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. – (Source)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 60% (Critics) / 28% (Audience)
Directed By: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
Written By: Barbara Marshall and Christopher Landon
Starring: Sofia Black-D’Elia, Analeigh Tipton, Travis Tope and Machine Gun Kelly
Studio: Blumhouse Productions

The Good:
Sofia Black-D’Elia was a very strong heroine and basically did all of the heavy lifting in this movie. I also liked the pacing of the film and how the quiet moments allowed the isolation and desperation to really shine through.
The action moments were also well done and I liked the choices made for how the infected would behave. The overriding motivation to spread the infection was especially well done. The effects were pretty cool and creepy too.

The Bad:
I get that teenagers can be self-absorbed little snots who neve3r think long term but the idea that these kids would have a huge rager while quarantined due to a virus carried in bodily fluids just seemed like a bit too much. Even the most irresponsible kid would have to be too freaked out by the fact that they were living under martial law to think a party was a good idea.

The Ugly:
What is a Machine Gun Kelly and why is he all over projects made by Joost and Schulman (he was also in their film NERVE) or things that are Schulman-adjacent as Kelly was also on an episode of Schulman’s brother’s show CATFISH. Howzabout we nip this particular outbreak in the bud before it spreads to far and wide?

Final Verdict: VIRAL doesn’t do anything new with the infected horror genre but what it does it does very well. The characters are well rounded and the effects are decent for the budget. All around this was a pretty decent watch.

Grade: B-