Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral Came From a Fever Dream

By The Backlot

@backlotfriends

A man in a black coat wearing white latex gloves sits beside a woman in white lying in bed with a sleep mask on, tulips in the background.

Brandon Cronenberg got sick with the flu in film school in 2004. While he had the fever, he became fixated on something: whoever gave him this virus had put part of their body inside his. That was the seed for Antiviral.

It took eight years. He made a short film first, then developed the feature. It debuted at Cannes in 2012.

The other detail that makes this weirder: Brandon grew up not watching his father David Cronenberg's films. They weren't appropriate for kids. But he had already worked on eXistenZ as a teenager, making prosthetic props. He knew what body horror felt like to build before he'd seen it on screen.

People on Backlot are watching this one. Good match with eXistenZ if you want a double bill.

Quick Facts

Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral Came From a Fever Dream

DirectorBrandon Cronenberg

CastCaleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Malcolm McDowell, Joe Pingue, Sheila McCarthy

GenreScience Fiction, Horror

Release2012-09-19

Runtime110 min

Rated6.0/10

Instagram caption

Brandon Cronenberg got the flu in 2004 and became obsessed with how intimate catching a virus is. Eight years later that was Antiviral. #BodyHorror #Backlot

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Brandon Cronenberg got sick with the flu in film school and became obsessed with how intimate it was. Eight years later, that was Antiviral. #Backlot

It took eight years. He made a short film first, then developed the feature. It debuted at Cannes in 2012.

People on Backlot are watching this one. Good match with eXistenZ if you want a double bill.