Virus (1999)

9% of critics liked it
(44 reviews)
25% of users liked it
(19,401 ratings)

When the salvage tug Sea Star is caught unprepared in a violent storm, it slowly sinks, and the crew, led by Captain Everton (Donald Sutherland), wander upon another ship for refuge. The ship, apparently deserted, turns out to be a Russian research vessel loaded with high-tech electronics. The Sea… More When the salvage tug Sea Star is caught unprepared in a violent storm, it slowly sinks, and the crew, led by Captain Everton (Donald Sutherland), wander upon another ship for refuge. The ship, apparently deserted, turns out to be a Russian research vessel loaded with high-tech electronics. The Sea Star crew, which includes hot-head Kelly "Kit" Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Steve Baker (William Baldwin), soon find that they are not alone, and they also learn the horrible fate of the original crew. The ship had taken on an energy-based alien life-form capable of constructing bodies out of human tissue as easily as electronic parts. The life-form wants to inhabit the planet earth but first must rid the world of the virus that infects it and could kill it -- man. John Bruno, special effects supervisor on Terminator 2 tries to reinvent the haunted house sub-genre in his directorial debut, much as Ridley Scott did in Alien. ~ Ron Wells, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: John Bruno
Written By: Chuck Pfarrer
Genres: Action & Adventure, Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Jan 15, 1999 Wide
On DVD: Jul 20, 1999
Studio: Universal

Critic Reviews

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Your average winter cold follows a less predictable course.
Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader
Until the diverting special effects take center stage, this story, about an alien intelligence that builds an army out of flesh and metal, pathetically exploits genre conventions without generating self-reference, camp, or thrills.
Joe Leydon, Variety
A derivative sci-fi shocker that isn't likely to spark much interest beyond its target audience of undemanding genre fans.
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
Frankly, about 20 minutes into this dud, I was rooting for the alien beasties.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
An unpretentious, amusing thrill-a-minute sci-fi horror thriller / monster movie that plugs right into fears of a Y2K crisis.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
95 minutes of unrelieved tedium.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The next worse thing to getting a virus is to catch this bacteria friendly film.
Philip Strick, Sight and Sound
Virus makes another loud and colourful case for the special-effects epidemic.
, Time Out
While he can fling together a competent action or special effects sequence, his handling of the plot and actors is strictly routine.
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
a respectable little thriller that packs a couple of genuine jolts and gallon upon gallon of gore into a goofy, sometimes suspenseful yarn.
Eugene Novikov, Film Blather
No one in the right mind would call this a good film, or even a decent one, but thankfully, rookie feature director John Bruno's romp is not a complete waste of celluloid.
Tom Meek, Film Threat
Even Donald Sutherland in the potentially juicy role as a self-serving old sea dog, is wasted in this big budget ill.
James Rocchi, Netflix
Monster movie is a monstrous failure.
Dwayne E. Leslie, Boxoffice Magazine
When the automated robotic lab starts using dead bodies as biological material to create killing machines programmed to believe man is harmful and must be destroyed.
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
bathed in an incessant gloom that makes it look like one of the comic book artists who inspired this sci-fi/horror hybrid spilled his ink blotter on the film's negatives
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
It's rare to find a movie that makes this little sense.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jason S

This is a good sci fi horror flick. The scares are there and so is the action.
moon r

an alien intelligence takes over a high tech russian boat and plots to TAKE OVER THE WORLD (hey, that NEVER happens, pesky alien scum!)...so stop thinking too hard and try to enjoy this adolescent thrill ride in the… More
an alien intelligence takes over a high tech russian boat and plots to TAKE OVER THE WORLD (hey, that NEVER happens, pesky alien scum!)...so stop thinking too hard and try to enjoy this adolescent thrill ride in the just-cause-i'm-a-bigtime-hotshot-actor-don't-mean-i-ain't-got-bills-to-pay spirit in which it was intended. who says fun has to be smart?
Lafe F

This movie just doesn't work with an alien droid thing aboard a creepy ship. It's a dark ugly movie with a few thrills, but nothing too scary.
Dean !

Very gory Sci-Fi horror, a bit like Event Horizon.
Stuart B

plop
Danny R

A vastly underrated sci-fi thriller with solid suspense a first-rate cast and superb visual effects, after a typhoon the crew of the American tugboat Sea Star has comes across an abandoned Russian research vessel floating dead on the water, after boarding the vessel they believe to be… More
A vastly underrated sci-fi thriller with solid suspense a first-rate cast and superb visual effects, after a typhoon the crew of the American tugboat Sea Star has comes across an abandoned Russian research vessel floating dead on the water, after boarding the vessel they believe to be deserted they soon discover that they are not alone, first they find a terrified female survivor who explains to them that an alien entity has attacked the Russian space station Mir, which her ship was in contact with and then it beamed itself from the space station to her vessel to began taking over the ship's computer main frame, the merciless alien entity regards humanity as a virus which must be exterminated and It has created deadly bio-mechanical monstrosities out of the bodies of the Russian vessel's dead crew which are now hunting down the Sea Star's crew. Strong characterizations by a game cast led by Donald Sutherland in a superb turn as the captain of the Sea Star, who is experienced but sightly crazy, Jamie Lee Curtis delivers a first-rate performance as the virulent, no nonsense navigator and William Baldwin as the Sea Star's heroic engineer turns in a fine performance, solid supporting performances by Joanna Pacula, Marshall Bell, Julio Oscar Mechoso and Sheman Augustus. Visual effects designer John Bruno makes an impressive directional debut with this film which is based on the Dark Horse comic book by Chuck Pfrarrer, excellent robotics design by Steve Johnson. An effectively eerie sci-fi film with unusual touches that is very enjoyable. Highly Recommended.
Joseph E

The Effects weren't the best, but they weren' the worst by any means. The acting was pretty good overall. The fun was just an added plus. Read the Dark Horse Comics for even more added fun. Every now and then its good to get something high in action, low in smartness,… More
The Effects weren't the best, but they weren' the worst by any means. The acting was pretty good overall. The fun was just an added plus. Read the Dark Horse Comics for even more added fun. Every now and then its good to get something high in action, low in smartness, only if you don't do it all the time. (Longer Proper review to come ASAP)
Robert F

What the hell? I pulled this film randomly out of the Sci-Fi section at the video store, expecting a deep space sci-fi horror (I know...what was I thinking?). Instead I got some D-grade nautical action thriller, which I had to watch in two halfs after falling asleep somwhere in the… More
What the hell? I pulled this film randomly out of the Sci-Fi section at the video store, expecting a deep space sci-fi horror (I know...what was I thinking?). Instead I got some D-grade nautical action thriller, which I had to watch in two halfs after falling asleep somwhere in the middle. Virus was indescribably bad. Why were there robots on the ship, and how did they get there? How did Jamie Lee Curtis survive being shocked by that amount of electricity? And why was Donald Sutherland's fake Irish accent so bad, it was funny? These are the questions you will be asking yourself if you're game enough to watch this trash.