Viral
Directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Shulman
Written by Barbara Marshall & Christopher Landon
The review:
2020 is the year to watch Viral, if only for current events comparison purposes.* This seems a fairly standard-issue horror film** but centered on a sister relationship*** and with the girls making a lot of the choices.**** It’s a creepy crawly film, but not gory, which made it a fun watch for a hot August night.
The verdict: Good
Cost: Free via Tubi (with ads)
Where watched: at home
Consider also watching:
- Contagion
- 12 Monkeys
- Children of Men
- Shawn of the Dead
Further sentences:
*At one point my reaction was: “Hey! We didn’t get survival kits delivered to our doors!”
**Horror is not my genre, so I can’t say for sure.
***In choosing between this film and Nerve (both directed by Joost/Schulman) I went with this one because it stars Analeigh Tipton, (Crazy, Stupid, Love and Two Night Stand) whom I love.
****Barbara Marshall, one of the writers seems to have written several movies that travel along these lines. That’s a fun treat!
Questions:
- Analeigh Tipton as a bad girl. Did it work for you?
- What part of this film felt very familiar?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
The brief picture of the virus as seen on one of the newscasts is the same graphic used in the movie Outbreak (1995) to represent the Motaba Virus, using a red color tint rather than blue. However, the fictional Motaba Virus looks very similar to the Ebola Virus.
Other reviews of Viral:
- Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film
- Vanessa Stewart, Mother of Movies