Virus

    

  

  

A short thriller about the latest victim of a dangerous virus.  Andrew is working late at the office when he receives an email from his girlfriend Amber.  The email is blank but contains an attachment.  Andrew downloads the attachment, a quicktime movie shot from Amber’s web cam.  He watches the shocking footage unaware that the same fate awaits him.

   

Reviews

   

Computer viruses just got a little bit more worrying in this brief but effective supernatural thriller, which could do for email what the cult japanese horror the ring did for video.  [Wendy Ide, Dazed and Confused]

   

Slick, dark and wickedly creepy, this mini cyber-thriller is very cleverly assembled with an eye for the telling little detail, the filmmaker even crams in a few red herrings.  And when he clicks send at the end, it sends shivers down our spines.  [Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall]

    

This simple horror film was marvellously executed. [Radio Free Tomorrow]

    

Simon Hynd remains mysterious, creating a mood of impending horror.   With sharpened editing skills, Hynd cuts his film to impose an atmosphere of unease, so that a computer screen contains evidence of something terrible and the quietness of the office feels threatening, as if absence of noise is an imitation of death.  [iofilm]

    

Awards

                                   

winner, best international short film, 5th i.p.i.f.m. greece, 03

winner, palmare, best actor, festival du cinema de bruxelles 04

winner, best art direction, festival internacional de barcelona 04

highly commended, tcm classic shorts competition 02

commended, best of british category, brief encounters 02

shortlisted, best scottish short film, jim poole award 03

shortlisted, best european short film, leuven kort, belgium 03

shortlisted, best fiction, scottish students on screen 03

shortlisted, best cinematography, scottish students on screen 03

shortlisted, new scottish filmmakers award 04

                                                           

selected festival screenings

                                   

edinburgh international film festival 02

regus london film festival 02

brief encounters short film festival, bristol 02

tribeca film festival, new york 03

arcipelago, rome 03

frightfest, london, 03

atlantic film festival, nova scotia, 03

5th int’l panorama of independent filmmakers, greece, 03

flimmer film festival, sweden, 03

can2003 short film festival, leicester, 03

leuven kort short film festival, belgium, 03

x international short film festival, italy, 03

tiburon international film festival, california, 04

viewfinders film festival, nova scotia, 04

first look film festival, boston, 04

fantastic film festival, bradford, 04

san fransisco short film festival, 04

dc shorts, washington dc, 04

morbegno film festival, italy , 04

festival de cine internacional de barcelona, spain , 04

festival du cinema de bruxelles, belgium , 04

court metrange festival, france , 04

   

Miscellaneous

    

Virus has been used as an educational tool in the UK, US and Canada.  The BFI is using the film in schools throughout the uk to promote visual literacy in 12 to 14 year olds.  Virus became one of the most successful films ever shown on Atom Films, watched by over 21,000 people on its first day alone.  It has since been picked up by the BBC’s film network and lovefilm.com.  Virus is available through Dazzle Films.