ANTIVIRAL (2012)

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the eroticism/intimacy of wounds

the wounded body: remembering the markings of flesh, dennis patrick slattery /crash (1996) dir. david cronenberg / I will destroy you, nick flynn / wuthering heights (2011) dir. andrea arnold / antiviral (2012) dir. brandon cronenberg / I will destroy you, nick flynn / crimes of the future (2022) dir. david cronenberg / arrhythmia, shastra deo / sharp objects (2018) dir. jean-marc vallée / death by sex machine, franny choi

“I’m afraid you’ve become involved in something sinister.”

Antiviral (2012) dir. Brandon Cronenberg

Caleb Landry Jones, DP/30 2012

ladies and gentlemen, Syd March

edit by me, for the funsies

Brandon Cronenberg, {2012} Antiviral

I am begging the caleb landry jones/antiviral (2012) fandom if u guys are out there still, can someone please make an edit of antiviral to "you and whose army" by radiohead and tag me in it? I would do it myself but i have absolutely ZERO editing skills so please this idea would look so cool

top five films?

i have to confess i dont watch films that often, when a meme describing yourself with media was trending on twitter i cheated and changed films to games.. whatever, i'll try. NO PARTICULAR ORDER

the winter soldier... i've seen it so many times it has to be on the list i'm so sorry.. i had a phase as a teen. although i liked the first movie more

sucker punch. i watched it in the beginning of this year for the first time but i loved it

a man called ove

fuck im running out of ideas howl's moving castle?? idk. does it even count as a film?

what we do in the shadows

Antiviral Brandon Cronenberg. 2012

Astral Bodies 201 Ottawa St N, Hamilton, ON L8H 3Z4, Canada See in map

See in imdb

thinking about syd march on this fine monday evening

Antiviral (2012)

Writer/director Brandon Cronenberg follows in his father’s body-horror footsteps with Antiviral. Weird and unsettling, you won’t see anything like this one anywhere else.

In the near future, celebrity worship has taken a new form. Avid fans of people like Hannah Geist (Sarah Gadon) want a part of her inside them, want to feel what their idols feel. Some eat cloned celebrity meat. Others get the viruses that make their favorite celebrities sick injected into their bloodstream. At the Lucas Clinic, Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) sells pathogens to his clients and makes money on the side smuggling these exclusive commodities on the black market. To bypass his work's security measures, he incubates the viruses within himself. When his latest acquisition proves fatal to its host, he must find a cure before it's too late.

The very concept of Antiviral gives you the willies. What’s worse is that it doesn’t seem THAT far-fetched. We live in a world where you can very easily feel like you’re a part of a stranger’s life because you see everything they do. Going to a restaurant so you can eat the replicated flesh of someone you love - even though you’ve never met them - is extreme… but is it more invasive than looking at a leaked sex tape? How many degrees of unhealthiness separate getting a celebrity pathogen from taking a stranger's advice as gospel when it comes to products you should buy, apply on your skin or eat? The people of this world are eating human flesh and making themselves ill because they WANT TO.

Psychologically, the concept gives you the creeps but Antiviral doesn't stop there. Psychologically, it's sick. Physically, it's also sick. Admit it, you get a little squeamish when some medical professional shows you a needle but at least deep down you can feel comfort knowing that this small moment of unpleasantness is for the greater good. You relive that discomfort over and over while watching this film. You see how ill Syd becomes. You can imagine yourself in his shoes thanks to that one time your arm became inflamed after a flu shot. We've all been bedridden with a dreadful cough, thinking we were dying. He's actually dying.

Then there’s the actual plot. What’s worse than willingly giving yourself the same herpes variant some attractive lady contracted? getting some new disease you didn't realize was lethal. Now, this isn’t a pandemic film. We’re not scared that Syd will accidentally cause the end of humanity - this future has measures to prevent diseases from spreading to people who didn't pay. What’s chilling is that this disease might not be natural. Syd was never “meant” to contract this thing that’s in him. More and more, we begin to suspect this bug was manufactured. If it was, for what purpose? In addition to body horror, this is what I’d describe as a "terrify-inc." film; a story that shows how unscrupulous and dangerous big corporations can be when all they care about is money while the government regulations protect them rather than us.

The metaphors in Antiviral are not subtle and some of the characters might be thin but at what it wants to do above all, Antiviral excels. One look at Caleb Landry Jones in those clinically-white rooms and you’re filled with unease. Every shot of a needle penetrating the skin, of blood, mucus, saliva or slime fills you with a new sensation but getting an injection isn’t new… it’s just that something has changed. The ending, in particular, makes you feel a whole lot of “ick!” I mean that in a good way. (On Blu-ray, October 24, 2021)

HMMMMMM mayhaps the failing naturally stuff is meant to set up gabi as a foil to james. she's successful but puts on an act of failing and he's a failure who's putting on an act of being successful....

Genuinely all of the most fucked up films ive seen came out of canada. Like i dont know whats wrong with us but it sure is something

Caleb Landry Jones