The Couchpotatoes The only thing that I can applaud about Antiviral is that it is a story that you never saw before. So for the innovating concept the movie can get some credits. But the actual outcome isn't by far any good as the idea of the movie. They could have done so much more and better with that story. The movie is way too slow and sometimes repetitive. I had to fight against falling asleep more than once during Antiviral and it was not because I was tired. The main character played by Caleb Landry Jones didn't do any good to the movie either. I thought his acting was very monotone and boring to watch. So with the potential of the script I can only be disappointed with the outcome.

Leofwine_draca ANTIVIRAL is the debut film from Brandon Cronenberg, son of famous Canadian filmmaker David. Cronenberg writes and directs this bleak tale of a futuristic world in which the obsession for fame and celebrity sees a company actually bottling up and selling celebrity illness to obnoxious fans. The main character is a young sicko who attempts to make a buck or two on the black market but who finds himself in a very serious situation as a result.I have to say that I didn't care for this film at all. As a black comedy it's pretty sick and the humour feels rather forced and unpleasant; it's not the sort of thing I'd find funny. It's a gory effort with an emphasis on body horror which is odd given that in an interview I saw Cronenberg say he has no real interest in the horror genre; perhaps that's why this film feels so half-hearted as a result.The main character is a repulsive creep and the supporting cast of self-obsessed celebrities is even worse. The plot feels rather aimless, going from obvious digs at celebrity culture to viral outbreaks and illness, and it never really gels. The clinical look of the thing is overdone and over-obvious. In the end, it's the low budget and lack of coherence that makes ANTIVIRAL a chore to sit through.

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) In the future, companies make bank by injecting people with the viruses contracted by their most revered super-celebrities, in a twisted effort to become closer to their idols. A tech at one of these companies also smuggles the fresh virii out of his building by injecting himself; trouble arises when the celebrity unexpectedly dies, leaving the staffer little time to learn what went wrong before he suffers the same fate.Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) is that tech, Syd. He's got a pretty sweet gig, selling the virii he harvests to pirates who then alternately inject people with the virus (for a nice price) and grow the equivalent of steaks - really! - with the pathogens for their customers' dining pleasure. How does he do this? Volume! No, actually, what the company does is inject the virus into a machine that essentially copy protects the virus, making the virus proprietary. His company, the Lucas Clinic, is contracted to take blood from dying celeb Hannah Geist (Sarah Gadon), and Syd injects himself and quickly becomes disoriented, weak, and feverish. When Syd attempts to remove the copy protection by using his own machine, the console is destroyed.It is a story that shines a bright, infected light on society's devotion to all things celebrity. How far would a superfan go to be a part of a famous person's life? Would they infect themselves with noncontagious herpes? Chew on a regrown kidney? You know something...I think they would, at least the more deranged and sociopathic fans. Such a connection is exponentially stronger than a simple autographed photo. You've not just been recognized by them; you are part of them.The director is one Brandon Cronenberg, son of David, and the son has the same predilection for the macabre as the father. The obsession with celebrities, all too apparent in real life, is shown to be pretty normal in the film's fictional universe, and yet the horror of playing with the fire of fast-spreading pathogens undercuts this seeming normalcy with an almost Jones' Syd pretends to be just another hustler, but he's really as demented as his customers (and clients). Jones plays Syd perfectly as a shady, somewhat-sullen man of little distinction; also noteworthy are Joe Pingue as Arvid (employee of the celebrity meat market), Wendy Crewson as the head of a rival pathogen company, and Malcolm McDowell, playing yet another doctor, this time with skin grafts from his favorite celebrity.Antiviral is a horror mystery, with buckets of blood and oodles of intrigue. It's a creepy allegory of man's lust for fame of any kind, viewed through a prism of late-1980s Canadian horror. It's a fine, engrossing film.

tieman64 A one-joke movie, "Antiviral" is set in a dystopian future in which celebrity obsessed civilians purchase viruses harvested from celebrities who have fallen ill. The film was directed by Brandon Cronenberg, son of director David Cronenberg.Essentially an inferior, scifi version of "Perfect Blue", "Antiviral" follows Syd March, a young man who steals viruses from celebrities and sells them on the black market. Syd - emblematic of paparazzi - uses his body to transport and store these viruses. The film then climaxes with several metaphorical revelations: celebrities are "infected" by monstrous mega-corporations for profit, and both celebrities and their fans exist within an unhealthy parasitic/symbiotic relationship. Whilst the film's ideas on celebrity, worship, exploitation and beauty are valid, Cronenberg's writing and direction are mostly obvious and familiar.5/10 – See Olivier Assayas' "Demonlover".