Antiviral is a 2012 Canadian sci fi thriller/horror film directed by Brandon Cronenberg – it competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.
In a world consumed by obsession with those in the public eye, celebrity
diseases are a highly sought after commodity. Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) is
an employee at a clinic
that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to
obsessed fans. Biological communion – for a price. Syd also supplies illegal
samples of these viruses to piracy groups, smuggling them from the clinic in his
own body.
When he becomes infected with the disease that kills super sensation Hannah Geist (Sarah Gadon), Syd becomes a target for collectors and rabid fans. He must unravel the mystery surrounding her death before he suffers the same fate.
Awards
- Cannes Film Festival 2012 – Nominated Un Certain Regard Award
- Chicago International Film Festival 2012 – Won Gold Hugo After Dark Competition
- Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival 2012 – Won Carnet Jove Jury Award, Won Citizen Kane Award for Best Directorial Revelation, Nominated for Best Film
- Genie Awards 2013 – Nominated Canadian Screen Award, Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design
- Toronto International Film Festival 2012 – Won Best Canadian First Feature Film
Antiviral Reviews
“The film is the work of a budding visionary–full of inventive and effective artistry, and a clear sense of where we are going as a celebrity-worshipping society.” Chicago International Film Festival Judges
“Antiviral is the best sick body horror freak-out in a long while. Its bleeding edge social satire feels entirely too close for comfort, but we'll take uncomfortable; uncomfortable is a good thing.” Movies.com
“Accomplished filmmaking from a sci-fi auteur to watch. It's not perfect, but if this is his Shivers we can't wait to see his The Fly.” Total Film
“Cronenberg Jnr has created a reality that makes the skin crawl. Satire, horror and sci-fi meld into one delectably gruesome tale in which Caleb Landry Jones' pasty protagonist spends most of the film clutching a thermometer, syringe and a vial of blood” Urban Cinefile
“An intriguing and fairly stylish mix of sci-fi, horror and detective movie tropes that suggest Cronenberg might soon step out from his father's shadow.” Scotsman
“Written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg, plainly out to inherit his father’s ‘King Of Venereal Horror’ title. In a world so celebrity-obsessed that fans can buy copy-protected diseases from their idols, Caleb Landry Jones smuggles a bug from a just-dead famous-for-nothing goddess onto the black market and is persecuted by a sinister, slightly rote conspiracy. This has ideas to burn and an icy style which is quite impressive” Empire
“A tough, almost willfully difficult movie, but it's fascinating more often than it is dramatically off-putting.” FEARnet
“Set in the near future, Antiviral is an accomplished piece of work starring the pale, freckled redhead Caleb Landry Jones as Syd March, the employee of a gleaming all-white clinic specialising in providing viruses obtained from national celebrities for starstruck admirers who'd like to share their diseases. Syd, however, makes the mistake of sneaking out with the clinic's specially protected product in his veins and selling it to rivals. This leads to him getting into seriously bad company and courting terminal ill health. It's darkly comic, confused, authentically nasty, and ultimately fails to create its own future world. But as David Cronenberg would be the first to say: "That's my boy!” Guardian UK