The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureCinemaMovie reviews

Antiviral

Antiviral | Movie review
8 February 2013
Emma Cooper
Avatar
Emma Cooper
8 February 2013

Brandon Cronenberg’s debut film is a disturbingly imaginable exploration of a not-too-distant dystopian future, where the idea of getting your “pound of flesh” takes on rather a literal meaning.

We follow the journey of Syd March (Caleb Landry-Jones), an employee of the Lucas Clinic, which offers obsessive fans the chance to purchase a virus from their celebrity idols, sold with the promise of providing  the ultimate bond and delivered with a grotesque “Enjoy!” While embezzling a particularly valuable product, Syd unwittingly becomes a commodity himself and is embroiled in a dark experiment with a designer virus, leading to a desperate hunt for a cure.

Clearly stylistically inspired by the director’s father, David Cronenberg, the film unravels into a gruesome body-horror, and what is in essence a modern take on vampire mythology. Blood is everywhere you look, contrasting starkly with swathes of sterile white walls and clothing. There are repeated, sustained close-ups of hypodermics puncturing skin. A tense, steady pace maintains an undercurrent of menace preceding Syd’s horrifying descent into sickness.

Landry-Jones is strong in the central role, suitably intense and displaying otherworldliness, pallor, and a bloodlust to rival any cinematic vampire. While we never quite understand his character’s motives and actually never really emotionally connect with him or indeed anyone, the performance is raw and animalistic. Malcolm McDowell, on the other hand, is an odd bit of casting in a odd role, and his appearances jar somewhat.

The mirroring of the vampire theme with extreme celebrity culture is intriguing and works well, but the nagging message that our culture could be heading down a very dark path is not a new one, and the point becomes extremely laboured in the drifting storyline. Overall it’s too drawn out and overcooked, favouring style over substance. However, it does succeed in provoking an unpleasant physical reaction that will stay with you afterwards when you try and sleep.

★★★★★

Emma Cooper

Antiviral is released in selected cinemas on 1st February 2013.

Watch the trailer for Antiviral here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Imperial Blue

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

MLK/FBI

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Sing Me a Song

★★★★★
Abbie Grundy
Read More

A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Wonder Woman 1984

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

Come Away

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Murder Me, Monster

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

David Byrne’s American Utopia

★★★★★
Rosamund Kelby
Read More

Dreamland

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • The White Tiger
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries
    Food & Drinks
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • 23 Walks
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Frederic Church: Through American Eyes at the National Gallery | Exhibition review
Folks at The Sebright Arms | Live review