Viral (2016)

Now that the weekend has finally arrived, it was nice to kick back and watch a movie that was actually somewhat believable in the grand scheme of reality. Sure, something like this would be unlikely, but it would be possible. What was that movie? It was the 2016 independent entry Viral.

Plot/ Following the outbreak of a virus that wipes out the majority of the human population, a young woman documents her family's new life in quarantine and tries to protect her infected sister.

When I saw this one, I actually expected another typical outbreak type film. However, what I found was something different and somewhat refreshing. While this is more of a slow burn character driven drama than straight outbreak driven gorefest, it does have a few moments that jump out and bring some of the horror elements to life. The scripting is solid, the characters are at least somewhat memorable, and the cinematography is decent. Yes, it does not bring everything to life in a manner that would make it overly exciting or terrifying, the performances are average, and it felt somewhat predictable and cliché, but it is still extremely watchable. In the end, it was an interesting approach to a post apocalyptic/outbreak themed movie. If you like that type of movie, you will definitely enjoy this one.