Alexander Ross
I did thoroughly enjoyed this modest scripted, but well shot, and presented sci-fi thriller : it was fun to watch without too many false pretenses. I read some of those earlier reviews on here: some should be reported . It's (especially in a couple of those above) so obvious that they haven't even given to this well produced effort a chance, but just watched it with judgmental disdain, and a personal hate so obvious that truly gets offensive . Those are what I call trolls, since if you (even would take the time) to just check them out they have a profile that's only reviewed this film, and, in ways that are unbearably silly, and should not be permitted by such a serious site like IMDb. That being said, it is not Academy Award's material, but, I believe someone with a little brain, and class would have figured it out at the premise. It's an average campy, suggestive, and standard sci-fi movie that is as derivative as thousand of others films that have been already made many times before but without deserving such offensive, ludicrous tones: guess one can only pity folks killing themselves with their own self admitted, widely demonstrative ignorance. I can only tell you that I was certainly not expecting much at all, and, that actually a friend almost had to force me to watch this. But, then, I was quickly pleasantly surprised and hooked into it by the slick cinematography, the special effects, the incredible music score composed by Shawn Klement, the good special effects, and over all accurate make up supervision. Sound design was also first class, and, if the script was trite, the direction was very promising, extremely professional, and, obviously savvy focused onto fighting sets that were "arranged" to cover up for some warehouse, or cheap sound stage's labyrinthine claustrophobic sensation and lack of better props. But, thankfully, the obvious was avoided thanks also to the use of extremely poignant angles, and, of some solid filmmaking's style that ends up making a good use resulting for the most part always highly effective, and never depressing, but, as chilling as it is frantically, increasingly harrowing. The climax was good, and there was even an attempt at some character's development: something you can hardly find in much more over hyped productions made with costs that "Virus X" did not have even in the sum of their catering services. However, it's just a shame Lions Gate hasn't put a tiny bit of effort to market this little cult movie with some respect, in order to keep away trolls with serious personal issues, from being almost the only ones to review and trash cowardly some good, decent work, I was at the very end almost shocked to find so professional, and over all, very entertaining. The cast was a mix of fresh faces, all interesting types, not only watchable, but actually for the most part all believing in what they were saying. Sybil Danning was a hoot as the billionaire villain, still looking great, and changing outstanding prime wardrobe in virtually every sequence she appears. Joe Zaso was believable as a shady professor, and, Domiziano Arcangeli's performance was strong, and unique in its own, despite what some may think of an arbitrary choice of look, and appearance: however, again here we are not meant to take things so seriously since he's just playing a robot becoming progressively envious of human feelings! That per se is one thing that could make many laugh just at the idea, but how do we actually know it could be impossible, since "the creature" is a manipulation of a genre's flawed script? He looks great, and makes the most of it, often stealing the show. Again, I might have given a little less positive review if I had been made believe to be watching a major motion picture, made with million of dollars, or an art house cult. But, we know that Grindstone releases normally what is primarily bad filmmaking, picked and offered often without much of an artistic criteria. Nonetheless, they are still way above some SyFy original presentations, and, not even to be compared to those really dreadful products, made by minor studios like the Asylum. And, "Virus X" against all odds, was a true confirmation of their much better intents. Watch for yourself and you won't be disappointed !
christopher-libby-993-746535
Why did I somehow lose my brilliant hatchet job of a review of this monster before posting it?!? God hates me. The ghost of Gene Siskel is out to destroy me.SPOILER ALERT!!!!This movie sucks. It is hateful in every way. It relies on a dead hooker for a critical plot point for God's sake. That might be a first for a virus movie.How is it possible that movies like this get made? It features a god damned robot that looks like Dieter from Sprockets wearing Edgar Winter's hair for Christ sakes!The evil mistress owns a frigging life-like robot, and yet she wants to create a super-virus so she can then turn around and provide an antidote so she can presumably destroy and/or rule the world. Or maybe just have a really killer IPO. Who knows?Here's a little game you can play: donkey punch your date every time they show an exterior shot of the "viral research lab". It is a power station for God's sake! And the interior? Jesus, whose trailer park home did they shoot the head doctor's office scenes in? This guy definitely got screwed on the office amenities.Oh, oh, and guess what gang, turns out your common household dust mask is perfectly suited for a level 4 viral research lab. Yeah, no problem, just toss one of those suckers on and you'll be fine. I mean, why not, it's not like we don't already have HVAC ducts big enough for a grown man to crawl through that lead to every area of the facility, completely unimpeded by any sort of filtering system.It looks like they shot it in a local laser tag facility, including the storage room, which they quickly turned into a locker room for that day's shoot. The bathroom at your local gas station has better virus protection protocols than this place.Hateful. Every aspect of it. It is not worthy of your consideration. You will consider this when nothing else is on TV and you've seen all the stuff available on pay per view or on demand or whatever.Just go to bed. Go to bed. Go. To. Bed.
in1984
It's hard to describe this without feeling like I'm providing a spoiler in some way.Yes, it's a low budget film and most of its weaknesses are connected to the lack of realism that a bigger budget would have brought. At the same time, the director disguises most of those problems and they don't distract from the story.If you've ever seen the TV series Testees, this is something like that turned into a horror film. There's sort of a zombie tease going on with it too. Killing Room also comes to mind.In short, doctors, labs, experiments, test subjects, secrets, blood, biting, infection, chemical weapons, funding from the rich and psychotic.
