Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral and his father’s films Shivers and Rabid were produced in completely different eras of Canadian genre film. David Cronenberg’s diptych of infection thrillers (released in 1975 and 1977) came out before he had made a name for himself with superlative and singular takes on the fusing of technology and biology, such as Videodrome and The Fly. Even though they share clear DNA — plots about infection and mutation treated with a hungry eroticism — Cronenberg Sr.’s unpolished craft and inexperienced cast give Shivers and Rabid a handheld shabbiness that’s as charming as it is distracting.
Thirty-five years later, his son Brandon debuted as a filmmaker with a lo-fi dystopian conspiracy far more mannered, neatly composed, and talky than David’s takes on horror infecting contemporary society.
