In 1982, a shady transaction is occurring between an East German scientist, Dr. Krause, and a group of Americans involving a substance known as MM88. MM88 is a deadly virus, created accidentally by an American geneticist, that amplifies the potency of any other virus or bacterium it comes into contact with. The Americans recover the virus sample, which was stolen from a lab in the US the year before, but the virus is accidentally released after the plane transporting it crashes, creating a pandemic initially known as the "Italian Flu". Within seven months, virtually all the world's population has died off. However, the virus is inactive at temperatures below -10 degrees Celsius, and the polar winter has spared the 855 men and eight women stationed in Antarctica. The British nuclear submarine HMS Nereid joins the scientists after sinking a Soviet submarine whose infected crew attempts to make landfall near Palmer Station. Several years later, as the group is beginning to repopulate their new home, it is discovered that an earthquake will activate the Automated Reaction System and launch the United States nuclear arsenal. The Soviets have their own version of the ARS that will fire off their weapons in return, including one targeting Palmer Station. After all of the women and children and several hundred of the men are sent to safety aboard an icebreaker, Yoshizumi and Major Carter embark aboard the Nereidon a mission to shut down the ARS, protected from MM88 by an experimental vaccine. The submarine arrives at Washington, D.C., and Yoshizumi and Carter make a rush for the ARS command bunker. However, they reach the room too late, and all but those aboard the icebreaker perish in the nuclear exchange. Over the course of years Yoshizumi walks back towards Antarctica. Upon reaching Tierra del Fuego in 1988, he finds some of the survivors from the icebreaker, immunized by a since-developed vaccine. They embrace, and Yoshizumi declares "Life is wonderful."
In the 1970s, producer Haruki Kadokawa formed the Kadokawa Production Company. Its releases included Kon Ichikawa's The Inugamis and Junya Sato's Proof of the Man, with the latter having American cast members such as George Kennedy. Kadokawa began to develop films that were often based on literary properties held by Kadokawa's publishing arm. The domestic box-office for these films was large, which led to Kadokawa putting 2 million yen into the film Virus, making it the most expensive film in Japanese history on its release. The film was shot on location in Tokyo and various locations throughout Canada, including Kleinburg, Ottawa, and Halifax. The production was heavily supported by the Chilean Navy, who lent the submarine Simpson for use as a filming location. Submarine interiors were filmed on-board HMCS Okanagan, an Oberon-class vessel that served in the Canadian Forces. During filming, a Swedish cruiser used to transport crew was heavily damaged by a coral reef off the Chilean coast, and had to be rescued by the Navy.
Release
Virus was released theatrically in Japan on 28 June 1980 where it was distributed by Toho. The American version of the film was shown for review at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1980 as a "work-in-progress" print. The non-English language footage was dubbed into English for this release and it ran at 155 minutes. It was initially released to home video in the United States with a 108-minute run-time and was presented on television with a 93-minute running time. The original Japanese-language cut was released to home video in 2006 with English subtitles.
