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E19 Virus
USA 2015
produced by Joe Ciminera , Elizabeth Pickel (executive), Alan Pickel (executive) for Cim Studios
directed by Joe Ciminera
starring Joshua Pickel, Griffin Olshan, Pete Bonczek, Joe Ciminera, Alan Pickel, Robert Arensen, Alan Bendid, Natalie Swan, Larry Costa, John Formica, Nathaniel Hill, James Sferrazza, Bob Socci, Kearsten Alexis Bloomer, Leah Joi Young, Tiffany Browne-Tavarez, Jennifer Ju, Miriana Michaud, Zoey Michaud, Rob Fergus, Rica DeBlasi, Emily DeBlasi, Ina Shea, James Shea III, Salvatore Franciano, Cathy Bonczek, Lindsay Martin, Gene McParland, Damon Fields, Mauricio Hidalgo, Jean Alcantara, Alexa Ciminera, Gianna Ciminera, Lulu Bergman
written by Joe Ciminera, music by Kevin MacLeod, visual effects by Lou Cannizzo
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Doctor Kirschheimer (Joe Ciminera) and his team had a lofty goal: To
rid the earth of all cancer - and their breakthrough it actually within
reach ... but of course, wanting to succeed so desperately, they had
unintentionally sold their souls to the devil, Mr Hughs (Robert Arensen),
a businessman who's in the business of selling bacteriological weapons to
whoever pays him most and just wants to get more money out of cancer
research to finance just that. Thing is, now one of his bacteria, an
extremely deadly "zombie"-virus has found its way back to the
USA, and suddenly Kirschheimer and his very team, all of whom have tried
to stay out and turn a blind eye to Hughs' dirty deals, find themselves
forced to find an antidote for just that virus they never wanted to touch.
Problem is, the virus has taken the USA pretty much over night, and nobody
came really prepared, so even the scientists' lab soon comes under attack.
Thing is, they develop an antidote, but it doesn't do them any good if
it's not delivered to the "safehouse" in time - a journey one
really can't make on foot with all the zombies lurking anymore. But the
scientist have also developed a method to teleport people ...
unfortunately only people in their early teens, which none of the
scientists are. Enter Josh (Joshua Pickel), Griffin (Griffin Olshan) and
Peter (Pete Bonczek), boys who have lost all their loved ones to the
zombies but who have managed to stay alive so far because they had each
other. Kirschheimer injects the serum into them, to make them immune, then
starts teleporting them ... problem is, it's only a short range teleporter
that needs time to recharge, so the friends are left in one hair-raising
situation after the next, with nothing but their youth, virility and
ingenuity (compared to zombies) to relie on. But they also more and more
lose their "innocence" and fall into barbarian patterns
humankind is supposed to have lost long ago - so whatever the outcome,
their mission might be a blessing as well as a curse ... Zombies
plus children equals PG-kitsch, right? Wrong of course, at least
in the case of E19 Virus, which paints a pretty bleack picture of
the future as such (and using today's headlines to do so) and uses its kid
heroes to show the loss of innocence rather than the maintaining of the
same, and some scenes of the film's young heroes beating zombies to pulps
are really disgusting not for their explicitness (actually not much is
shown) but for what's suggested - and that's exactly the film's strong
point, it puts a spin on genre clichés, doesn't have a happy ending sown
into its content, shows the slaying of zombies in a new light, is very
cynical about its subject matter. This is of course carried by strong
storytelling (even if some of the plot might be far-fetched within even
genre boundaries), a direction that does not seek spectacle over content,
and strong performances by all involved. A zombie film, for sure, but
also something very different that ought to be seen. And if
this review has gotten you at all interested, you might want to check out
the whole movie here:
http://www.rokuguide.com/channels/joe-ciminera-presents
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