
-First Meeting – With Actors Caleb Landry Jones And Sarah Gadon
-The Design Of Antiviral – Interview With Production Designer Arvinder Greywal
-Manufacturing Celebrity – EPK With Cast And Crew
-Trailer
Disc Three:
-Introduction To The Cannes Cut By Writer/Director Brandon Cronenberg And Director Of Photography Karim Hussain
-FLIR P660 Thermal Camera Test
This release will also come with an exclusive booklet to contain writing from Claire Donner of The Miskatonic Institute Of Horror Studies
Antiviral – The Final Word:
Antiviral is an auspicious debut from a director who has gone on to prove himself a talent well-worth watching. Highlighted by some great effects and excellent performances, it’s a twisted blend of sci-fi, horror and pitch black comedy that works quite well and Severin’s three-disc edition looks to be the definitive word on the film, as far as home video releases go.