10 Underappreciated Comic Book Movies That Deserve A Second Chance

Released between the similarly themed Deep Rising and Ghost Ship, Virus is another story about a group of potential victims (including a square-jawed hero and a damsel in distress) who board a seemingly derelict ship and are subsequently picked off one by one.

This kind of picture requires some very game actors and with a cast that includes Donald Sutherland, Jamie Lee Curtis and William Baldwin, Virus has it. Originality may not be the film’s strongest suit, but it’s never boring and avoids taking a camp approach to the material. The script is by Chuck Pfarrer (who also wrote the Dark House comic) and Dennis Feldman, who between them also scripted Hard Target, Barb Wire, The Golden Child and Species. You know in advance what kind of movie you’re going to get.

It’s the type of film where characters with “dead meat” written all over them wander alone down dark corridors asking if there’s anyone there….moments after witnessing their colleagues being torn apart by a monster. Throw in some bizarre dialogue (“You couldn’t pull a pin out of his ass with a tractor!”) and you’ve got an entertaining B movie.