Antiviral Trailer Introduces Brandon Cronenberg’s Creepy Thriller

By Brent McKnight | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral premièred at the Cannes Film Festival last year, and on April 12th his debut picture finally hits U.S. shores, courtesy of IFC. From the look of this new domestic trailer, Brandon has inherited a great deal of his father’s (David Cronenberg, Videodrome, Scanners) penchant for creepy, disturbing imagery, and unsettling stories. The family Cronenberg certainly likes to make you squirm in your seat.

This trailer is pretty damn great, and the more I watch it, the more exciting the movie seems. Eerie, cold, and moody, it sends shivers up your spine, even if it does somewhat resemble those fake Umbrella Corporation commercials the Resident Evil movies are fond of using.

Set in a future where our collective obsession with celebrity has escalated to a point where fans pay exorbitant prices to share the diseases of the rich and famous, Antiviral follows Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones). Employed by The Lucas Clinic, Syd collects the maladies, viruses, and afflictions of the stars to sell to enthusiasts looking to share a more intimate, in-depth connection with their idols.

To earn some extra scratch, Syd has also been known to sneak these diseases out of the clinic so he can sell them himself on the black market. As you can imagine, smuggling diseases in such a manner leaves Syd sick much of the time. His worn-down state leads him into reckless feats, and he manages to get infected with a strange and sinister virus carried by mega-celeb Hannah Geist (Sarah Gadon).

Antiviral will infect theaters on April 12th.