Caught in the eye of a hurricane, the crew of the sinking salvage ship The Sea Star discover a seemingly abandoned Russian research ship.
Once they switch the power back on, Captain Everton (Donald Sutherland), Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis), Baker (William Baldwin) and the rest of their crew (Marshall Bell Sherman Augustus Cliff Curtis and Julio Oscar Mechoso) find themselves on the run from something within the ship - something that wants to turn them into spare parts…
I remember the adverts for this movie, but until a couple days ago, that was about it.
I was a big Dark Horse comics fan, mainly because they printed new Star Wars stories.
Around 1998-1999 I started seeing adverts in their books for this movie Virus, and the reprint of the original comic book.
I forgot about it until a few years later when I caught a snippet of it playing on TV, and then forgot about it once again.
It is not hard to forget Virus - unlike similar movies like Leviathan, it is not that well-remembered.
If it is remembered, it is as a punchline - Jamie Lee Curtis has called it one of her worst movies.
I had never paid it that much attention until a friend of mine started singing its praises a few months ago.
Virus may not have a big fanbase, but it might have a new convert - or at least a Virus-agnostic.
What a good time. Not a revelation or a misunderstood masterpiece. But a good time.
Part of Virus’s charm is one of the criticisms that was levelled at it on release - it is a hodgepodge of influences from other movies - a bit of Aliens, The Terminator, Leviathan and Star Trek’s The Borg.
It has, like a lot genre efforts from the 90s, been aided by the passage of time.
This is a type of movie that does not get made any more - a 75 million dollar genre movie with a name cast.
It is also a great example of practical production.
There are a lot of built environments, practical puppetry and some effective exterior photography.
And despite her thoughts on the movie, Curtis gives the movie a credibility and sense of pathos.
She does not have much to work with, but even in a cookie cutter role, she is compelling.
Sadly, the one actor who does not seem to care is Donald Sutherland - his sole choice appears to be an Irish accent. He is not terrible, but there is a listlessness and lack of force to his performance that bleeds through his scenes.
The real star is Cliff Curtis as crewman Hiko. For once cast as a Maori character, Curtis is the most relatable of an under-written bunch. His casual asides and clearly improvised bits of small talk add a welcome dose of humanity to some very cliche'd interactions.
The film is the directorial debut of visual effects supervisor John Bruno, who is probably most well known for his work with James Cameron.
Bruno has a solid handle on atmosphere, and he knows how to showcase the film’s grue-y special effects in ways that serve the simple story.
While the film is not as scary as intended, it builds up real tension as the characters descend deeper into the bowels of the ship, and its partially human antagonists are gradually revealed.
Accomplished by puppetry, makeup and David Eggby's (Mad Max) evocative photography, the various cybernetic creatures the cast confront are appropriately grotesque and tactile. The movie does not have the patience or inclination to dive into the potential for Cronenberg-style body horror, but it is bluntly effective as a haunted house slasher.
While never boring, the movie does decelerate as it heads into the third act. The Captain's traitorous turn is easy to predict, but nothing is made of it. While thin, the characters feel more like placeholders between set pieces, and the final rescue - despite some impressive CGI - is bungled by some uninspired scripting.
Nothing original, and despite its effects, maybe not iconic, but as a well-mounted pulp thriller, Virus is far better than its negligible reputation.
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