Virus (1980)

in

Plot

The movie opens with a British nuclear submarine called the HMS "Nereid" entering Tokyo Bay. The ship's crew and Japanese seismologist Yoshizumi (Masao Kusakari) send reconnaissance drones to search the city for any survivors, only to find decaying bodies. The drones also gather air samples of a virus called MM88.

After the movie credits, the film goes back to the then-future of 1982, where a shady transfer is happening between an East German scientist and a group of American secret agents. It is revealed that MM88 is a deadly virus created accidentally by an American virologist that amplifies the potency of any other virus or bacteria it comes in contact with. The scientist wants a sample taken to a colleague in Switzerland so a vaccine can be developed, but the Americans are only interested in recovering the stolen MM88. Escaping an attack by East German soldiers, the spies crash their plane and the virus is released, creating a world-wide epidemic initially known as the "Italian Flu".

The governments of the world watch helplessly as their citizens fall ill and die by the millions. Too late does American President Richardson (Glenn Ford) learn from Senator Barkley (Robert Vaughn) and Dr. Meyer (Stuart Gillard) that the Italian Flu is in fact MM88.

Within a few months, the world's entire population has died off except for 863 scientists and support personnel wintering in Antarctica. The virus becomes active at -10 degrees Celsius, and the polar winter has spared the 855 men and eight women stationed on the southern continent. HMS Nereid, which was on patrol at the time the epidemic began, joins the scientists after sinking a Soviet submarine whose infected crew attempt to make landfall near Palmer Station.

The survivors, led by, among others, Admiral Conway (George Kennedy), Dr. Borodinov (Chris Wiggins), Dr. Nakanishi (Isao Natsuyagi), Captain Lopez (Edward James Olmos), and Dr. Latour (Cec Linder), set up a government to deal with the realities of their situation, including the obvious problem of several hundred men living with only eight women. The film comes full circle when the Nereid heads for Tokyo Bay, on its first mission under the "Federal Council of Antarctica."

However, just as the group begins to repopulate their new home, it is revealed that an earthquake will set off the United States nuclear arsenal, since Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Garland (Henry Silva), activated the Automated Response System before his death, believing the Soviets would use the confusion caused by the pandemic to launch an attack on North America.

The Soviets had their own version of the ARS and when the American missiles hit their targets, the Soviet missiles will automatically deploy. Unfortunately for the survivors, a Soviet nuclear weapon is aimed at the Antarctica research base. Yoshizumi and Major Carter (Bo Svenson) embark aboard the Nereid on a mission to disarm the weapons before the earthquake strikes, protected from MM88 by an experimental vaccine developed by Dr. Latour.

The submarine arrives at Washington, D.C. and Yoshizumi and Carter make a rush for the deep shelter underneath the White House where the ARS controls are located. They reach the room too late and all but a few men and the women perish in the blast. Over the course of years Yoshizumi walks back towards Antarctica. Upon reaching Tierra del Fuego he encounters the remaining survivors, including Marit (Olivia Hussey), a Norwegian widow he fell in love with after his pregnant girlfriend in Tokyo died from the epidemic.

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