There are so many variants on the zombie movie filmmakers try anything to distinguish themselves from the shambling horde, but all too often fall into the same tropes. Viral tries to be a 'different' zombie film, because... Worms. Worms with a side helping of character development and sibling relationships. But that's about it. Like Maggie, or other melancholy zombie fare, this movie focuses upon slow deterioration of relationships and loss and grief between family members, using the 'not-zombie' zombie scenario as an exploration of wasting illness and death. Which certainly can work as a film, and be thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, and often provide introspective moral examination. But... this is not that film. This movie makes a valiant attempt to be all these things, but is unfortunately hampered by poor acting, weak characters and mediocre execution. The movie meanders a bit, hints at bigger ideas, abandons aforementioned ideas to focus on dumb character decisions, rushes the ending, and ultimately goes no where. To be fair, this movie honestly isn't that bad, but it's far from good. Its a movie I've seen a hundred different times in myriad different forms and variations, and this one simply goes on the pile of mediocre and quickly forgettable 'not-zombie' zombie fare.
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