Riffed Trax: Virus (1980)

No, it is not the Jamie Lee Curtis one with robots.
No, it is not the Zombie one (which Rifftrax also did).

This is the 1980 Film about the end of the World due to the mismanagement of a pandemic.  It's sure not awkward to watch post-2019.  No sir!

The Film comes to us from the Director of Battle Royale and many, many Samurai Films- Kinji Fukasaku.
The Cast is a who's who of Character Actors from America- from Glenn Ford to Chuck Connors to George Kennedy.

This cost $16 million to make in 1980, which is over $60 million today.  For comparison, the top-grossing Film in Japan this year- a Detective Conan Anime- grossed just over $100 million in Japan.

So, awkwardness aside, is this a good Film?  Well, I watched it via Rifftrax, so guess what my expectations were...

In 1982, someone accidentally made a bio-weapon- as you do.

Through a series of accidents, a shoot-out and a plane crash, it gets released.

In a bit that is not even remotely feasible in today's World, the Government is aware of the threat and a Leader- a General- locks away the guy who knows how to help.

The so-called Italian Flu (this was written in 1964 as a Book, no doubt riffing on real events) wipes out most of the World.

A General- Henry Silva- wants to bomb Russia, but they aren't at fault.

As I learned from comparing Godzilla 1985 to The Return of Godzilla, Japan doesn't make them the bad guy- even then.

Most of the big names- like Ford and Vaughn- all die off in the one Set that all of their Scenes were filmed in (likely in a day or so).

The only hope lies in the Arctic, as the bacteria can't flourish at -10 degrees or less.  So Chicago and Michigan are safe 9 months of the Year?

A pair of Japanese men there find a shot up base belonging to the Norwegians and find one survivor- a pregnant Olivia Hussey.

Life moves on for the survivors in the Arctic- include George Kennedy, Edward James Olmos and Chuck Connors.

All seems well, until an expert on Plate Tectonics reveals that an Earthquake will hit Washington D.C. and set off our nukes- which were left primed and ready to 'retaliate.'

Can 2 men- including Bo Svenson- get to D.C. and shut down the Nukes in time?

Can the small amount of the World be saved?

Well, no...but Rifftrax only did the American version.
That one ends with the bombs, but the Japanese Version (on Tubi) shows that the one guy walked all of the way back to the survivors.

That's...happy...ish...maybe.  The End.

A Film that sure is about hope...that you'll make it to the end of this one with your sanity intact.

This sure is grim.  It is so grim, in fact, that Rifftrax labeled as a 'Grimtrax' Feature.  It is warranted.

Over the course of 80 to 108 minutes (per cut), millions die and all hope is lost.  Somehow one guy finding a group of like 80 people is supposed to be an uplifting Ending.

I think the idea is that any life surviving means that we can start over.
Even so, yikes- this Film is brutal.

There is a certain charm to this one.  The American Guest Stars generally act either well or at least loudly in their Scenes.  Some- like Kennedy- stand out more than others- like Olmos.

That said, it also features the most American man available at the time- since John Wayne died in 1979- Chuck Connors as...a British Submarine Captain?!?

A Film that is very, very bleak.  It does, as noted, have a weird charm to it, in spite of all that.