#virus reviews

[virusreviews]

2023: The Rise in Father/ Daughter Movies

The Last of Us, Aftersun and The Whale are a handful of recent projects that have gifted their audiences with the beauty of father/ daughter relationships. An uprise in Hollywood men being paired with upcoming actresses has stirred up family dynamics on the screen; it has believably stemmed from the fandom insurgence of older men being worshipped on the Internet. Not many can complain at how well these production companies have executed their positive portrayals of familial love. From a nostalgic and tear welling story like in Aftersun to high tension and eventual bonds in The Last of Us, no one can be disappointed by this expanding trope.

[nonbinarycharmybee]

team chaotix is so funny vector's really like "yeah i make sure this kid brushes his teeth and doesn't hurt himself playing with scissors and held his hand as he took his first steps and was there when he said his first word and tuck him in at eight pm almost every night. we're coworkers <3"

[nando161mando]

CPAC AUSTRALIA 2024

CPAC AUSTRALIA 2024

Reviewing all the good jokes and effortlessly charming people at CPAC Australia 2024, from my hidden bunker in Woke Mind Virus Apocalypse Australia.

---

thank you

/ tomtanuki

[ygoartreviews]

Doom Virus Dragon

I've always thought this card was so funny for the very specific reason of: Kaiba unlocks a cool dragon card and then just immediately gives it every disease. I mean look at this dragon. You can tell just by looking that it has at least one virus. The most obvious indication to me is the hyper exposed gums (this guy's gotta have the driest mouth ever), but there's also the scale texture that in some areas looks like growths and in others like pits, creating just an overall unsettling skin look. I think the lines in the wings add to the diseased theme too, so I'm disappointed that they were toned down to the point that they're barely noticeable for the actual card version. It's really weird that they decided to give him all kinds of definition in his neck and stomach in card form for some reason. Like, why did they do that??? The anime version is mostly just smooth purple skin there, so seeing all kinds of skintight muscle is so strange. The way this card is cropped at the bottom makes the position of his legs look so super awkward too. The choice to add lightning of all things in the background is odd, as it bears absolutely no relation to this dragon at all. The vines it uses to attack in the anime would've been a much better choice.

Rating: 6/10, my son Critias, who has every disease

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

i dont know how ive only just processed this but its very interesting that a lot of reviews or analysis of media now have a qualifier of "this came out before/during/after 2020"

i imagine a lot of future retrospectives will have decently large sections about the influence of covid on the writing itself and/or readings of it, like a lot of stuff with ww2 or more recently 9/12

i have no point to this post really, but it does makes me wonder if there was like a similar effect after like the spanish flu pandemic.

[quatregats]

Well. All I will say about my sleep schedule right now. Is that I am not going to have jetlag when I get home at this rate

[appalachianapologies]

Ok SO I've got some fishes I would like to share from the aquarium we went to a couple weeks ago. First here is my very very favorite fish. I have no idea what it was, but if I was naming it, it would be "patchwork quilt fish" because it looks like somebody just jammed 3 fish together. (Also here's a clownfish.)

And then there's THIS nightmare horror from the deep which apepared to have one red mouth and like 6 white eyes. I couldn't get a very good picture of this monster but trust me, it looks like it's about to start sucking out your blood while hypnotizing you with its 6 white eyes.

I have a request for a MacGyverism (maybe gone wrong? in a whumpy way? or maybe just a fact?) related to your chemistry homework. (Ok I literally have no idea what type of chemistry you're studying maybe this is impossilble in which case just.... whatever Mac thing strikes you.)

that fish just went thrifting and is showing off its outfit!! and ofc The Horrors™️

prompts

“Shit, shit-”

“Hoss-”

“Uh-” Mac shakes his head, having momentarily forgotten that he had his earpiece in. “How much time can you buy me?”

“I got three bullets and six assholes. Probably not as much as you need.”

“Can you at least keep them occupied?”

“I’ll do my best,” Jack mutters back. “What’s goin’ on?”

Mac swallows, glad that Jack can’t see what he’s seeing. “The casing is starting to erode.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that whatever container Moore was keeping the virus in, he chose the wrong one.”

“Can you fix it?”

“Temporarily, sure.”

“Good enough for me.”

Mac gives a nod to himself. He needs chemicals, and very specific ones. If the container starts leaking, which it inevitably will, he needs it to leak into an acid. The only problem is that he won’t be able to keep the solution acidic for long enough. At best, it’ll take a hazmat team hours to arrive. 

Mac exhales, eyes running up and down the shelves of cleaning supplies. Too many of them are bases, but finally, his eyes settle on the vinegar.

Unfortunately, that’s only half the battle. Before he can use it for any type of temporary containment, he needs to create its conjugate base to keep the solution at the same pH.

“Water,” Mac mumbles.

“What’s that?”

“New plan. Let the rest of the guards do whatever they want. I need you to find me some water bottles.” Mac looks back down at the canister, now blistering and looking more than ready to burst. “And Jack?”

“Yep?”

“Do it fast.”

[dayspreceding]

The Thing (2011)

Spoiler Warning

Ok Near as I can tell, this movie is not very well liked by most people, and I can definitely understand why. I watched it a couple of nights ago and frankly I wasn’t taking notes, so we’re going off my memory here.

A lot of the complaints I’ve seen about this movie are about it relying on CGI over practical effects, which is a dumb thing to complain about in my opinion. If you want to be upset because the CGI wasn’t “good enough”, that’s one thing, but CGI and Practical effects are TOOLS, there are pros and cons to both, and if you can’t get a practical effects team to provide the quality you’re looking for, there’s nothing wrong with using CGI. That said, I really enjoyed the CGI in this prequel, though maybe they went a little overboard with the Thing’s abilities. In the prequel, literally moments after waking up, the creature is strong enough to LEAP through a ceiling, destroy it, and keep on moving. In the Russell Thing, the creature had a feeling of NEEDING to be stealthy because it was gathering strength, so a lot of the movie felt justified. In the prequel, its practically unstoppable in how strong it is, to the point that I kept asking myself why it didn’t just start attacking people outright. I have a theory about that, but I’ll get to it shortly, The Thing is frustratingly inconsistent, ranging from WILDLY short-sighted to near genius mastermind in its deception and behavior, and there’s never an explanation given for it. It lays traps, misdirects, and deceives effortlessly, but then seemingly gives up on all of that to try and kill someone for no reason, to the point where its VERY clear sometimes its attacking just because the PLOT demands something happen, even if it makes no sense. What comes to mind very specifically is the the helicopter scene, where it is comforting an injured person who in no way suspects him, and then LITERALLY the next second, attacks and destroys the chopper...for NO reason. It then goes on to mirror the pilot, Budget Russell, and spend the rest of the movie ACTIVELY hurting its own plans and efforts, before being surprise revealed to have been a creature the whole time. There’s no build up to this, the way Kate realizes this is never highlighted or discussed...it just...happens, because she needs to disappear in the snowfield near the ship. I like the movie...but it does have problems that could have easily been avoided with a few more writing changes. From what I’ve come to understand, this movie does suffer from some studio interference, but I don’t really know where this starts and ends, so its a meh quality movie for what feels like no reason. All of this though, does bring me to the ultimate reason I’m writing this. The creature itself. The Russell Thing is given no real explanation, very few details to really make it make sense in the context of the universe. Everything we see and hear about it ‘kinda’ makes sense, and that’s excellent for a horror monster.  Understanding things makes them less scary, which undercuts the movie, however...we do get some clues. It operates like a virus, corrupting on a cellular level.  It is actively trying to get out of the Antarctic, and doesn’t really seem to need to ‘eat’ in a way we would describe it. The prequel builds on these qualities, and it feels like it adds more information as well. In the prequel, the creature is actively trying to reach its ship, a seemingly undamaged, flightworthy vehicle that ‘crashed’ on earth over 100,000 years ago. That None of that makes sense. Why is the creature’s behavior so inconsistent? How did it crash without damaging its ship? Why does it entirely abandon the task of escaping to chase Kate when it could have just sent a part of itself out to get her? Why doesn’t Budget Russell (I genuinely can’t remember his name) just betray her when he’s saving her? The answer is obviously plot holes, but for the sake of brevity, lets follow this line of logic. All of our evidence points to a single idea for me, and that is that the creature ISN’T the alien that landed here. Its the virus that infected it. The creature being a virus, rather than the alien, makes a lot of sense and explains a LOT about the weird choices it makes. -Mutagenic properties that extend to corrupting even DNA -Erratic Behavior -Fear of Fire regardless of form -Compulsion to spread The only thing that’s inconsistent with this is how it actually performs the mimicry, with it sometimes incubating a clone inside of itself over a long period of time, to it seemingly changing people cell by cell over a RAPID period of time, but even that could be explained by the virus becoming familiar with human DNA and getting faster because of it. That also explains why it took so long to appear as a dog in the prequel, the original virus that infected the dog wasn’t accustomed to its DNA and needed longer to change. The reason the alien LANDED here on earth was most likely to avoid spreading the infection among its species. Earth at that time wouldn’t have had any intelligent life worth mentioning, so leaving an infection here wouldn’t have impacted any societies, and landing in the most remote possible location would only act as an extra layer of security. The alien tried to save its people as it was dying, and I’d argue that if we got to explore the ship, we’d probably see more of its kind, dead or transformed throughout the ship. So in conclusion, the alien rocks, humans are paranoid and foolish, and writers don’t work well with studios sticking their fingers in the pie.

[thechaoticreader]

And Then I Woke Up Review

Title: And Then I Woke Up

Author: Malcolm Devlin

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reading Method: Audiobook

Genre(s): Horror | Dystopian | Science Fiction

Favourite Quote: "Maybe we’ll all have to get used to the uncertainty. Maybe that’s what frightens me. The way you can get used to anything if you’ve got nothing better to gravitate toward."

*Disclaimers: reviews are for READERS 🖤 and this is all my opinion and experience reading the book, if you disagree thats totally fine but please be respectful!*

Its probably obvious by the star rating but I absolutely ADORE this book! I'm not usually a fan of zombies but the way Malcolm Devlin handles them was so unique and impactful that I was hooked! It is probably one of my favourite novels of all time and it feels as though it was written specifically for me. Yes there were zombies (kinda?) but the real horror was in the human psyche and left me questioning my own sense of reality. A truly unique and beautifully written horror novel that will be living in my head rent free!

Read this if you like:

flowery, purple prose

cerebral horror

body horror

short books/novellas

zombies

viruses

commentary on social media/propaganda

1st person narrative

Trigger Warnings:

child death

obsessions (could be triggering to those with OCD)

familicide

gore

mental hospital setting

paranoia

self harm (one scene)

pandemic talk

mention of toxic parental relationships

gun violence

(thats all I can think of off the top of my head but please feel free to add more🖤)

I think this is an excellent example of a successful horror novel that is scary without using triggering subjects simply for shock value! And Then I Woke Up is proof that a story can be terrifying WITHOUT relying on random shocking/triggering scenes, objectifying language, racism, homophobia/transphobia, etc.

I also think that this would be a good pick if you're new to horror!

Lastly, I don't typically like audiobooks but Graham Mack did a fantastic job at bringing our MC to life without sounding cheesy and overacted (the Aussie accent definitely helps)!

And for the annotation girlies, I gotchu! I wish I had the physical copy because there were so many good lines and themes, I think ya'll would eat with this book! Plus we LOVE a pink cover!

[thepointofclicking]

Neo Tokyo: The Truth is a Virus #1 Comic Review

[agentnico]

Resident Evil: Death Island (2023) Review

Two Resident Evil projects in one year?? Well then, Capcom really is tickling my guilty pleasures recently. The Resident Evil 4 game remake was nothing short of stupendous and proved how game remakes/remasters should be handled (looking at you Rockstar Games). Now we have a new RE 3D anime release that follows the Infinite Darkness Netflix mini-series from a few years back. Hopefully a 2 for 2 for Capcom this year?...

Plot: D.S.O. agent Leon S. Kennedy is on a mission to rescue Dr. Antonio Taylor from kidnappers, when a mysterious woman thwarts his pursuit. Meanwhile, B.S.A.A. agent Chris Redfield is investigating a zombie outbreak in San Francisco, where the cause of the infection cannot be identified. The only thing the victims have in common is that they visited Alcatraz Island recently. Following that clue, Chris and his team head to the island, where a new horror awaits them.

So evidently the most significant selling point of Death Island is that it is the first proper time it teams up the five main recurring characters of the RE franchise - Chris, Jill, Claire, Rebecca, and everyone's favourite rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy (one must mention the S.). Yes, some of these characters paired up during the infamous Resident Evil 6 - though the less said about that game the better. Regardless, Death Island finally gives us the whole team united! See this as an Avengers-level team-up movie for the Resident Evil universe. In a nutshell, this is a big moment for RE fans around the world. So Capcom better not do a Marvel Phase 4 & 5 and betray their fans' trust, right??

Resident Evil: Death Island seems like a missed opportunity. It had all the pieces that could have come together to create something truly special, however, instead the final result is a bit lazy. Don't get me wrong, if you're a fan of Resident Evil, and to be fair if you are not a fan of RE then neither this movie nor review should be interesting to you as this really is a feature-length piece of fan service. As I was saying though, as an RE fan, there is plenty to enjoy. The zombies are gory and vile; the lickers are back being as horrible as ever - I am so glad I was not holding the controller this time. Seeing our heroes together was of course entertaining, with stand-outs being Jill and Leon. I don't believe we have ever seen Jill in this badass form. She kicks ass more so than she's ever done in the games, and then Leon as per usual throws around some absolutely hilarious quips and one-liners, reminding us all why he is one of the franchise's favourites. Also must give props to the animation. We've come such a far way since the first time around when we saw our pixelated heroes enter that forsaken mansion. The computer graphics are honestly really sharp and impressive, with the creature designs, and especially during the action sequences with the use of slow motion there is some serious ass-kicking on display.

That being said, Death Island is missing something very key - emotion. I say this fully aware that we love RE for the horror and the cheesiness of it all but with all our main heroes in one movie I sort of expected to care more than I did. The thing is, the animation style of Death Island is not really capable of accurately conveying real human emotion, so wherever we have the quiet moments when we are having a break from the action, the dialogue between the characters and a scene involving the main villain exposing his convoluted plan of destruction in a slow and tedious manner comes off as really dull. Also, the premise is ridiculously simple. Our heroes go to Alcatraz (some old-school Call of Duty: Black Ops - Zombies vibes going on there). They fight some monsters, kill the main monster in the end and Bob's your uncle. There's hardly anything else to it. Speaking of the final creature they battle - the heroes look cool fighting it and apparently pulling our rocket launchers (obviously) and weapons of mass destruction out of butt-fudge nowhere, but alright, I'll just assume the Merchant from Resident Evil 4 was hiding behind one of the crates selling them some rare things for a high price. However, the creature itself, though it looked cool, did not do anything? It hardly fought back, just spent most of the time moving around slowly and staring our heroes down. Why? Like this is Resident Evil for crying out loud, we want to see our heroes kick butt of course but we also want to see the monsters fight back and be massive and intimidating. But nope, this dude just slithers around a little and takes it like a pu**y.

So the verdict. Resident Evil: Death Island certainly has its moments of entertainment, and of course seeing these legacy characters team up is wonderful, however, the movie lacks energy. When the action is there is bloody good fun, but there are too many breaks in between where characters talk and it's no fun. And yes, the endlessly monologuing baddie is a bore and his motivations? My gosh, what a wuss.

Overall score: 5/10

[virusreviews]

The Connectivity of Food

ちひろさん     Call Me Chihiro     2023

Dir. Imaizumi Rikiya

Within elegant wide shots and soft lighting, family, friends and romance are discovered. A poetic film such as Call me Chihiro follows one central theme, food, to easily connect all meaningful moments of the movie. Where Chihiro, our initially solitary protagonist, meets new people around her new town, their first meeting relies on a meal. Set in a quaint Japanese seaside town, each meal is shot in full splendour to tease the audience with love fuelled dishes. The same dishes the characters will share over deep conversations that bring them closer together, whether that follows the route of family, friends or romance. Chihiro with her impermeable loneliness is the one most challenged by these paths to love; the synonymous reconciliation with tough feelings from the wide range of characters, from young to old, sex worker to bento maker, Chihiro struggles against the true power of connecting over food: finding love.

[emeto-film-critic]

Bird Box - 2018

NOT SAFE - A,V,M•

Approx. 9:10 - 9:15 •A,V• The doctor hands Malorie a flier and talks about adoption. She says, "There are no judgements here" and the screen changes from the pamphlet, saying consider adoption to Malorie over the toilet. Audio and body language only.

•M• Mention of p* and a conversation about it.

[madlovenovelist]

Book Review – ‘The Awakened’ (#1 The Awakened Duology) by Sara Elizabeth Santana

Gotta get out of dodge before you get eaten by a zombie horde or blown to smithereens… Genre: YA, Dystopian, Horror No. of pages: 432 Zoey Valentine is concerned with two things: surviving the multitude of self-defense classes her dad makes her take and avoiding Ash Matthews. That is, until the Z virus hits, wiping out a third of the population in a matter of weeks. If that weren’t…

[inkandpaperqwerty]

My book got featured in a Found Family Bundle!!! I'm super happy because found family is my favorite thing to write, and it's definitely one of the main focuses of the book. If you're interested in ARC reading, click the image to go to BookSirens and download Cataclysm! Because what's better than some good, old-fashioned found family more than a decade after the world succumbed to a zombie apocalypse?

[granitefilmreviews]