Horrors Deadliest Diseases
Crazy how life imitates art sometimes. In the first days of the swine flu outbreak, when the first victims passed away and governments and doctors alike asked us not to panic, didn’t you also get a strange sense of déjà vu? Didn’t newspaper headlines and TV bulletins seem to repeat scenes from dozens of horror films?
Now the news frenzy has somewhat abated, but the disease is still spreading and a state of pandemic has been declared. Scientists talk about a possible mutation of the virus. Cases have been reported throughout the United States and Europe. Is it the end of the world? Probably not, but just in case, let’s have a look at how filmmakers imagined things could go down from here. So to celebrate the first pandemic of the 21st century, here are, in no particular order, the best virus horror movies in recent history.
28 Days Later
Arguably the ultimate virus movie of the early 2000s. Directed by Danny Boyle and released in 2002, Days follows a man (Cillian Murphy) who wakes up from a coma and finds London deserted and its inhabitants infected with a disease which turns them into mindless, bloodshot aggressors.
Although not technically a zombie film (the diseased are still alive), the movie was heavily influenced by George Romero’s by-then trilogy of the Dead, and therefore contributed, alongside Resident Evil and Dawn of the Dead, to the recent mainstream success of the living dead.
It also featured some of the most vivid images of virus apocalypse ever seen on screen, with the scenes of Murphy walking through an empty London being by far the most striking. 28 Days Later was followed by a 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, in which the virus broke out again after a containment plan had been carried out by the US military in Britain.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Walking in Boyle’s footsteps, writer James Gunn and director Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of Romero’s 1978 cult film Dawn of the Dead brought many new elements to the concept, including the idea that the living dead are the result of an epidemic (Romero never explained why his corpses came back to life), and, controversially, that the dead could run.
More fun and action-filled than the original, Dawn 2004 started with an astonishing opening scene and a credits montage which summed up the spread of the virus throughout the world. Dropping the anti-consumerism themes of Romero’s version, it concentrated on the relationships and struggles between the survivors. A big financial success, it didn’t receive a sequel, but somehow inspired a terribly misguided, direct-to-DVD Day of the Dead redux.
The Stand
One of the most watched horror miniseries in history, Mick Garris’s adaptation of Stephen King novel The Stand had millions of American families tune in over four nights in May 1994.
Starting off as a typical end-of-the-world story split between the points of view of a dozen characters, it switched gears mid-way to turn into a full-fledged good-VS-evil epic, as the survivors, immune to the virus which had destroyed most of the world population, aligned for a final battle. The Stand starred Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe and Corin Nemec (of Parker Lewis fame), and featured cameos from King, Garris and Shawnee Smith (Saw).
Doomsday
Reviled by those who missed the point (yes, it’s full of references to eighties post-apocalyptic movies. That’s exactly what it’s all about), Neil Marshall’s third feature, after Dog Soldiers and The Descent, was an homage to the sci-fi flicks he grew up watching, with an added virus twist.
Thirty years after a deadly epidemic forces the UK to quarantine Scotland and leave it to die, a team of specialists led by Major Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) is sent into the hot zone to find a cure to the virus when it breaks out in London. Doomsday is filled with gore, violence, evil Mad Max-like marauders and medieval knights. Really, what’s not to like?
Cabin Fever
Proving that outbreaks don’t need to be worldwide to be scary, Eli Roth’s 2003 debut Cabin Fever focuses on a group of 20-something friends on vacation in a rural area, who become infected with a flesh-eating virus when they drink water from the contaminated local supply.
Inspired by the likes of The Evil Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it offers an interesting twist on the traditional cabin-in-the-woods formula by pitting the protagonists against an invisible killer, and incidentally, against each other.
With its gruesome images of rotting skin, slightly surreal atmosphere and pitch black sense of humor, Cabin Fever largely contributed to the horror revival of this past decade, and turned its director into an instant genre sensation. A sequel, helmed by Ti West, should be released on DVD any time soon.
I Am Legend
Directed by Francis Lawrence, this long-awaited, oft-delayed adaptation of Richard Matheson’s classic novel stars Will Smith as the last man on earth after an epidemic turns humans into vampires.
Largely ruined in its second half by the disastrous appearance of computer-generated creatures and by a botched conclusion, I Am Legend is nonetheless full of impressive set pieces, like the opening hunt through the deserted streets of New York, and nice character moments, notably when Will Smith’s dog turns out to be as charismatic as its master.
12 Monkeys
Arguably more time-travel sci-fi than virus horror, Terry Gilliam’s 1995 masterpiece is without a doubt the most touching and imaginative film on this list. Starring Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeleine Stowe, 12 Monkeys starts in a future in which the world population has been wiped out, and the few survivors have fled the surface of the earth, where the virus still rages.
A convict is sent back to the early nineties to gather clues as to how the disease broke out, and hopefully help avert the catastrophe and change the course of history. Filled with rare poetry and nostalgia, as exemplified by the scenes where the convict experiences life outdoors in the carefree world of the 1990s, 12 Monkeys is the Terminator 2: Judgement Day of virus movies.
Axelle will be signing copies of her new book, It Lives Again! Horror Movies in the New Millenium at Borders on London’s Oxford Street tonight (July 9) from 6.30pm.
2 Responses to “Horrors Deadliest Diseases”
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