Virus (2000)

The fate of mankind lies in the hands of a group of scientists located in the barren, nether regions of Antarctica when a disastrous plane crash releases a genocidal virus engineered for chemical warfare by the military. Product Description

Shortened version feels shortened, but it's still good

My only complaint about 'Virus' is that I got a copy that was shortened by a good 40-plus minutes and is not in widescreen ... and so at times it felt like I was watching a pan and scan movie that had been liberally edited. However, the good news is that 'Virus', even suffering from these handicaps, is still good. The movie (made in the great decade of movies like this -- the 80s) involves the theft and eventual accidental release of a virus so lethal, it wipes out everyone in the world ... except for a few explorers and military types in the arctic. These survivors must band together and find ways to keep going. The great twist is that, in the 80s, many nations didn't get along but still had exploration stations grouped near one another in the arctic ... Russians and South Americans and French and Americans must fight their dislike for each other and learn to, well, get along. And that proves to be really fascinating, especially when a Russian commander orders the destruction of one of his own submarines because it might be infected -- and so the Americans gladly help out by torpedoing the sub to the bottom of the ocean (who said the Americans and Russians couldn't get along). This movie is a whos who of disaster movie royalty -- George Kennedy (and let's be honest, if it has George Kennedy, you know you're gonna like it), Chuck Connors (being manlier than man), Henry Silva (the budget movie weirdo), Glenn Ford and Robert Vaughn and Olivia Hussey (sadly Olivia is kind of wasted in this one, but she's still beautiful ... just the kind of woman you want to gaze upon as a deadly virus wipes out the planet). This is a Japanese movie and so the metaphysics and the actual action get mixed up into something that kind of resembles poetry some times. The other times, the movie has you riveted as it moves along at a breakneck pace (part of that pacing may be the 40 minutes of editing). Again, a widescreen version of this obviously epic movie would have been nice, as well as the entire movie ... but for the price and for the resulting movie, it is still a good deal. And again, it's got George Kennedy ... the grand old man of disaster. That's worth a look. May 17, 2008

Great movie. Deserves a better DVD

I didn't know what to expect from "Virus". I was very pleasantly surprised. It grabbed hold of my interest from the start and never let go. The cast is great, with Glenn Ford as the US president, Henry Silva as a general and George Kennedy as the leader of the survivors in Antarctica.

A strong four star rating for the movie. My DVD was not good at all, pan-and-scanned and with pretty bad picture quality. So I hope someone will give this movie a decent DVD release. But until then, try to find a cheap copy; don't miss the movie. January 23, 2008

Excellent and Could really happen!!

I had seen this movie on a VHS tape and I really enjoyed it! I was finally able to get on DVD:VIRUS. This movie put a lot of fear in me because it could REALLY HAPPEN!! Get this movie and enjoy! January 15, 2007

Life IS wonderful - finally!

Just to be clear, those 4 stars are for the FILM - not for this disc!
Directed in 1980 by the late Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale) this apocalyptic film basically exists in two versions: the 'international' version (108 mins) and the full-length Japanese version (155 mins).

I discovered this film languishing on one of those 50-film DVD compilations and found it to be a real diamond in the rough. Despite the appalling quality of the pan & scan print, the film shone.

Intrigued enough to want to find a good-quality DVD of this film, I came across this disc, which was the only standalone version out there. Reviews said that the picture quality wasn't great, and the print was still pan & scan, but at least this disc included a few minutes of additional material missing from the version I'd seen. It was cheap, so I went for it. And, sure enough, there was a little bit of extra material in this version - but the picture quality was just as bad. Blurry, cropped, and horrible. Some scenes are even anamorphically squashed ... the sun is not normally an egg-shaped oval - but here it is! :(

In 2002 Japan received a superb 2-disc DVD release of this film containing both versions. Sadly this was a limited edition. Don't bother looking for it - chances are you won't find it, and, besides, the full-length Japanese version wasn't of much use to us Western viewers as (unsurprisingly) most of the additional scenes are in Japanese with no English subtitles available.

To cut to the chase, leave this disc be. Instead, scroll up to the search bar at the top of this page and type in 'Sonny Chiba Action Pack' :) There you'll find the full-length 155 minute Japanese version of 'Virus' on Region 1 DVD in a sparkling widescreen print, with excellent picture and sound quality, and (removable) English subtitles for the occasional Japanese-language scenes. Do yourself a favor, buy that instead and see this film as it was meant to be seen. October 11, 2006

A Little Known Disaster Classic

This little known classic was the most expensive Japanese film production of the early `80s, and one of the finest disaster movies ever made. Virus is massive in scale, with an epic, end-of-the-world plot that marries the best aspects of Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain with the desperate post-apocalyptic action of The Day After Tomorrow. May 12, 2006

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