Indie Gems: Antiviral

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Got needles?

Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) works in a facility that harvests celebrity illnesses so they can inject their rabid fans for top dollar. Want your favorite actor's herpes? There's a place for you! Of course, Syd can't play it straight and attempts to sell illnesses to shady side dealers by injecting himself before he leaves work for the day. This all backfires when he injects himself with a disease that kills their top client, Hannah Geist. (Sarah Gadon)

Does anyone play shady white trash like Jones? I don't think so. He's perfect for this roll. Syd is a sleazeball but one you end up caring about despite the level of fucked up-ness that is his day to day life. 

Director Brandon Cronenberg definitely shares a few of his father's traits. This film isn't over the top gory but the amount of needles you see going into skin is very unsettling. And this is coming from someone who has never been bothered by needles. Unfortunately even with this great idea, it feels like they didn't know where he wanted to go with the 3rd act.

I love when horror movies get creative like this but I felt like this just didn't come together the way it could've. The synopsis describes this as a satire but I didn't feel that at all while watching. I wanted more, but it's not to say that what I got was bad. I just think he had more potential. Still, I can't not recommend it. It's very different.

Grade: C+

Watched on: Netflix DVD

Memorable Quote: "Almost...perfect." - Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones)

Comments

  1. thevoid99March 24, 2018 at 4:19 PM

    I'm intrigued about seeing this just to see if Brandon has any of his father's talents.

    ReplyDelete

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