Virus - Dumb, fun sci-fi

I watched 'Virus' back on VHS when it came out in the late nineties and have only just got round to re-watching it over twenty years later.  Just as I was deciding to leave a review of it online, much of the 'trivia' surrounding the film was about how leading lady, Jamie Lee Curtis, seemed to say how much she hated the film, even going so far as to actively try and get the director fired and replaced.  I don't know how much of that is true.  Maybe the production was hard to work on, but the end result is what you'd expect from any sci-fi/horror B-movie in the nineties.  

A crew of a deep sea tug boat come across a Russian science ship which has seemingly been left abandoned.  They plan on getting rich from the salvage, but they soon find that getting it back home is more of a task than they had first realised.  Unfortunately for their dreams of riches an alien virus has infected the ship and allowed a consciousness to start fusing together human and machines who clearly don't like intruders.

What follows is your typical 'slasher' fest, only on a ship - and with a whole army of human-robots (who always looked like they were distant cousins of 'Star Trek's' The Borg) hunting them down one by one.  Yes, most of the crew are simply there to be murdered horrifically (and no, there's possibly not as much gore as you may be hoping for).  And those who do last a little longer hardly get great in depth and intricate 'character arcs' for them to get their acting teeth into.  It's a B-movie through and through.  You'd think that Jamie Lee Curtis would appreciate how much fun they can be to watch after making her break-through in 'Halloween.'

I guess if I had to only recommend one cheesy action nineties sci-fi, I'd say watch 'Deep Rising.' For me it's up there with the best of them when it comes to daft - and slightly self-knowing - sci-fi horror for the decade.  However, if I had to recommend two such movies, I'd probably still not put 'Virus' up there.  But, just because it may not be the cream of its genre, doesn't mean that it's as bad as its cast suggests.  Keep your expectations low and give it a go.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that