In Uruguayan horror movie, Virus: 32, young mother Iris takes her daughter Tata to work with her. Iris is employed as a security guard at a rundown, disused sports club in Montevideo, and on this night she patrols the property while her daughter keeps herself amused.
Early into her shift, Iris notices a disturbance outside. She calls for help, but while she is preoccupied with what is taking place outside, she fails to notice that someone has entered the building.
That someone – or that ‘something’ – is a zombie, who promptly attacks Iris. Although Iris manages to escape the attack, she is painfully aware that she is currently separated from her daughter and this zombie might now set its sights on Tata.
Determined to reach Tata before it’s too late, Iris works her way through the building trying to avoid the roaming intruder. However, she soon discovers she’s not the only one fighting for survival, and getting to Tata in one piece could prove tricky.
Iris’ one chance of escaping this nightmare and rescuing Tata lies in her newly acquired knowledge that whenever a zombie feeds, it goes into a calm and restful state for exactly 32 seconds. But will this 32-second window prove useful and buy her precious time when she needs it, or has her time simply run out?
Directed by Gustavo Hernández, Virus: 32 stars Paula Silva and Daniel Hendler. The movie is available to stream on Shudder from today, and if you’re a fan of zombie horror, then you should certainly check it out.
I know the zombie genre has been done to death in recent years, what with movies, television shows, and games rinsing the undead for all they are worth, but trust me, Virus: 32 is worth 90-minutes of your time. The film is an atmospheric, creepy little beast, filled with some tense moments, a great use of lighting, and it is suitably brutal in all the right places.
Virus: 32 doesn’t look to reinvent the genre, it merely aims to deliver the best zombie movie it can. And it achieves this through smart, confident direction, a couple of good ideas, and one or two stand-out moments.
One of the most notable things about Virus: 32 is that it never tries to be too ambitious. That’s not to say it doesn’t have ambition, or that it doesn’t aim to entertain, it is simply to say the movie understands its limitations and objectives, so never tries to do something it can’t pull off.
Virus: 32 is a relatively low budget feature, so rather than blow its money on flashy set pieces and over-the-top effects, it instead makes use of key horror tropes to tell its story. The film makes great use of light and shade, as well as the film’s setting, to help convey the mood and the atmosphere at all times.
Dimly-lit corridors and well-placed shadows help to create suspense, while the central location, that of a dilapidated building, helps to contain the action, and add a certain bleak, grubbiness to proceedings.
At all times, Virus: 32 nails all of the key elements of a horror movie, to ensure that at its most basic level it is a solid picture, which looks good and knows when to deliver the right scares. It then takes things up a notch with some superb cinematography, a great turn from lead star, Paula Silva, and of course, the general sense that director Gustavo Hernández knows exactly what he’s doing.
I found much to enjoy with Virus: 32 and believe it to be a great little treat for Shudder subscribers. The film offers a short, sharp zombie story which doesn’t get bogged down in too much plot or exposition, but instead offers up the right amount of action and drama.
The movie works as a self-contained feature, but leaves plenty of room for a possible sequel, and I for one would be more than happy to come back for more. Virus: 32 is good, so if you’re a horror fan, be sure to take a look.
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