Antiviral 2012

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Eventually the clammy spell of this handsomely designed but solemnly paced movie begins to wear off, and you long for a little action or at least some fresh air. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The pace is uneven, the energy sluggish (even the arrival of Malcolm McDowell in the third act doesn't pep things up) and the film feels overlong. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Antiviral never builds the sort of character investment or narrative momentum that would allow its visceral horrors to seriously disturb, rather than seeming like choice gross-out moments lovingly designed for maximum viewer recoil. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The movie can be repulsive at times, but Cronenberg is more interested in ideas than in blood and guts. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Although the climax feels like one last stab by Brandon to echo his father's legacy, the rest of the film suggests the promise of his own distinct, distressing career to come. Read more

Megan Lehmann, Hollywood Reporter: If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, David Cronenberg should be feeling pretty chuffed with son Brandon's big-screen debut, a petri dish of high-concept perversity and cultural commentary teeming with lo-fi ickiness. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: If Cronenberg's not yet a dead ringer for his iconic dad, he's taken an intriguing first step. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: Cronenberg's directing style is elegant, all shiny surfaces and sleek camera moves, until the horror begins; then the film turns as dark and as bloody as the physical decay of its star-obsessed characters. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, NPR: Before long, the aggressive sleekness of Antiviral becomes its own kind of ennui. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: What Jones hasn't been given is a character to play. Syd is a cipher, neither sympathetic nor hateful, nor even interestingly human. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Cronenberg achieves a kind of heightened reality that does not resemble the real world but possesses its own internal logic. Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: How sick can fans of a celebrity get? Very, answers "Antiviral." Imagine fan fetish culture metastasizing. A pox on consumers and capitalists alike, Brandon Cronenberg sneers. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Globe and Mail: A virtual panoply of high wooziness, replete with sweating, shakes, vomiting, rot-infected food and more needles piercing skin than rush hour at a free flu clinic. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Obviously influenced by his dad David's early work but also showing a strong personal style, Brandon Cronenberg's feature debut is a body-horror satire with a point - a needle point. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: 'Antiviral' never wholly succeeds as either a surgical satire or a medical conspiracy thriller, and its tedious last third is like a diseased body dragging itself slowly to the grave. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The whole movie feels like a case of the sweats, putting you in desperate need of the chicken soup of recognizable human behavior. Read more

Chuck Wilson, Village Voice: Papa Cronenberg must be proud, but be advised: If there's a blood test in your future, book it before seeing this movie. Read more