Okay, I know, this movie borrows so many elements from so many sci-fi/horror movies that I'm not gonna bother making a list of them. The setting, plot development, characters, ending,... are all far from original but the premise of this movie sorta is. Instead of monsters or cyborgs running around killing people, we now have an intelligent alien life-force in the form of electricity from outerspace invading a big Russian research-ship in desolate ocean waters. The life-form takes over the ship's computers and electronic circuits and is determined to wipe out the one virus it sees as a threat: Humanity. When the crew of the small salvage-ship Sea Star finds the abandoned Russian vessel dead in the water, the fun starts.
The acting is okay, but the characters are badly written and full of clichés, with Donald Shutterland's character, Capt. Robert Everton, being the worst (and therefore the most fun). He handles in an irrational manner all the time. In the beginning of the movie he wants to kill himself by blowing his brains out 'cause he's depressed over losing his cargo. Then he's happy 'cause he thinks that salving the Russian ship will make him a millionaire. When things go wrong again, he claims himself being the superior life-form and tries to make a deal with the alien force. Needless to say this is the last dumb mistake he'll ever make. Jamie Lee Curtis and William Baldwin play the only 'normal' characters on board.
But we don't watch these type of movies for character-development or logical plot-twists, do we? The suspense and action leading up to the climax are well dosed and the special effects are rather excellent. They start out small and turn grotesque near the end, like it should be. We have small spider/bat-like robots operated by animatronics, puppetry and humans with metal parts sticking out of them for the visualization of the symbiosis between man and machine, and in the end they switch to solid CGI for the massive über-robot. I just love the whole "using humans for spare-parts"-idea.
I must say (sorry for the spoiler) that there is a survivor (though easy to figure out, I'm not gonna tell who it is), but the way he/she escapes the ship is a bit ridiculous, probably doing it for only one reason: to make the ending look spectacular. Just jumping overboard would've been as effective and less dangerous. But we don't wanna see that, huh?
Bottomline: This flick is fun! But make sure you leave your brain at the door when you see this, otherwise you'll end up needing spare-parts yourself. You might even have yourself a treat by organizing a triple-feature "Ships Of Horror"-night, by watching VIRUS, DEEP RISING and GHOST SHIP. Because there are far more worse horror-flicks involving ships out there. If you don't believe me, then check out UNINVITED, DEATH SHIP or (sorry, Jason-lovers) Friday THE 13TH, PART 8: JASON TAKES MANHATTEN (instead of what the movie's title might lead you to suspect, almost 70% of it takes place on a cruise-ship!).
If you like the "robots vs humans"-concept, you might wanna check out more obscure similar titles like SATURN 3 (starring Harvey Keitel) or MOONTRAP (starring Bruce Campbell). In any case, VIRUS stirred up my "flesh & metal"-fetish, so I'm gonna watch TETSUO all over again.
The acting is okay, but the characters are badly written and full of clichés, with Donald Shutterland's character, Capt. Robert Everton, being the worst (and therefore the most fun). He handles in an irrational manner all the time. In the beginning of the movie he wants to kill himself by blowing his brains out 'cause he's depressed over losing his cargo. Then he's happy 'cause he thinks that salving the Russian ship will make him a millionaire. When things go wrong again, he claims himself being the superior life-form and tries to make a deal with the alien force. Needless to say this is the last dumb mistake he'll ever make. Jamie Lee Curtis and William Baldwin play the only 'normal' characters on board.
But we don't watch these type of movies for character-development or logical plot-twists, do we? The suspense and action leading up to the climax are well dosed and the special effects are rather excellent. They start out small and turn grotesque near the end, like it should be. We have small spider/bat-like robots operated by animatronics, puppetry and humans with metal parts sticking out of them for the visualization of the symbiosis between man and machine, and in the end they switch to solid CGI for the massive über-robot. I just love the whole "using humans for spare-parts"-idea.
I must say (sorry for the spoiler) that there is a survivor (though easy to figure out, I'm not gonna tell who it is), but the way he/she escapes the ship is a bit ridiculous, probably doing it for only one reason: to make the ending look spectacular. Just jumping overboard would've been as effective and less dangerous. But we don't wanna see that, huh?
Bottomline: This flick is fun! But make sure you leave your brain at the door when you see this, otherwise you'll end up needing spare-parts yourself. You might even have yourself a treat by organizing a triple-feature "Ships Of Horror"-night, by watching VIRUS, DEEP RISING and GHOST SHIP. Because there are far more worse horror-flicks involving ships out there. If you don't believe me, then check out UNINVITED, DEATH SHIP or (sorry, Jason-lovers) Friday THE 13TH, PART 8: JASON TAKES MANHATTEN (instead of what the movie's title might lead you to suspect, almost 70% of it takes place on a cruise-ship!).
If you like the "robots vs humans"-concept, you might wanna check out more obscure similar titles like SATURN 3 (starring Harvey Keitel) or MOONTRAP (starring Bruce Campbell). In any case, VIRUS stirred up my "flesh & metal"-fetish, so I'm gonna watch TETSUO all over again.