Top 10 Pandemic/Epidemic Movies
A-curated list of some of the best pandemic/epidemic movies ever made, covering everything from realistic to apocalyptic-from a wide array of infection-based narratives-include the following:
1. Contagion (2011)
This movie hit an eerie note of relevance during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in that it had to do with the spread of a deadly virus worldwide. It reflected quite well all the ensuing chaos and fears with regard to such an event, right down to governmental responses and public health responses.
2. Outbreak (1995)
It's the stuff of which classics are made: Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo lead a list in this movie about CDC officers trying to restrain a virus in a small Californian town. It's an action-packed drama with undercurrents of medical science inspired by the real viruses that break out around the world.
3. The Killer That Stalked New York, 1950
The smallpox outbreak in New York City is the subject of this black-and-white movie. Being a suspense drama dealing with the spread of the disease and vaccination controversy, the movie is very much identical in style to classic pandemic-themed thrillers.
4. The Seventh Seal (1957)
This is Ingmar Bergman's classic Swedish film that deals with the story of a man playing chess with Death during the time of the Black Plague-a deep reflection on mortality and surviving in view of inexorable doom.
5. The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Loosely based on a novel by Michael Crichton, this film talks about a few scientists investigating a deadly alien virus that might equally contribute to wiping out humanity. This movie stands to date as a landmark in the sci-fi pandemic genre.
6. The Omega Man (1971)
Charlton Heston stars as the last uninfected human in a plague-engulfed world where the victims become mutant humans. Adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel *I Am Legend*, which uniquely combines post-apocalyptic horror with philosophical musings on loneliness.
7. Stigma (1972)
A medical doctor finds a viral outbreak on a remote island linked with a venereal disease. It mixed conspiracy tropes with fear of disease-a classic 70s epidemic movie.
8. The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
The movie's plot revolved around a disease that infects train passengers.Major stars and exciting storylines projected how threatening bioterrorism and humans are to survive an epidemic.
9. Contamination (1980)
Italian sci-fi about some alien eggs that bring deadly infections onto Earth. The material herein is a little more fanciful than the above examples, but still encompasses the elements of disease spread, paranoia, and the survival of an unseen danger.
10. Epidemic (1987)
This is a post-modern movie by director Lars von Trier, which tells a story within a story of two screenwriters working on a film that deals with a viral epidemic, while at the same time, one is occurring in actuality around them. Being more experimental in nature, this would fall more under an art-house take on the genre.
These are films, from the virally-grounded pandemic story to the apocalyptic vision, that show the way filmmakers represent fear and chaos due to outbreaks across eras and genres.