Horror Movie Review: COVID-21: Lethal Virus (2021)

COVID-21: Lethal Virus is another in a long-line of low-budget indie films looking to take advantage of the real-life COVID-19 pandemic situation to tell its own horror story.

There’s nothing wrong with that. All you can hope for is an imaginative idea which, with this film, is far from the case.

So, an infectious disease, discovered by climate change scientists, has spread throughout the world causing the mass collapse of society. People are getting sick at an immeasurable pace, dying and then reanimating as zombies.

Yes, it’s a zombie flick. One with a terribly shoe-horned in climate change message. How much fun does this movie sound?

Written by the trio of Nerea Bermúdez, Carlos Sisí and Daniel Hernández Torrado, the latter also served as the film’s director. COVID-21: Lethal Virus stars Christian Stamm, Loretta Hope and Ramon Álvarez.

The story surrounds two different characters at first, both hugely unlikable. One is Scott, a survivalist, attempting to do what he can to survive in a zombie-plagued world. The other is Allyson, who is a doctor that might hold the key to the cure.

Both get into bother with zombies and end up running into each other, teaming up to go deep into zombie territory to find the hope for humanity. Will they find it? Will they be able to get along? Will the audience be able to stay awake?

That last one is the big question as COVID 21: Lethal Virus is an absolute snore fest. A ‘ho-hum’ zombie horror flick that does nothing original and what it borrows, it fails to spark into life. Every zombie cliché you can think of appears in this movie in some form or another.

If all of that wasn’t bad enough, we have a set of characters that are just awful. Scott is a horrible human being that momentarily looks like he might have a redemption arc, but the film promptly forgets about that. Allyson would be fine if it wasn’t for the latter part of the movie and the reveal of her true intentions. You’ll hope that both get munched on by the walking dead. Although these zombies don’t exactly exude threat.

Then, of course, we have the film’s attempt to jam in a climate change message. Something we’re not against, provided it’s done well. It is not done well here. More likely to make you laugh then reflect on the damage we’re doing to our planet.

Forget all that though because instead the simple takeaway is that COVID 21: Lethal Disease is a insipid, forgettable and tedious horror movie.