Saw this last night. I've been thinking about it all day (always a good sign) so I wanted to give it a second watch tonight but it seems my VOD rental has expired. At this point, I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the film so I can't offer a full review but it made enough of an impact on me where I would like to get the ball rolling as far as discussion is concerned.

Anyway, debut film from Brandon Cronenberg, son of the legendary David Cronenberg. David Cronenberg is my all time favorite filmmaker and I couldn't be more stoked that his son is carrying on the torch. David's moved on the more cerebral and perhaps mainstream films so it's cool that Antiviral is a return to the old school visceral body horror that put David on the map back in the 70s-80s. I think it's a little rough around the edges. Very much a first effort. But I think the images and the ideas are very striking (not to mention appropriately vomit-instilling). I think there's enough of the retro Cronenberg flavor to please the more nostalgic fans but I think Brandon's style is a lot more in-your-face and contemporary than his dad's. Hopefully, I'll get to watch this again soon and provide a more collected opinion on it.

Anyone heard about this one? Any thoughts?

I saw this at VIFF last year. I liked it. It really, REALLY dragged in the middle for me, but it had more than enough attitude, and ended on a high enough high note, to please me. That main dude is great -- very striking appearance and a good actor as well. And the grotesque third act was a lot of fun.

I am going to link to my review. It seems like I am always linking to my review lately...sorry. Haven't seen this since October though so would be pressed to say much more from memory.

Great review, man. By all means, keep the links coming. I feel like mine aren't so much reviews and as they are cascades of vomited thoughts. I think I more than get my points across but I'm no wordsmith when it comes to giving my opinion.

I agree the ideas in the film are really loaded and the concept alone is brilliant satire. At times, I felt it skimmed over the idea of what is and what makes celebrity though so as to focus almost exclusively on the obsession alone. In the world of Antiviral, the idea of celebrities as a commodity is a total given whereas in our world, it's getting there but I think we're still wrestling with the concept somewhat (otherwise Antiviral wouldn't even exist). As a result, all the disease and cell steaks kind of bordered on McGuffin at times. Hannah Geist is hardly developed as a human being and her celebrity form amounts to little more than glossy posters. I think it's more than just the image of celebrities that makes people obsess over them (though image is definitely part of it). Take Beyonce for example. Her beauty and her music definitely have an effect on people, to say the least, but there's a soul or an essence to her as well that society imposes upon her that completes the infatuation. These ideas were brushed but not substantially explored in Antiviral, at least to me.

On the other hand, the film got me thinking about those things regardless and I think Brandon Cronenberg is too sharp a guy for these ideas not to have been floating around in his head as well. I also wondered if maybe I'm just being naive and that indeed, celebrities are as much the commodities in real life that they are in the film (albeit not in a physical sense).

So in a certain sense, none of that really matters because the film got me thinking about everything celebrity and celebrity obsession entails.