Antisocial

Five university friends gather at a house party to ring in the New Year. Unbeknownst to them, an epidemic has erupted outside, causing outbreaks around the world.

Scott Weinberg of Fearnet says, "If you can get past the fact that the flick is composed of 75% recycled ideas and 25% new ones, you may find that something to like." Sounds to me like Weinberg does not understand how the horror genre works -- few movies today have less than 75% recycled ideas. Why gripe about this one?

Indeed, this was an interesting satire and attack on social media. Silly, maybe, and certainly nothing that can be taken too seriously. But not the terrible film critics (especially Rotten Tomatoes) makes it out to be. When compared to the technology-themed "The Den", this is the more mature and accomplished approach to the Internet Age.

Bad social media! Well that's sort of the message. And if you will the central thing the movie is saying is: Get out more, be nice in "real" life. Which is not a bad thing in my book. Unfortunately it does fall into almost every cliché on its way to deliver that message. And while the cliché of the "beautiful" people (on screen) is not something I'd complain about, there are others I do.

The actors are trying their best and there is a sense of urgency and it does have more than a little bit of tension in it. So there is something to the movie other than the general idea, that might hold you to watching it. It's not much, but maybe enough for your viewing pleasure.

Although, perhaps, not to everyone's taste, I decided to observe the end of 2020 with a movie about a New Year's Eve celebration interrupted by a pandemic. A Canadian version released in 2013 of a Brazilian movie, "Antisocial" serves just as well as a dramatization of the end of this horrible year. A plague is made worse by social media and forces people to be antisocial by staying-in-place and refusing entry to their homes by those not already quarantining with them. I could be summarizing the past few months in real life as much as I can the movie with that sentence.

Largely panned by critics, "Antisocial" is admittedly not a good film, but it's became too relevant nowadays for me to dismiss it out of hand. Plus, once one gets past the obnoxious social-media introductions of characters and that every character before the last few minutes of the picture, at least, is entirely annoying, that the acting is suboptimal and the dialogue worse, etc., "Antisocial" is rather entertainingly trashy. I appreciate the consistency that has the requisite horror-film sex scene turned into the making of a sex video to be posted online. I also like the implied pun of a biological virus that is spread through computers and online. The ending is pretty good, too, adding some body horror and apparent zombies to the mix. I'm not sure that I would say this sort of cinematic exposure therapy makes me feel any better about the real-world catastrophe going into 2021, but "Antisocial" was more enjoyable than I thought it'd be, including than I thought it'd be at many points while watching it, for a picture that sums up 2020 too perfectly.

I really don't get a reason to see such a low rating becoz this movie is definite worth a watch if you are into zombie or outbreak stuff.the idea was great and the treatment was different for a change.the story grips you in the middle but bit luck-warm at the beginning and bit at the end.the acting just was there but misses the spark a bit.music is good and camera work is OK too.I think a good 15 min can be cut off from it's entire length but overall it's a different and very innovative movie,yes it's not an excellent or mind blowing one but it will not disappoint you either.

If you have some free time in your hand and want to enjoy a decent and new idea film then it's for you but as I said don't expect an Oscar winning story just be with it and you may end up liking it.

'Teens' are afflicted by a virus which turns them into zombie-like creatures.

Quite low budget - everything happens in one house - and irritating at times. However, a fairly good paranoid atmosphere which, surprisingly, kept me watching.

Acting was average, script mediocre at best, and everyone does the stupidest of things. However, it is reasonable original and watchable: The title refers to social media, which adversely affects the subscribers in a somewhat unfortunate way.

The social media website the main protagonists use is 'The Social Redroom' and Red Room are the production company, so a good bit of self-promotion by the film-makers.

Worth a look if you have a few spare moments, but don't expect anything too earth-shattering.