The Coronavirus Scare Is Over the Top, Like these Pandemic Films

Here’s a look at some Pandemic films and series that you can watch.

With the coronavirus outbreak spreading across the globe, Contagion, the American medical thriller has reportedly jumped up the popularity charts and made it to the top 10 list of films on iTunes. So, people are either seeking comfort in watching a film about a deadly virus outbreak, while the real thing happens outside or it’s just a masochistic reaction to all the news that’s breaking around us about the spread of the Covid-19.

Here’s a look at some pandemic films that you can revisit right now.

Outbreak (1995)

A monkey carrying a deadly virus is brought from a remote jungle in Africa to a pet store in California and then pandemonium ensues as the virus spreads through the small town. “The greatest medical crisis of all time,” is the pitch for this Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo-starrer that has been adapted from Richard Preston’s book The Hot Zone. “People are dying and will continue dying unless we find this monkey,” pleads Hoffman. Perfect?

You can watch Outbreak on YouTube Movies.

Carriers (2009)

This film follows four survivors of a viral pandemic who are trying to do all that they can to stay uninfected. The four rules they swear to follow are:

1. Avoid populated areas at all costs.
2. If you come into contact with other people, assume they have it.
3. Never touch anything that’s not disinfected.
4. The sick are already dead, they can’t be saved.

But nothing in a post-apocalyptic film ever goes by the rules, does it? Featuring Chris Pine in the lead, you might want to catch this one, (pun intended).

Contagion (2011)

“So we have a virus with no treatment protocol and no vaccine at this time.”

“The average person touches their face 3 to 5 times every waking minute, in between we are touching door-knobs, water fountains and each other.”

“On day 1 there were 2 people, and then 4 and then 16, in three months it’s a billion, that’s were we are heading.”

Sounds familiar? No wonder then that this Steven Soderbergh’s medical thriller is being re-watched now. Contagion tracks a virus that spreads by fomites and is virtually unstoppable. Featuring a host of stars including Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Lawrence Fishburne, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011.

You can watch Contagion on Prime Video.

Containment (2015)

Containment is a British film that has got an enviable score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. It revolves around an artist who wakes up one day to find himself sealed inside his flat. He then spots mysterious people wearing protective suits taking away residents from the apartment. Is there a fatal illness that’s spreading amongst the residents that needs to be seriously dealt with? You’ll need to watch the film and find out.

Virus (2019)

This 2019 Malayalam film directed by Aashiq Abu documents how the state and people of Kerala dealt with the deadly Nipah virus outbreak. A medical thriller and procedural, Virus is inspired by real incidents and persons who were both affected and involved in the Nipah virus containment. Featuring some prominent Malayalam actors including Kunchacko Boban, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Tovino Thomas, Rima Kallingal and Soubin Shahir, Virus went on to become one of the biggest grossers in Kerala in 2019.

You can watch Virus on Prime Video.

Containment (2016) (TV Series)

Containment is an American TV series that had a limited run. According to a synopsis, the show deals with an epidemic that breaks out in Atlanta, leaving a section of the city cordoned off under quarantine and those stuck on the inside fighting for their lives. Looks like there wasn’t much going for the show, which was laid to rest after it’s first season. Symptoms like “"Uninspired performances and pedestrian writing,” according to Rotten Tomatoes apparently killed it.

Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak (2020) (Documentary)

Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak is a timely docuseries that has just recently dropped on Netflix. The series revolves around the heroes on the front lines of the battle against influenza and tells us about the efforts to stop the next global outbreak. In fact the release of the docuseries and the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China has been so coincidental that according to Mashable, “some conspiracy theorists are even claiming Netflix concocted the virulent disease to promote Pandemic”.

Well, even though that’s a pretty far fetched theory, you would really want to watch this one since one of the lines in the series go, “The next pandemic is going to start, we just don’t know where or how, but we know it will.”

You can watch Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak on Netflix.