Virt

Director - Rich Rule (Marrtown, No Knock List)

Starring - Brian Stowell (Deadly Demands, Sandman), Alex Blair (Bride Killa, Children as Giants), and Angelo Giannone (Kill, Red)

Release Date - 2022

Genre - Sci-Fi/Mystery

Format - Streaming (online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Several years ago, I befriended West Virginia filmmaker Rich Rule on Facebook. I reviewed a couple of his movies that he was working on at the time but he kind of went silent sometime after. I know Facebook and their algorithm is all wonky but it had been some time since I’ve seen Rich post anything. A week or so ago he reached out for me to check out his newest film. Virt, his new sci-fi thriller, looked like a huge departure from his previous films which made me very curious. I agreed to check it out and I’m glad I did. It was a lot of fun. 

      The film follows a virtual software engineer who finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation when several young women are murdered with connections to him and the software he maintains. He decides to put his own life on the line to track down the killer that is using his software to get his victims and discovers that it’s someone that works in his office. 

      I didn’t know what to think about Virt at first. I was on the fence about the film the first 20 minutes or so before I eventually warmed up to the story and characters. It’s a very ambitious film for an indie production but the gamble pays off in this sci-fi thriller with a mystery angle. The acting in this one took some time for me but it eventually grew on me. The cast is stiff in their roles which made the scenes are the beginning of the film feel a little awkward. I don’t know if the film was shot in order or if you become accustomed to the acting as the film progresses, but it does feel like the cast comes into their own as the film moves on. The story for this one is essentially a murder mystery with a heavy virtual reality aspect throughout. It reminded me a lot of the sci-fi action flicks that were direct to video in the mid-90s. However, the action was swapped with a whodunnit storyline that actually works. The virtual reality aspect is a bit of a push for the film and comes across as a little goofy at times but it’s this aspect of the film that sets it out from other films. It could have been handled a little different in a more serious tone instead of the style that a lot of late 90s educational videos used. Finally, the film has some light blood and a lot of visual effects. The death scenes are not that impressive, but the visual effects are fun in a dated way. It looks cool at first but as the film progresses you see that it doesn’t really fit the film that well. Overall, Virt is a fun sci-fi thriller that reminded me a lot of the direct to video action flicks of the mid-90s. Instead of muscle bound martial artists fighting organized crime, we have a murder mystery. It’s not what I look for in my October horror binge but it was enjoyable. Check it out.