Antiviral (2012)
What If You Could Feel Like They Do... We Can Help.
Syd March is employed at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans. When he becomes infected with the disease that kills super sensation Hannah Geist, Syd becomes a target for collectors and rabid fans. He must unravel the mystery surrounding her death before he suffers the same fate.
Antiviral keeps every mind human — it fights its subject at zero distance. The story fights on E4/E9/E10 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing celebrity, exploitation, consumerism, fandom, viral.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
They Cloned Tyrone (2023)E4/E9 · rare rung · exploitation
Ultraviolet (2006)E4 · rare rung · exploitation
The Lorax (2012)E9/E10 · consumerism, exploitation
15 Minutes (2001)E9/E10 · celebrity, exploitation
American Dreamz (2006)E9/E10 · celebrity, consumerism
Spice World (1997)E9/E10 · celebrity, exploitationSame subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Also bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)alters at E5 · same rung · loose
Shivers (1975)alters at E5 · same rung · loose
Maximum Overdrive (1986)alters at E5 · same rung · loose
Swamp Thing (1982)alters at E5 · same rung · loose
The Stuff (1985)alters at E5 · same rung · loose
Humanoids from the Deep (1980)alters at E5 · same rung · loose
