''Virus'' is a 1999

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by visual effects artist John Bruno and starring

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...

William Baldwin William Joseph Baldwin (born February 21, 1963), Note: While birthplace is routinely listed as Massapequa, that town has no hospital, and brother Alec Baldwin was born in nearby Amityville, which does. known also as Billy Baldwin,is an America ...

and

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films ''Citizen X'' (1995) an ...

. Based on the comic book of the same name by

Chuck Pfarrer Charles Patrick Pfarrer III (born April 13, 1957) is an American writer, film producer, and former United States Navy SEAL. As an author, he has penned published screenplays, novels, comic book, and non-fiction works. Regardless of medium, his wo ...

, it tells the story of a ship beset by a malevolent extraterrestrial entity that seeks to turn humanity into

cyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

slaves. The film was promoted with a line of

action figure An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are ...

s and a tie-in video game. It turned out to be a critical and commercial flop, but over time gained a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

Plot

''Akademik

Vladislav Volkov Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov (russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Во́лков; 23 November 193529 June 1971) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 11 missions. The second mission terminated fatally.

'', a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n research vessel in the South Pacific, communicates with the orbiting space station ''

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

''. A large energy source traveling through space strikes ''Mir'', killing the

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s and beaming itself down to ''Volkov''. The electrical surge takes over the ship and attacks the crew. Seven days later, the

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

''Sea Star'', captained by alcoholic Robert Everton (

), loses its uninsured cargo while sailing through a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

. ''Sea Stars crew, led by navigator and ex-

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

officer Kelly Foster (

) and engineer Steve Baker (

), discover the engine room taking on water. When ''Sea Star'' takes refuge in the eye of the storm to make repairs, ''Volkov'' appears on their radar. Realizing that it could be worth millions in salvage, Everton orders his crew aboard. On ''Volkov'', most of the electronics have been destroyed and the Russian crew are seemingly missing. Everton orders Steve to help a fellow crewman, Squeaky (

Julio Oscar Mechoso Julio Oscar Mechoso (May 31, 1955 – November 25, 2017) was an American actor who played detective Ruiz in '' Bad Boys'' and appeared in such films as ''Blue Streak'', ''Jurassic Park III'', ''The Legend of Zorro'', '' The Lost City'', ''Lit ...

), restore power to the ship. Immediately afterward, the ship's anchor drops on its own, sinking ''Sea Star'' with deckhand Hiko (

Cliff Curtis Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (born 27 July 1968) is a New Zealand actor. His film credits include '' Once Were Warriors'' (1994), ''Three Kings'' (1999), ''Training Day'' (2001), '' Whale Rider'' (2002), ''Collateral Damage'' (2002), '' Sunshin ...

) and first mate J.W. Woods, Jr. (

Marshall Bell Archibald Marshall Bell (born September 28, 1942) is an American character actor. He has appeared in many character roles in movies and television. He is known for roles in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge'' (1985), '' Stand by M ...

) on board. Steve leaves Squeaky to guard the engine room, where he is lured to his death by a robotic, spider-like creature. Steve rescues an injured Hiko, while Woods comes out unscathed. As Foster treats Hiko in the sick bay, Chief Science Officer Nadia Vinogradova (

Joanna Pacuła Joanna Pacuła (; born 30 December 1957) is a Polish-American actress and model. Born in Tomaszów Lubelski and emigrating to the United States in the early 1980s, she first gained prominence through her modeling work for Vogue. Her breakthro ...

)—the sole surviving member of ''Volkovs crew—shoots at the crew and is subdued by Steve. Nadia is hysterical about "it" needing power to travel through the ship and implores the crew to shut down the generators. She attacks Everton and Foster, who subdues her and takes her to the bridge. Steve, Woods, and crewman Richie Mason (

Sherman Augustus Sherman Augustus (born January 10, 1959) is an American actor, martial artist and former National Football League, NFL player. He is best known for his role as Nathaniel Moon in the AMC (TV channel), AMC series Into the Badlands (TV series), Into ...

) go to the engine room to look for Squeaky, but instead stumble upon an automated workshop producing more of the strange robots. The three are attacked by the robots and what appears to be a gun-wielding Russian crew member. The Russian is revealed to be a

cyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

, but the three bring it down with salvaged munitions from the ship's small arms locker and take its seemingly dead body to the bridge. Nadia explains that the sentient electrical energy beamed from the ''Mir'' took over the ship eight days prior, scanned the ship's computers to find information on killing humans, then used the automated workshops to convert ''Volkovs crew into cyborgs; the one brought to the bridge was the ship's captain and Nadia's husband. As the storm resumes, the crew head for the computer room. On the way, they are ambushed by a converted Squeaky and a giant robot that kills Woods. The survivors barricade themselves in the communications room, where Richie sends out a

mayday Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...

; however, Everton shoots out the radio, unwilling to give up his salvage. Foster punches Everton and removes him from command. Richie uses the computers to talk to the alien (credited as The Intelligence); it tells them that it is "aware" and sees mankind as a "virus" which it plans to use as "spare parts." This drives Richie insane, causing him to gun down Squeaky and flee. When the remaining crew leave the room, Everton takes the opportunity to talk to the Intelligence, which recognizes him as the "dominant lifeform." The crew discovers that the Intelligence has moved ''Volkov''s computer elsewhere in the ship. Realizing that the ship is moving, they return to the bridge by going outside, where Hiko is lost to the typhoon. Meanwhile, Everton is guided to one of the workshops, where he makes a bargain with the Intelligence. Foster identifies

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

as ''Volkovs destination, with Nadia surmising that the Intelligence wishes to seize a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

intelligence station from which it could seize control of the world's military forces. As they decide to sink ''Volkov'', the survivors are confronted by the now-cyborg Everton, which they defeat with a

thermite Thermite () is a pyrotechnic composition of metal powder and metal oxide. When ignited by heat or chemical reaction, thermite undergoes an exothermic reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction. Most varieties are not explosive, but can create brief ...

hand grenade. They empty the ship's fuel tanks and set explosive charges. Foster, Steve and Nadia run into Richie. A giant robot (piloted by the Intelligence) suddenly appears and attacks Nadia, Richie and Steve. The Intelligence captures Foster and tortures her for the location of the detonator. A mortally wounded Richie informs Steve that he prepared a jury-rigged ejection seat that can be used for escape. Nadia and Steve rescue Foster, and Nadia sacrifices herself by shooting a

flaregun A flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, blanks and smoke. The flare gun is typically used to produce a distress signal. Types The most common type of flare gun is a Very (so ...

at nearby gas tanks to kill the Intelligence. Foster and Steve make it out safely by using Richie's ejection seat, which triggers an explosion and sinks ''Volkov'', causing the sentient electricity to disperse in the seawater. Foster and Steve are rescued by a U.S. naval ship.

Cast

as Kelly "Kit" Foster *

as Steve Baker *

as Captain Robert Everton *

as Nadia Vinogradova *

as J.W. Woods Jr. *

as Richie Mason *

as Hiko *

as "Squeaky" * Yuri Chervotin as Colonel Kominsky * Keith Flippen as Captain Lonya Rostov * Levan Uchaneishvili as Alexi

Production

An international co-production film between The United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Germany. The film was mostly shot in Newport News, Virginia, on a ship anchored in the James River. A horizontal bar on the ship was raised and lowered to conceal the horizon line, making it appear the ship was far out at sea. The ship used as the ''Akademik Vladislav Volkov'' was the retired

Missile Range Instrumentation Ship A tracking ship, also called a missile range instrumentation ship or range ship, is a ship equipped with antennas and electronics to support the launching and tracking of missiles and rockets. Since many missile ranges launch over ocean areas for ...

. One of the ship's satellite dish antennas was intentionally damaged for the film's final scene where the ship was destroyed. Some of the Cyrillic lettering applied for the film was still visible on the hull before it was sunk on May 27, 2009. Several lines of dialogue in ''Virus'' were

improvised Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

. For instance, Richie's emphatic comment that the ''Volkov'' has a "fucked-up" antenna resulted from the actor's surprise at the condition of the ''Vandenberg''.

Reception

''Virus'' was a critical and commercial flop, grossing less than half of its budget and earning negative reviews. Based on 49 reviews, the film holds a 12% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, with an average rating of 3.4/10. The site's consensus states: "Despite its great special effects, this movie's predictability greatly undermines its intensity." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it holds a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 19 out of 100 based on 17 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Most critics found the film derivative and unoriginal. Reviewers pointed out similarities with the 1998 film ''

Deep Rising ''Deep Rising'' is a 1998 American action horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Treat Williams, Famke Janssen and Anthony Heald. It was distributed by Hollywood Pictures and Cinergi Pictures and released on February 2, ...

''.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave ''Virus'' an even lower rating than ''Deep Rising'', which he considered one of the worst films of 1998 and placed on his most-hated list. Many echoed his complaint about the underlit cinematography.

herself did not think highly of the film. In an IGN.com interview, Curtis had the following to say about ''Virus'': "That would be the all time piece of shit...It's just dreadful... That's the only good reason to be in bad movies. Then when your friends have admovies you can say 'Ahhhh, I've got the best one.' I'm bringing ''Virus''". Curtis also stated in the commentary track of the 2014 Shout Factory Blu-ray release of ''

Halloween H20 ''Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later'' (also known as simply ''Halloween H20'') is a 1998 American slasher film directed by Steve Miner, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams (actress), Michelle Williams, Janet Leigh and Jo ...

'' that she tried to get the director (John Bruno) fired because of how bad she thought the film was." Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.

Merchandise

A line of

s, the ''Virus Collector Series'', was developed by ReSaurus to promote the film. The line included figures of Foster, Baker, Richie, Captain Everton, Captain Alexi, Squeaky and the Goliath Machine (the Goliath set also included a Nadia figure). The captains and Squeaky were built with their cyborg implants, with parts included to restore their human appearance. All of the sets, excluding Goliath and Nadia's, included one or more firearms for their figure. Goliath also featured three sound clips of his lines from the film. A Europe-only tie-in game, '' Virus: It is Aware'', was also developed and published by

Cryo Interactive Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French video game development and publishing company founded in 1990, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo. History Cryo was formed by members of ERE Informatique ...

for the

Sony PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divi ...

. The game is a survival-horror title akin to ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' in concept and to ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, th ...

'' in control. The game had little to do with the film, apart from the introduction and ending cinematics, which feature creatures infesting a ship and a space station, respectively. The actual game follows a female police officer, Joan, trapped in an infested hotel along with her partner Sutter. The game is generally poorly regarded and has since fallen into obscurity. The original comics were re-released in

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

format with alternate cover artwork based on the film's climax.

References

External links

* * * * {{Dark Horse Comics films 1999 films 1999 horror films 1990s science fiction horror films American robot films American science fiction horror films American survival films British science fiction horror films British science fiction films Cyborg films French science fiction horror films French science fiction films German science fiction horror films German horror films Japanese science fiction horror films Japanese science fiction films 1990s English-language films Films based on Dark Horse Comics Films set on ships Films shot in North Carolina Films shot in Virginia Mutual Film Company films Universal Pictures films Films scored by Joel McNeely Dark Horse Entertainment films Live-action films based on comics Films directed by John Bruno (special effects) Films produced by Gale Anne Hurd Seafaring films 1999 directorial debut films 1990s American films