“Here at the Lucas Clinic, we strive to bring you closer to celebrity than ever before,” says the reassuring voice of the commercial’s pitchman in a soothing voiceover. “With samples drawn directly from the source, you can be connected in ways you never imagined.”
You know, like with open sores, a hacking cough or maybe a sweet — and totally collectible — case of bleeding from the mouth. “So far I’ve had all her diseases,” says one of the celebrity-mad “patients” at the clinic. “Most have been expensive.”
Written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the film doesn’t skimp on the medical horrors: There are plenty of rubber gloves, needles, bandages and blood in the trailer alone. (If you’re squeamish about close-ups of needles piercing skin, don’t press play.) The film stars Caleb Landry Jones (Banshee from X-Men: First Class), Sarah Gadon (A Dangerous Method) Douglas Smith (Big Love) and Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange).
Antiviral, which will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival next month, is the director’s first feature. The bizarre subject matter probably shouldn’t be too surprising, considering who his father is: body-horror pioneer David Cronenberg.
See more stylized medical madness in the Antiviral clip below.
[via io9]
