Virus-32 (2022) User Reviews

This is a fairly average addition to the horror genre

[kevin_robbins · 5/10 · 4 May 2022]

Virus: 32 (2022) is an Argentinian horror film recently added to Shudder. The storyline follows a virus outbreak that causes the infected to turn into zombies and go on extreme feeding frenzies; however, after over exerting themselves they freeze for about 30 seconds. A mother and daughter are caught in an office building during the outbreak and will work with a guard to survive.

This movie is directed by Gustavo Hernández (You Shall Not Sleep) and stars Daniel Hendler (Phase 7) and Paula Silva (In the Quarry).

The storyline for this is fairly straightforward and cliche for the zombie genre, a little like Dawn of the Dead. The makeup and costumes are well done for the zombies, though there should have been more zombie scenes of them eating random characters/people. A lot of the movie focuses on the circumstances and character development. The birth scene could have been executed better though they do work in some good intensity into that circumstance. The ending of the movie is pretty good and the best 20 minutes of the film.

Overall this is a fairly average addition to the horror genre that's worth watching once. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

For fans of "28 Days Later"...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 23 April 2022]

As I happened to stumble upon the 2022 Argentina/Uruguay movie "Virus:32" by random chance, and seeing that it was a zombie movie of sorts, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it.

I hadn't even heard about the movie from writers Juma Fodde and Gustavo Hernández prior to watching it, so I wasn't sure what I was in for here. Needless to say that the writers had all the opportunity readily available to impress and bedazzle me.

However, "Virus:32" turned out to be essentially just a watered down clone of the 2002 movie "28 Days Later". A shame really, because director Gustavo Hernández didn't really manage to deliver anything new to the zombie and infected individual genre.

Yeah, "Virus:32" was watchable, but that was essentially also just about it. The movie didn't bring anything new to the table, and the way that the movie was shot, the fast and hyper mobile and agile zombies, heck even down to the music, was very reminiscent of "28 Days Later". So, sure, fans of the "28 Days Later" movie will get a kick out of "Virus:32", but for a regular fan of the traditional zombie movie genre, then "Virus:32" was not a particularly grand experience.

I felt that the movie took quite a long time to tell almost no story, and since I didn't feel any connection or bond with the characters, then the movie just felt even more prolonged and pointless.

The acting performances in the movie were adequate. Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble here. It was a shame that the script and storyline was so simplistic and restrictive, because the actors and actresses didn't really have all that much to work with.

Visually then "Virus:32" was okay. Again, not a memorable or outstanding movie in the genre. And it was rather devoid of gore and mayhem. Sure, there was a little bit of violence, but since this wasn't a traditional zombie movie, but more of a people-infected-with-rage type of movie, then I suppose that was sufficient.

Personally I am by no means a fan of infected people or zombies running around being all fast and agile. But again, this wasn't a traditional zombie movie requiring shuffling and shambling reanimated corpses, so I guess that having fast and agile people infected with rage running around was okay. Personally, it just isn't to my liking. Not my cup of tea.

I sat through "Virus:32", but was only mildly entertained. If you enjoy zombie movies, then "Virus:32" is not a great choice of movie. Watch it if you enjoyed "28 Days Later" or "28 Weeks Later", but if you prefer a good old fashioned Romero-inspired zombie movie, skip this one.

My rating of "Virus:32" lands on a four out of ten stars. This is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

You have to give it a chance from the uncritical point of view

[matibuffi · 6/10 · 6 January 2024]

Shows how South American cinema is evolving. I didn't expect anything from this movie and it surprised me, although the lack of budget or quality of effects of "Hollywood" is noticeable, the movie hides them quite well. With a suspenseful plot that leaves you very uncomfortable for several moments, which I think is the best way to scare you in the cinema. If we get very critical, we notice that there are some gaps in the script or perhaps some things that we do not end up closing 100%. I recommend watching it with the perception that it is a low-budget film and that in South America horror movies-Zombies are very poor. I feel that it is an important starting point and we must support it.

Fast paced and exciting

[imperitrix · 7/10 · 21 April 2022]

This Uruguayan film falls squarely into the 28 Days Later category of fast zombies. It seems that the people who made this movie took ideas from other films, but tweaked them enough that I wouldn't consider it a rip off. Regardless, this is a worthy entry into the genre. It only takes a short while to take off, but then it never stops. Lots of eye catching tracking shots, and while it takes place mostly in a darkened gym, you can see what's going on. Well directed, edited and acted, this was a fun watch. Highly recommended.

Shows some life in a tired sub genre

[caverats · 7/10 · 30 April 2022]

Virus: 32 quick thought review Look, rage or old fashioned shuffle, zombie is a pretty gone over territory. And really after Train to Busan it's hard to improve.

But It's a solid competent rage zombie film, with a slight twist, and it has some flat out brutal (not gory per se, but tense as hell) scenes in it. Call it better than average, actually average for zombie films is a cheap knock out low budget hunks of crud, so call it FAR above average.

The setting is great, the acting is very good, the script is above average, it's a good, solid time waster, just don't expect any major new ground to be covered.

Thirty-one, thirty-two, zombie's coming for you...

[Coventry · 3/10 · 10 September 2022]

Do you know that lazy and languid feeling after you have just eaten, or have made a heavy physical effort? You just want to be left alone and chill. Well, writer/director Gustavo Henández apparently thought it was a good idea to make a zombie-movie revolving solely around this little and insignificant gimmick. In "Virus:32", the zombies (or infected people, or whatever) remain in an inactive state of trance for 32 seconds after they devoured some brains or killed a living thing. If you're quick, you can use this period to escape. If not, you're their next supper.

There's very little else to write about this otherwise lame, uninspired, and derivative zombie flick from Uruguay. The film almost entirely takes places in a back-alley sporting complex, where the lead actress is a night security guard. You'll seriously wonder why the place needs security because it's old, ramshackle, and infested with rats. She's trapped inside with her young daughter and a man who insists on delivering his wife's baby, even though she's already infected with the virus.

"Virus: 32" is a non-stop spitfire of the genre's most overused and dreadful clichés. Many things don't make the least bit of sense, the lead characters take dumb decisions, the music score is blatantly stolen from John Murphy's work for 28 Days/Weeks Later, and the climax is beyond pathetic. Did you know you can kill a zombie with a stapler?!?

A competitive endeavor

[SoumikBanerjee1996 · 6/10 · 6 June 2022]

My first ever Uruguayan feature and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed! Now, concept-wise, it's an out and out zombie thriller; albeit with some imaginative amendments (32 Secs Rule), thus, by no means, the film had dealt with an aboriginal subject, the demonstration, however, with ample amounts of intensity, not only managed to set itself apart from its contemporaries but it also provided the much-needed thrill and excitement. Not without its flaws, yes, but with the help of its tangible narrative and its technical efficiencies, the execution still pretty much comes off as a competitive venture nonetheless!

Nice twist

[josephjanz · 7/10 · 28 April 2022]

I like the new twist on an old zombie theme. Very creative. Nice character development. Good action. Nice special effects. The main girl had a nice story arc.

That Ending Was Dumb!

[nixflixnpix · 1/10 · 23 April 2022]

Like all Shudder originals, the writers were too lazy to write an ending. Has no ending, goes nowhere, so many unconfident changes towards the end, that the ending makes no sense.

Horribly-unlikable characters. The daughter is okay, but has no personality. The mom is not sober for a second, the whole film.

Inaccurate staple-gun.

Huge waste of everyone's time.

Nice Find!!

[superproducerta · 10/10 · 2 May 2022]

I truly enjoyed this movie. Loved the suspense and action. Nice twist to the zombie genre. Certain scenes definitely kept me on edge. I'm very glad I ran across the movie. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

MEH. Just MEH.

[manuelasaez · 5/10 · 8 May 2022]

28 Days Later is in my top ten of my all-time favorite films. It's just perfect in every way a horror fan needs it to be, and while it was recently topped by The Sadness, it still stands as the pinnacle of the infected sub-genre of horror films. This movie wants to be so much like 28DL, but it ends up being the Vegan option. Bland, flavorless, and ultimately, unsatisfying.

Everything about this movie will remind you about 28DL, from the aerial shots of the city to the metal soundtrack. (At one point I thought the same soundtrack was being used in this movie, it was so similar!) Where 28DL had a likeable cast, this movie has some pretty unlikable characters, with back stories that just make you like them even less. I won't go into details here, as I just didn't care enough about the characters to make a clear note for this review. I'll just say that they made sympathizing with them really difficult, and what's a horror movie if you don't care about the fates of the characters themselves?

The movie wasn't particularly scary, and even with some jump scares, it really fails to illicit anything other than mild curiosity. Where will this movie go? Will it end like so many of these movies end? Will it be another Infected movie with a happy ending (my biggest pet peeve in horror), or will they actually do something unique.

Well, gentlemen and ladies, this movie is exactly what you expect from the worst the sub-genre has to offer. Even the "twist" in the infection was lame. Literally, nothing about this movie will be herald as advancing the genre in any palpable way. It will only be thought of as "another zombie movie'. In the end, that's really the best thing anyone can say about it.

If you're a fan of zombie movies or the infected sub-genre, do yourself the favor and forget this exists. You will not be missing anything you couldn't find by re-watching better films.

You have 32 seconds

[gustaveo · 6/10 · 6 May 2022]

My vote is a 6 because is not common this film in sudamerica. We must to know that is a zombie film. And zombie's film may be a bad script, but in this film there are some good things, for example a ten minutes of a sequence shot, the location and suspense... and another bad things like 32 seconds after zombie attack or the ending.

Daniel hendler is good,the mom girl a little poor and the child is good.

Heading to disaster

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 19 June 2023]

No pun intended - the movie starts off with a long (tracking) shot. Now if you worry, do not. This will have cuts after the initial 10 minutes (I didn't stop the clock, more or less). That beginning is setting the tone - also introduces us to the two main characters we are supposed to care about through the whole thing - or as long as they ... well survive.

We also see the threat - to our main characters, but also society as a whole. Not to be missed, a dig at social and health care. I reckon Spain has some issues with that. Now they are obviously not alone when it comes to that. If you like slow zombies by the way: this is not for you! Yes they are running - also you have to suspend your disbelief.

Our main character has some weird ideas/plans at times, that should backfire quite a bit ... how long can she survive? And can we trust other humans in a situation like this? And the movie is quite crazy, so anything is possible ... no one is safe - even less so in a building that is not made to keep people (or other things) out ... is there any hope at the end? Keep your head above water for starters and no pun intended.

Not Put Together Well

[taygriggs · 3/10 · 25 April 2022]

There are few good things about this movie. It was so bad that I am writing a review. I never do that.

There was a super boring and corny "story" that was never tied up.

There was no real explanation for anything. Even the whole 32 second thing was both barely mentioned and mainly irrelevant.

The characters are horribly written. Nothing likeable or relatable about them. I actually was so annoyed by them that I was rooting for them to be killed off, even the children.

The special effects and CGI are laughable. That CGI baby was probably the worst thing I've seen since the 80s.

There were also random inconsistencies in the film where I was kinda like "wait didn't he have a gun five seconds ago, now he's like empty handed and in danger? That makes no sense. When did she get a staple gun?" Lastly, the ending was just terrible. Awful.

This movie isn't even redeemably bad, where you watch it because it's cheesy or funny. It takes itself too seriously for that. Save yourself 90 minutes and don't even bother.

Seriously not more than 2 stars

[ZombieSquadShanghai · 2/10 · 12 May 2022]

The director has watched lots of Zombie movies like myself and unlike myself he has decided to shoot his own.

You can see / feel World War Z, The Dawn of the Dead and of course 28 Weeks Later in this movie but as I said at the title,this movie can get max. 2 stars, and the 2 stars is only out of respect for the genre.

No likeable characters nor a nice plot instead an unlogical and no sense 32 seconds thing.

If you try to watch all the Zombie movies around for the literature go ahead and watch this movie otherwise no need to waste your time.

Interesting Concept of the Infected/Rage Zombie Genre

[jjenk911 · 8/10 · 8 May 2022]

We've seen these movies before: Boyles's 28 film series come to mind. But there is an interesting concept to this movie: you get infected, you go on a rampage, and after you're done, you remain dormant for 32 seconds.

This sort of caveat raises the stakes. You have 32 seconds before these infected people reset and start killing again. Kill or be killed.

I like all of the characters here. Iris does everything in her power to protect her daughter from the infected, even if it means killing for their survival. Without getting into spoilers, I wasn't sure about Luis.

Do I recommend this movie? Yes. If you don't mind reading subtitles (the audio is in Spanish), then I think you will like this movie.

Interesting idea, weak movie.

[HorrorDisasterGuy-90617 · 5/10 · 21 July 2023]

I found this movie to be a really weak zombie movie. There's barely a story in this movie because its mostly a mother trying to find her daughter while trying to survive against the infected. While the movie have a decent build up when the infected first appeared, I found the pace to be really off with scenes happening too quickly or dragged on. The only interesting thing about the movie is when after each wave of the attack, the zombies left incapacitated for 32 seconds to recover their strength. Also the movie contains a couple of suspenseful chase scenes in it, but the action scenes happened pretty quickly. Some parts of the movie is pretty predictable to easily guess what happened next and I really don't like the ending of the movie.

Far better than expected but still with some flaws

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 27 June 2022]

Trying to go about their lives, a woman takes her daughter with her to work looking after an abandoned gym when they encounter a strange viral outbreak that turns those infected into ravenous zombies and must rely on each other and other survivors they encounter along the way to survive.

This was a pretty enjoyable and fun zombie effort. Among the more impressive aspects here is a strong central storyline that manages to inject a bit of creativity and uniqueness into the zombie genre. While the exploits, in general, are nothing new involving the outbreak of a virus that mutates people into flesh-eating ghouls, this one at least manages to interject the idea of an act of violence being committed rendering the subject incapacitated for thirty-two seconds before they're able to recover and continue the attack. This is quite a unique touch that makes the film feel far more clever and original by actually managing to incorporate a detriment to the infection beyond simply turning them into insane, ruthless bloodthirsty killers. When done in conjunction with a rather endearing and heartwarming setup of the mother/daughter relationship while at work, this comes off rather nicely overall. That allows for a series of rather fun and thrilling encounters with the infected throughout here. The initial encounters inside the abandoned building that she's guarding include several surprising ambushes of the creatures rushing after her or seeing them coming through the hallways towards her on the security camera footage offering some great bits of suspense not knowing what's going on or why they're behaving in this manner. The series of encounters and confrontations seen throughout here, from the scenes in the locker room attempting to sneak past the creatures inside who aren't aware of her presence to the ingenious escape from the pool using smoke bombs as cover, provide this one with a nice series of zombie action here. The finale, offering a solid series of chases and encounters to get out of the building while being chased relentlessly by the zombies through the building and out adds a lot to like with this one as the rabid action and brutality makes for a fine ending note. These are what hold this one up for the most part. The film does have some drawbacks to it. The biggest issue here is that there's not much else in the way of originality from the film beyond the idea of the incapacitation of the zombies after introducing the concept of their behavioral condition. The group being stuck in a location with various issues to have to deal with and a swarm of zombies surrounding them preventing their escape doesn't really do much to differentiate itself from the horde of other types of films with the various action scenes seen throughout here. That also goes along rather well with the rather flimsy and lame means through which the discovery of the behavioral tick involving the virus rendering them inactive after committing an act of violence, which seems to be a fine idea in concept but doesn't come off in execution with any kind of realism. It just seems more like a way to interject the idea into the film and really doesn't feel like an organic way of discovering the ability. Overall, these are really the main issues to be had with this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and children-in-jeopardy.

Today is not a day to be scared of Madness - Luis

[aratron-00391 · 9/10 · 5 August 2022]

Good addition to the zombie genre. I enjoyed this film. Not too much gore but plenty of suspense, scares and dread. A must see for fans of the genre. If you like this you may also enjoy The sadness which has considerably more gore. Watch it ..

Beautifully filmed interesting concept

[blastawaycas · 8/10 · 3 August 2022]

I watched the video last night 2 /08/ 22 and was pleasantly surprised by the one shot photography around the streets of Montevideo Uruguay......when the virus takes you after you kill with extreme prejudice then the infected go into stasis for exactly 32 seconds when after this time the infected go on the rampage again, another interesting concept was that those infected maintain the intelligence to open doors look at monitors and hunt down there victims.

The characters are believable and well played and the infected are nuts and scary too.

I enjoyed the film and would have liked a English dubbed only because I could have watched more of the movie and took in the brilliant filmography.

Give it a go and you will enjoy it too and remember this film is low budget $1.5 million l believe but just look what they did with that money.

It must be a cheesy movie........ but it's not !!

[chinandchin · 8/10 · 23 November 2023]

Alright, I have no idea why I would even try to watch this movie, it must be another stupid horror zombie movie, just like the other 500 hundred zombie movies all over the world each year, but!!!! It's not!!!

First of all, it is a zombie movie, so do not expect any artistic thing like "Spencer", or with the budget to hire Tom Cruise and some MI7 CGI stuff, or an exceptional twist like "the 6th sense", just watch this with the expectation of a zombie movie, then you will find a solid script, a pouring heart out sincere production, a touching mother and daughter relationship, and most of all some exciting horror fast pace 120 minutes of entertainment..... actually on top of it, there is no "daughter don't go but still go" stupid type of scene, which is what I love the most about this movie.

Advice for all horror movie fans: try this !

Suspensfull ,Intelligent and Well Directed

[adkrs · 8/10 · 11 October 2023]

This film, even though filled with Zombie Movie cliches, it executes them Masterfully. The idea of 32 second break before a zombie goes violent again is fresh and makes the movie interesting to watch. And the characters are nicely fleshed out with great acting ,

The plot revolves around a mother who brings her daughter in a sports club while she is on night duty as a guard which is when the apocalypse starts.

The sports club provides a perfect aesthetic to the film and gives us some nice Zombie scenes. Also you can see that some the scenes film were inspired from other zombie flicks like "train to Busan" and "world war Z"

Great film to watch when bored and in need to fill your zombie movie addiction.

Happy places are where your strength at

[avindugunasinghe · 8/10 · 3 July 2022]

Trying to fit in every scenario of it's genre inside the run time avoided Virus 32 of becoming what it meant to be. However it's eerie set-up and visuals surely satisfy the horror fan's thurst for good dose of scares.

28 WEEKS LATER rip-off? Hmmm

[searchanddestroy-1 · 19 November 2022]

And I had the feeling at the beginning that this movie was first destined to young, teen audiences, because of the main characters. I am never comfortable with this, even for a horror movie. But it rapidly realized that I was wrong, it is a fast paced, very tense, taut horror flick, not too long, only eighty six minutes and the settings, an abandoned swimming pool, is very unusual. The topic too, this man and his pregnant, about to give birth, wife.... I was finally surprised by this movie, very touching. But unfortunately wasted by the ending, not the last image, awesome, but just before. I won't get into details, because I don't want to spoil, but yes, the ending could have been far far better. 28 WEEKS LATER had an excellent finale.