After becoming infected with the virus that killed superstar Hannah Geist, Syd March must unravel the mystery surrounding her death to save his own life.
The film sags a little in its final third, and all the white-on-white interiors get a bit wearing for the eyes; but this chip off the old block has a strong talent behind it and much to recommend it.
It doesn’t all work but it’s a stylish, promising debut.
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!"
Cronenberg may also conceivably have been inspired by the grim case of 1940s star Gene Tierney, whose unborn child became infected with rubella after she gave an autograph to an unwell fan. But the satire is obvious, laboured and unrewarding.
What follows is 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.
A smart, subversive but rather cold debut from Brandon Cronenberg that's short of the dark wit that lit up his father's early work. Then again, comparisons are hardly fair, especially when Cronenberg Jr. clearly has plenty of ideas of his own.
Cronenberg Jr's imagined dystopia conjures some vividly horrible sights, though his screenwriting lags some way behind.
Proof that there’s room for more than one brainy provocateur in the Cronenberg gene-pool.
The result is a tantalising near-miss, and you think Cronenberg has dropped the ball – until he picks it up again with an ending that's at once surreal, poignant and breathtakingly macabre. It's no surprise that Brandon Cronenberg has morbid weirdness in his genes – but just how individual a mutation that is remains to be seen.
If David Cronenberg’s entire body of work didn’t exist, Antiviral would be a revelation. As it stands…
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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