While the world continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaleidoscope Film Distribution is landing international distribution deals for director Daniel Hernandez Torrado's pandemic horror-thriller COVID-21: LETHAL VIRUS. The film has the following logline:
In a broken world struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, a mutated new super virus threatens to destroy the remnants of mankind.
And here's the full synopsis:
When civilisation is hit with the outbreak of a new lethal virus, the results are swift, chaotic, and deadly, throwing the world into further crisis. With the last hopes for a cure pinned on brilliant young scientist, Allyson, the military are given one final mission: to deliver Allyson to her laboratory at all costs. It’s a duty undertaken without hesitation. Yet as the pandemic intensifies, and their progress, numbers, and optimism start to dwindle, the group find themselves struggling not only with the infected population, but with a sombre dilemma: does humanity truly deserve to be saved?
Christian Stamm, Loretta Hope, Tomas Paredes, and Ramon Alvarez star.
Torrado wrote the screenplay with Diego de la Concepcion, Nerea Bermudez, and Carlos Sisi, and the intention was to craft a story that serves as "a warning about future threats looming over us", particularly climate change.
COVID-21: LETHAL VIRUS started filming in 2019 and production was disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Torrado told Variety,
We watched in amazement as the script was becoming reality before our eyes. During filming, we also suffered climate change, in the form of unexpected snowfalls and torrential rains, but we decided to take advantage of the setbacks turning them to our favor, adapting the scenes and including snowfall sequences of great visual beauty. The aim of the film is to entertain with a good dose of action and suspense while we warn about the dangers of climate change and the need for a more caring society."
Kaleidoscope CEO Spencer Pollard described COVID-21: LETHAL VIRUS as a "smart film" that
balances original and engaging characterization with great action and horror set pieces is always going to find a home. The film title has also obviously been an eye catching selling point."
A sequel is already in the works at Virtual World Pictures.
This isn't the only genre film that has already imagined a future outbreak. SONGBIRD, which was directed by Adam Mason, produced by Michael Bay, and is coming to PVOD in December, is set four years in the future and deals with the COVID-23 virus.