Product Details

• Actors: Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, Joanna Pacula, Marshall Bell
• Directors: John Bruno
• Writers: Chuck Pfarrer, Dennis Feldman
• Producers: Bud S. Smith, Chuck Pfarrer, Dennis E. Jones, Gale Anne Hurd, Gary Levinsohn
• Format: PAL
• Language: English, Russian
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000067NQ7
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #687,276 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Virus" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In this fast-paced, sci-fi/horror shoot-'em-up based on the Dark Horse comic book, Jamie Lee Curtis plays the navigator of an ocean-going tug. When a typhoon cripples their boat, the crew sails into the eye of the storm, where they discover a high-tech Russian communications and research vessel adrift. Only one Russian crewmember is still alive, raving about "intelligent lightning." They soon discover that an alien life form has taken over the ship's computers and is churning out biomechanical warriors. With their own boat destroyed, the crew must battle the creature as the ship reenters the storm. If the basic story and characters all sound familiar, it may not surprise you that producer Gale Anne Hurd's other films include The Terminator and Aliens. This movie and its derivative screenplay aren't nearly as good as those were, and director John Bruno (who won an Oscar for best visual effects for The Abyss) seems more skilled at action choreography and special effects than character and story. Curtis plays another variation on her "scream queen" persona, while Donald Sutherland gives a deliciously hammy performance as the tug captain (in his words, "the dominant life form") who smells salvage money if he can claim the Russian ship for his own. For all the picture's flaws, the effects are good (and gory) and it moves at top speed for a brisk 100 minutes. A trivia factoid: at one point on this troubled production, film footage was seized at the airport because the shipping box was prominently marked with the film's title! --Geof Miller

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Swiss cheese has fewer holes than this story, May 3, 2000

By 

K. Poudrier "righter8" (Faerun) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Virus - DTS (DVD)

This has got to be THE worst movie I have ever seen, with the exception of Hardware.

In no particular order, here is what stood out to me about the sheer stupidity of the story: The russian woman who managed to stay alive for a week after the ship was initially taken over: She managed to cut off the power to the alien, so why didn't she destroy the computer it was inhabiting?

The crew: They allow themselves to be sent through a typhoon by a clearly unstable captain.

No background: Who are these people? The navigator (Jamie Lee) is ex-navy we learn thru a picture in the background. One guy is ex-navy also apparently. He mentions being a Ordnance Specialist at one point. So whats he doing on the crew? Apparently being a Ordnance Specialist makes one a mechanical genius capable of creating an escape device out of a rocket and spare parts.

Everytime the crew are attacked by a "monster" they attempt to shoot it dead even though it has no substantial body. Its also established early that the way it is kept under control of the alien entity is by a mass of cables dragging behind the "monster". So why not chop the cables? Would that be TOO easy?

The high point of the movie? The ending credits.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Shocked" by the negative reviews..., October 25, 2002

By 

Ace-of-Stars (Honolulu, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Virus (DVD)

*
I cannot really ''praise,'' per se, the originality or story of the film ''Virus,'' because, in all honesty, it's not what anyone can rightly call a great film. Sure, it's visually stunning and fun and enjoyable and all that... but it's certainly not ''Terminator'' or ''Aliens.''

Even so, I'm somewhat puzzled that so many reviewers are having a difficult time ''relating'' to this movie, based upon how it plays itself out. I think they are missing one key element in the whole thing, however:

Just as ADULT reviewers have to be reminded that ''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' was a movie made for the tiny tot audience, reviewers of the movie ''Virus'' need to keep in mind that this film was based on a ''comic book'' story (...or as ''fanboys''-- current and former --would call it, a ''graphic novel'')!

Anyone who pays any amount of attention would realize that there is NEVER (or rarely ever) going to be a ''totally straight'' presentation of a comic book story translated to the big screen -- even if the story itself is treated ''seriously'' within the pages of the comic. (''The Crow'' was one of those rarest of exceptions.)

Keeping that in mind may actually make viewing this movie about an alien energy lifeform that....??? uses human bodies for ''spare parts'' ???...., and tries to kill them off more effectively by constructing cybernetic monstrosities???.... okay, so it's a little ludicrous, but again, I don't think it was meant to be taken completely seriously -- it's mindless escapism that's both fun and scary. That's Entertainment!

* * *

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cybernetics has never looked tastier..., November 25, 2003

By 

Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Virus (DVD)

A team of Russian cosmonauts encounter a strange, malevolent electrical being in space just before transmitting data down to a research vessel, the Vladislav Volkov in the South Pacific, and inadvertently wind out transmitting the being.

In the meantime, the tugboat Sea Star is struggling with a large cargo in tow and gets caught in Typhoon Leiah, with some spectacular special effects on the storm in this scene. After loosing the cargo they must head for the eye of the storm in order to repair their boat, and meet up with the abandoned and derelict Russian research vessel. The captain claims the vessel as salvage and sets alight the crew's dreams of big money in the salvage fees.

When they power up the Russian ship in order to bring her in, they unwittingly release the electrical being, starting up all the monstrosities it had already managed to create before being shut down by the remaining survivor of the Russian crew.

The visuals are superb on the cybernetic creations, gory and disgusting; and the suspense as the survivors struggle to best the living, intelligent being is palatable and thick. Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Sutherland, and William Baldwin give excellent performances, and the supporting cast as well. Derelict ship, creepy monster, lots of action, sexy heroine...and lots of blood and guts give this tasty morsel five stars on my list. Enjoy!