The Top 10 Best Outbreak Movies
Coronavirus is Here, so of Course, Stars & Popcorn is Doing a List of the Top 10 Outbreak Movies.
COVID-19 have you down? Don’t worry, because Stars & Popcorn has a list of the best outbreak movie that you can watch while you “quarantine and chill.” I took a look at a ton of deadly disease films to pull this list together (one of my favorite horror genres), and the results are positive for popcorn. The only rule is that the films had to show some sort of pathogen spreading through a populace. That could be a virus, bacterial disease, or even fungal infection. However, I didn’t include parasites on this list. With that in mind, I hope all my fans are staying safe out there as coronavirus spreads across the world. Hopefully, you’re all safely locked away and riding the storm out. I’m trying to stay optimistic, but I still see the need to binge-watch movies and now seemed like the perfect time to show you all the ways Hollywood has envisioned the worst-case scenario. Fingers crossed it doesn’t get this bad out there, but with this list of outbreak movies, you should be well prepared. Just make sure you wash your hands before reading further.
10. Cabin Fever
Let’s start small with this list of outbreak movies. Cabin Fever isn’t exactly a world-threatening pandemic, but it’s a pretty intense cautionary tale about how intense things can get in the face of an epidemic. Terrible things tend to happen when people go out to cabins in the woods. So, it’s no surprise that a bunch of hard-partying college kids end up getting infected with some sort of flesh-eating disease. Cut off from civilization, they’re forced to watch in horror as the disease spreads between them, leading to horrific results. The film is much more gory than scary, but it does show how quickly people turn on each other when they get sick. If you ever do have to quarantine yourself, I hope you do a better job than the poor souls in this flick.
9. Outbreak
It would be kind of weird not to include a movie called Outbreak on a list of the best outbreak movies. Luckily, Outbreak is still decent enough to earn a spot on here. The dreaded Motabu virus in it was actually inspired by Ebola, which had a real-world outbreak not too long ago. Based on the novel The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, the film follows an epidemic response team fighting to cut a lethal virus off at the pass before it can spread across America. It gives a fictionalized look at how easily and quickly a virus can spread as Motabu races from victim to victim at breakneck speeds. It’s terrifying to watch as the disease manages to overcome every precaution and even infects some of the doctors sent to fight it. Just a reminder that epidemics might start small, but they can spread like a wildfire.
8. I Am Legend
We don’t get to see too much of the virus spreading in I Am Legend, but it is enough for the film to still find a spot on this list of outbreak movies. It features a genetically re-engineered version of the measles virus that was meant to fight cancer. Unfortunately, no good deed goes unpunished, and the virus actually kills 90% of the population. The majority of those left alive are transformed into weird vampire-esque cannibal mutants that hunt the few remaining humans. The majority of the movie follows Will Smith as Dr. Robert Nevill who is immune to the virus. He spends years secluded in New York fighting off the monsters as he tries to come up with a cure. I included I Am Legend on here because it shows just how quickly things can go from okay to nightmarish when it comes to viruses.
7. 12 Monkeys
I was a little iffy on including 12 Monkeys on this list since (if memory serves) you don’t actually see the virus spreading in the film. Instead, you get to see the aftermath as a man from a future long after the virus has already done its damage is sent back in time in order to try to stop it. Like most guys who claim to be from the future, he immediately gets sent to an asylum. Luckily, he runs into another patient there who reveals a connection to the deadly disease. Turns out that it was the work of an eco-terrorist, and he’s tasked with getting a sample of the original virus to create a cure. Anyone with a basic understanding of movie time paradoxes probably knows how that’s going to end. It’s a mind-bending movie and just so happens to be perfect for this list.
6. World War Z
Technically, World War Z is a zombie movie. However, because it treats… zombieism (?) as a virus, I’ll allow it on this list of outbreak movies. The film takes a very fictionalized look at how quickly a pandemic can spread across the planet. At the center of the movie is Brad Pitt as U.N. investigator who’s tasked with finding the origins of the virus in order to create a cure. What follows is a trotting adventure as Pitt finds dead end after dead end. What he does find are more zombies as they form massive colonies in order to attack humans with overwhelming numbers and potential insight into how to fight them. I won’t spoil the movie for you, but there potential “cure” is pretty dumb. What isn’t dumb is seeing how the humans scramble to try to find a way to stop the disease from spreading.