With the 2020 new coronavirus (nCOV) outbreak being raised as an international emergency, it is a better time to prepare for the risks and protect ourselves from danger. Likewise, it is a timely subject to explore in film. And usually, movies with viruses as their subject fall under the disaster movie genre since they follow the same procedurals with national disaster.
For that, here are some of the best movies about viruses and some of the worst ones that depict such outbreaks.
Just a disclaimer, movies about viruses that zombify people would not count since they deserve a list on their own.
Worst: Doomsday (2008)
It seems that the immediate result of deadly viruses are Mad Max-like apocalyptic landscapes and the undead. Well, it is what sums up the forgettable 2008 sci-fi action film Doomsday, wherein a team of Londoners travels to Scotland to find a possible cure from a deadly virus and fends off a weird ragtag group of evaders, ranging from knights to barbarians.
Director Neil Marshall was really inspired by the Mad Max movies that he conceived of a dystopian future with medieval knights and pillagers. Suffice to say, it is mediocre.
Best: The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Based on the Michael Crichton novel, the movie centers on a group of scientists who investigate a quarantined town that was plagued with a contagious strain of an extraterrestrial organism. A classic on its own, The Andromeda Strain layers itself with its depiction of a desolate environment, mixed with 70’s depiction of technology, with an imminent threat beneath them.
On a technical level, it is an achievement with convincing special effects for the ’70s. And on its editing aspect, it is one of the first effective uses of split screens.
Worst: Antisocial (2013)
Horror movies would always misuse the subject of viruses as a scare tactic to their horror segments. And starting off that trend in this list is this forgotten Canadian horror flick Antisocial. The film is about a young woman who, along with her friends, finds herself in the middle of a growing epidemic outside of a house party.
This trashy horror flick is a distasteful depiction of violence and viral effects that downplays its subject to be a cheap catch for scares. This is best kept under quarantine for long.
Best: Contagion (2011)
Contagion is a Steven Soderbergh joint that boasts an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard and Bryan Cranston. And as usual for Soderbergh’s previous works, this is a multi-narrative picture that traces the origins of a virus, its looming spread, its effects on society and the government’s attempts to salvage survivors and find a cure.
The film is a serviceable thriller that almost accurately portrays the birth and demise of an epidemic. And the cast and aesthetics are topnotch for Soderbergh.
Worst: Dreamcatcher (2003)
Even a Stephen King work gets to be a subject of a bad horror film about viruses. And while 2016’s Cell is a ridiculous techno-thriller that laughably lays its premise of a cellphone-triggering meltdown, 2003’s Dreamcatcher is a lame cabin-fever alien film that haplessly goes with the motions. A domestic encounter of parasitic aliens is a potential one, but director Lawrence Kasdan and writer William Goldman does not give any care.
But the end result is an unintentionally funny horror film, with hammy performances from Damian Lewis and Jason Lee.
Best: Panic in the Streets (1950)
Directed by the legendary Elia Kazan, Panic in the Streets centers on a public health officer and a police captain who track down a homicide victim, discovering him to be infected, and try their best to stop a contagious plague from spreading, under a ticking clock. While the film has been initially met with middling reviews, it received subsequent praise for its noir aspects and its performances of its lesser-known cast.
Richard Widmark’s turn as U.S. Public Health Service officer Clinton Reed is unorthodox yet effective in each scene.
Worst: The 5th Wave (2016)
There are worse ways to downplay an apocalyptic threat that marks the seconds to the end of the world. Here is one dud from 2016, based on another young-adult bestseller. This sci-fi disaster film sets its premise on five waves that threaten humanity: the first being blackouts, the second being tsunamis, the third being avian flu, the fourth being decimation and the fifth still being determined.
But on its brief depiction of a virus, it was played for stale sentiment. And that is just a fraction of the movie’s poor quality. Chloe Moretz tried, but The 5th Wave is horrendous.
Best: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
As a prequel to the Planet of the Apes, this was initially speculated with skepticism. But Rise of the Planet of the Apes surprised everyone with an engaging story, credible performances and the motion-capture effects by Weta Digital. The ape in the center is Caesar, played spectacularly by Andy Serkis in his mo-cap suit, who experienced an evolution both character-wise and physiologically. Thanks to his character arc, the film spawned a consistently stirring trilogy.
The virus at the center, starting as a medicine, is a plausible explanation for humanity’s demise that carries on to the original Planet of the Apes.
Worst: Cabin Fever (2016)
As mentioned, horror movies tend to use the subject of viruses as a cheap way for scares and threats. No other horror film has more abused that subject than the 2016 remake of the Eli Roth suspense Cabin Fever. The explanation for its existence, even though the original is bad on itself, is anyone’s guess. But this horror movie failingly amps up the scares and plays the scares with recklessness to logic.
The plot is, obviously, like the original, in that five peers accede to a virus that is hidden in their cabin. But, it is done without passion.
Best: It Comes at Night (2017)
And finally, the best of the virus-centered movies does not center on the virology of its disease, but on its domestic aftermath. Take the 2017 indie horror film It Comes at Night, directed by Trey Edward Shults and starred by Joel Edgerton, Carmen Ejogo, Christopher Abbott, Riley Keough and Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Here, a family resorted to hiding in an isolated home encounters a young family wanting to seek refuge. While the virus is largely vague, it is clearly looming over the psyche of the characters. And what resulted is an emotional turmoil that is more fatal than the virus.
