Virus (1999)

A salvage crew discovers an abandoned Russian science ship only to discover the creature that killed the crew is still on-board.

Virus was released in 1999 and had the bad luck to come out after Scream and in the middle of the slasher revival.  People just weren't in the mood for a monster movie.  It's a shame because this movie has some top notch effects and the story, while reminiscent of The Thing is still a lot of fun.

 

The cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin, Marshall Bell and Donald Sutherland.  This was one of the last horror movies that Curtis did, and she seems to have nothing but disdain for it.  Which is odd since it is FAR from the worst horror movie she's been in (I'm looking at you Terror Train).

 The practical effects are what really set this movie apart.  If it was made today, they would do all the creatures with CGI and it wouldn't look nearly as good.

Some of the creatures reminded me of the ones from Hardware.  This was the first film directed by visual effects artist John Bruno.  He was responsible for effects on several of James Cameron's films, including The Abyss.

I was actually able to meet John Bruno and one the actors Marshall Bell at a convention in Tulsa Oklahoma before the films release.  They were both very excited about the film and the clips they showed at the con delighted the fans.  It was a shame the movie didn't do better at the box office.