Best Pandemic and Virus Outbreak Movies to Stream While Youre in Quarantine – Den of Geek UK

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime

Legendary director George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead) made the original Crazies in 1973, focusing on a small town decimated by a biological weapon and finished off by the incompetence of the government that tries to contain the outbreak. Romeros film was crudely made but razor-sharp in its skewering of the bureaucratic and military mindset; a 2010 remake from director Breck Eisner is less satirical, more polished and intense, and in the end, more effective. Both are worth a watch.

Watch in the US on: Amazon Prime (both free for Prime members; 2010 version available to rent/buy)

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime (2010)

Despite what the misleading trailer suggested this is not a zombie movie, but it is an infection film, of sorts, which sees a couple and their teenage son self isolating in the woods because of an unseen threat thats taken over the world. But when a young couple and their child arrive seeking refuge the familys domestic stability is shaken. Metaphorical, intelligent, and scary, It Comes at Night is one bleak quarantine movie.

Watch in the US on: Netflix

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

The seventh and most experimental of cult filmmaker Roger Cormans Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, The Masque of the Red Death is a medieval fable set in an unnamed Italian village, where a sadistic prince (Vincent Price) lords over both the poor villagers outside his palace walls and the debauched guests at a ball within. As a plague sweeps the land, he orders the village burned to stop it but that doesnt prevent the Red Death from ultimately piercing the palace walls. Masque may be a fantasy, but its ultimate message that disease and death do not distinguish between rich and poor holds true.

Watch in the US on: Amazon Prime

A classic infection blockbuster from Wolfgang Peterson where we see medics battling with a virus brought to a Californian town by an African monkey. Outbreak is glossy and thrilling and much more self contained than something like Contagion making it less a pandemic movie but a race to contain the virus mixed with some high octane conspiracy theory business.

Watch in the US on: Netflix

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime

A lot of fantastic directors have tackled the pandemic theme at least once, and this time out its Elia Kazan. His noirish 1950 thriller is, like Sturges The Satan Bug, more about preventing a crisis than living through one, as a public health official and a New Orleans cop must track down three thugs who inadvertently murdered a man carrying pneumonic plague and might now be infected themselves. The two leads played by Richard Widmark and Paul Douglas show the kind of determination and resilience that we can always use more of.

Watch in the US on: Amazon Prime

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime

Sort of a zombie movie, sort of an infection movie, and sort of a quarantine film this clever Canadian horror from Bruce McDonald sees Stephen McHattie as a radio DJ narrating an unfolding outbreak of something happening outside his studio. McHattie carries the movie, which is a smart way to simulate a pandemic and create a feeling of panic on a very low budget, via a film which takes place almost entirely in one room.

Watch in the US on: iTunes

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime

This American remake of [REC] starring Dexters Jennifer Carpenter is fine but removes some of the strangeness and ambiguity of the original. Here the virus origins and effects are explicitly stated rather than left in the background. Its still effective enough, and several of the best scares are shock for shock with [REC].

Watch in the US on:Crackle

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime

Less interested in global infrastructure and more in scaring the living crap out of audiences, this snappy Spanish horror from Jaume Balaguer and Paco Plaza sees a reporter and her cameraman go on a ride-along with an emergency services team who are called to an apartment building during a disturbance. Once theyre inside they realize some sort of infection is spreading fast and theyre suddenly quarantined inside. And things are about to get weirder. A very effective found footage movie with a nerve jangling ending, [REC] inspired three serviceable sequels, but none are as powerful as the original.

Watch in the US on: Amazon Prime, GooglePlay

Produced and directed by John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven), The Satan Bug details the search by government agents for a missing vial containing the title pathogen, a biological weapon that could wipe out all human life in a matter of months. The film (like the novel its based on) is more of a tense chase thriller than a pandemic story, but it points up the implications of what could happen if a little glass tube full of death escapes into the worldwhether its made by nature or not.

Watch in the US on: Amazon Prime

David Cronenbergs debut movie was also an infection film but one thats quite different. Set in a very 70s luxury apartment building, Shivers begins with a doctor murdering and cutting up what looks like a schoolgirl before taking his own life. Its a strange opener for an even stranger film, a satirical body horror that sees residents of the block become infected by a parasite which turns them into manic sex fiends. Its a descent into hell movie with an orgiastic climax which really put Cronenberg on the map.

Watch in the US on: Tubi (Free)

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime

This excellent Korean zombie movie is a scary depiction of how fast a virus can spread. An absent father, Seok-woo, boards a train from Seoul to Busan with his daughter while one infected woman boards a different carriage. Soon every passenger in that carriage is infected and Seok-woo must work with other commuters to try to keep the healthy cars separate from the infected. Emotional and thrilling with breakneck pacing. A sequel, called Peninsula was due to land this summer, but will likely suffer the same fate as many other upcoming releases.

Watch in the US on: Vudu (Free)

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime

Produced by Japans Toho Studios, Virus was directed by Kinji Fukasaku who went on to make the legendary Battle Royale 20 years later and was for its time the most expensive Japanese film in history. It uses an international cast, featuring stars such as Sonny Chiba, George Kennedy, Robert Vaughn, Chuck Connors, Olivia Hussey, Edward James Olmos and Glenn Ford, to detail the efforts of a small group of scientists to find the cure for a virus that has wiped out nearly all of humanity. The films length (156 minutes) and global scope give it an epic feel despite its overall bleak storyline.

Watch in the US on: Tubi (Free), Amazon Prime

Watch in the UK on: Amazon Prime

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Best Pandemic and Virus Outbreak Movies to Stream While Youre in Quarantine - Den of Geek UK

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero