# Plague- or pandemic-themed movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 12, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354 "2020-03-12T18:27:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/21 "2020-03-12T21:19:41Z")
Heh, just rewatched **Outbreak** last night, it’s pretty bad. **Contagion** is definitely the best sciencey movie of the genre that I’m aware of, the compressed timeline and Hollywood ending notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/22 "2020-03-12T21:22:44Z")
> [@cormac262](#): > > I think “turned to zombie/less-than-human” movies don’t really apply. > So stuff like “28 Days Later” and “Omega Man” are in a different category. Concur, **Doomsday** , while not bad, definitely belongs in this group. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/23 "2020-03-12T23:24:37Z")
Not a film, but if I may I strongly recommend a book, Albert Camus’ [The Plague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague) (La Peste). I’ve read this novel when I was still a young man and I was shaken by it like never before by a book. This is not so much about the technical and medicinal aspects, but about how to behave reasonable and most of all humanely in a crisis. Should be assigned reading for everyone responsible for public health (including the politicians) in our current pandemic. But that’s of course wishful thinking. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/24 "2020-03-12T23:42:10Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Yeah, but _Panic in the Streets_ has Zero Mostel. Never heard of this movie, but now I must find it! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/25 "2020-03-13T01:49:18Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Yeah, but _Panic in the Streets_ has Zero Mostel. As a bad guy, no less. It would’ve been perfect if Barbara Bel Geddes had played the part of an evil slut instead of her usual goody two-shoes, but you can’t have everything. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/26 "2020-03-13T02:02:05Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Not a film, but if I may I strongly recommend a book, Albert Camus’ [The Plague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague) (La Peste). I’ve read this novel when I was still a young man and I was shaken by it like never before by a book. This is not so much about the technical and medicinal aspects, but about how to behave reasonable and most of all humanely in a crisis. Should be assigned reading for everyone responsible for public health (including the politicians) in our current pandemic. But that’s of course wishful thinking. It was made into a (very bad and strongly not recommended, imo) film: > **[The Plague (1992) ⭐ 5.6 | Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105127/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4)** > > 2h 28m | R ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/27 "2020-03-13T02:11:41Z")
[_The Girl With All The Gifts_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4547056/) (2016) is the best plague zombie movie since _28 Days Later_ IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/28 "2020-03-13T02:31:03Z")
_World War Z_ counts, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/29 "2020-03-13T02:35:24Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Never heard of this movie, but now I must find it! Only Richard Widmark’s second movie, after **Kiss of Death,** plus Jack Palance as the heavy. Mostel is one of his stooges. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/30 "2020-03-13T02:38:06Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > It was made into a (very bad and strongly not recommended, imo) film: > > [The Plague (1992) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105127/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4) Yeah, I looked up movie adaptions of the The Plague before posting and skimmed the imdb entry. But after reading a few reviews, it was obvious to not recommend that film. The novel really is a masterpiece and could have been material for Ingmar Bergman, Orson Welles or Elia Kazan, someone of that caliber, but not for an international small budget co-production from 1992 by a no-name director. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/31 "2020-03-13T02:52:58Z")
Children of Men ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/32 "2020-03-13T03:55:08Z")
No Blade of Grass Virus (Fukkatsu no hi) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/33 "2020-03-13T04:13:06Z")
How about an entire TV series. [Survivors (1975)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(1975_TV_series)) Or the [2008 remake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(2008_TV_series)). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/34 "2020-03-13T05:01:05Z")
I’m not sure that it’s as huge a part of the movie as in the comic but [Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087544/). ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/35 "2020-03-13T05:24:43Z")
Do the lepers in any version of BEN-HUR count? Too bad no film was made of RATS, LICE, AND HISTORY. Weren’t there plagues in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS? The Ranker site lists [Best Movies of Disease Outbreaks](https://www.ranker.com/list/best-movies-with-disease-outbreaks/ranker-film) Whew! I nearly missed AND THE BAND PLAYED ON. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/36 "2020-03-13T08:37:37Z")
[Nosferatu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu)has plague being carried by rats on Count Orlok’s ship when he goes wife-huntin’. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/37 "2020-03-13T09:08:19Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > \*Contagion \*is by far the most applicable to the current situation. It’s downright prescient in a lot of ways. It’s also a very serious movie unlike a lot of the other popular candidates mentioned. This is exactly what I was going to say. Excellent, very entertaining and star-studded film, but also meticulous in its scientific verisimilitude. All the others are about as close to reality as _Lord of the Rings_. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354/38 "2020-03-13T11:42:32Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Not a film, but if I may I strongly recommend a book, Albert Camus’ [The Plague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague) (La Peste). I’ve read this novel when I was still a young man and I was shaken by it like never before by a book. This is not so much about the technical and medicinal aspects, but about how to behave reasonable and most of all humanely in a crisis. Should be assigned reading for everyone responsible for public health (including the politicians) in our current pandemic. But that’s of course wishful thinking. Defoe’s [A Journal of the Plague Year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journal_of_the_Plague_Year) straddles the line between fiction and non-fiction; narratively it’s not as good as the Camus but it’s still pretty interesting (with the usual caveat about 18th-century literary styles). And apparently there’s an award-winniing [short film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periwig_Maker)based on it, but I haven’t seen it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plague-or-pandemic-themed-movies/849354.md?page=1)