Pandemonium!! A Brief Journey Into Pandemic Horror Cinema
A slight cough, a sneeze, a rising fever. You can feel a migraine coming on and your vision starts to blur. You heard from a friend that shortness of breath is a symptom on web-md, so something is definitely wrong. Do you have the latest strain of mystery flu? Or are you about to become a flesh-eating zombie, one of millions affected by a global viral pandemic? The latter of the two is most likely not the case, but the recent pandemonium catalysed by the corona virus has people flocking to the supermarket, swiping every last roll of toilet paper off of the shelves: there is a nary a package of dried fusilli to be seen. The empty aisles are reminiscent of every pandemic horror film we have ever indulged in, but how afraid might we actually be that a symptom of the virus spreading outside of our doors is a craving for human flesh?
Screen capture from George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968)
According to The Guardian, in recent weeks Contagion has become one of the most watched films on your friendly neighborhood streaming service, a reminder that the public will always love to scare the living daylights out of themselves. Even in times of real terror, and this is concretely such a time, we still crave a bit of a dramatization of the current state of affairs. Maybe it quells our fears, makes us feel a bit safer while we snack on Doritos and frozen pizza during our two week self-quarantine or mandatory work-from-home order (I can relate to this, although I admit I am more of a hot-Cheetos over Doritos kind of girl).
There is something both magical and maniacal about this genre of film, transporting us to dystopian but not so distant worlds where we are safe, but the protagonists are not, and the enemy is tangible to us. It’s when everything hits the fan that the fantasy may become reality, and we realise that hopping ourselves up on cold and flu tablets may not stop our irrational fear that the virus will push us into the realms of the undead.
Viral pandemic movies have always seemed to move with the times, providing commentary on social attitudes toward the government, health and humanity. Although there are more than I could be bothered to count, the most iconic are still our go-to thrillers. Movies like Outbreak, Carriers, Contagion and 28 Days Later all have one main commonality: a virus is running rampant and the cure cannot be found. But each film addresses something a little different about our vulnerability to illness, grotesque bodily changes and the extent to which we are affected mentally by becoming sick. They also say a lot about our family bonds and loyalty to those we love.
Who would we throw into the trenches when push comes to shove, when we must make sacrifices for the greater good? More importantly, when is it time to let your infected girlfriend be taken by whatever it is that’s out there? Even more importantly, who is going on a grocery run and will they bring back a box of twinkies?
In the postapocalyptic film Carriers, Brian Green faces just such a dilemma when his girlfriend Bobby is infected with a deadly virus, one without a cure. Traveling cross country to escape the plague, with Bobby’s brother Danny and his schoolmate Kate in tow, they have somehow managed to avoid infection. All of this is changed when Bobby’s big heart gets the better of her and they pick up a father and his infected daughter, who coaxes them into driving the pair to a place where, rumor has it, there is a cure.
When the little girl has a seizure, Bobby attempts to resuscitate her, getting a sticky mouthful of the girl’s blood in the process. When Brian discovers his girlfriend is now infected, he ruthlessly abandons her. This juxtaposition of Bobby’s kindness in times of crisis and Brian’s drive to survive touches all of us, as it makes us question our own inherent need for survival. It’s easy to say we would never leave the love of our lives to die alone in the desert, but in that critical moment, mightn’t we? Fortunately, the baddie gets his just desserts when he too is infected despite gloating that he is immune the entire journey. Even a pandemic ridden world isn’t free of karma.
Brian and Bobby running from the plague in Carriers (2009)
Both Outbreak and Contagion play on the government induced paranoia of the public, something many of us who have lived through previous viral pandemics (the SARS global outbreak of 2003 and the Ebola outbreak in 2014) are not a stranger to. It’s enough to live in fear of contracting a deadly virus, and when you tack on the little conspiracy theorist that lives in all of us our terror can be heightened ten-fold. Of the two-anxiety inducing cinematic experiences, Contagion is easily the most alarming.
Outbreak has all of the wonderful cheese of 1990’s cinema and although frightening, it doesn’t pack the same realistic punch that Contagion does, as Contagion delves deeper into governmental secrecy and the horror of being a non-privileged person. Released between the SARS and Ebola pandemics, Contagion hit the nail on the head when referring back to the SARS quarantine, and in likeness, it also nailed down the yet to come Ebola and COVID-19 outbreak. In the film, the virus spread globally like wildfire. The employment of mass graves, the self-testing of vaccines and the truth of how gross we really are makes for a proper stew of terror and paranoia (I mean, how often do most of us REALLY wash our hands on a normal day? I know I felt pretty gross after being told how long my hand washing songs are actually supposed to be).
So, who gets the vaccine first? Who is safe and who isn’t? In the film, Laurence Fishburne, who plays a Dr. Ellis Cheever of the CDC, warns his partner of the impending shutdown, a secret not to be revealed to anyone else, and you question whether in a real world situation you would be special enough to get the heads up. Yet the 2020 COVID-19 quarantined seem to be watching this film with reckless abandon. I know that I did, and I’ll tell you what, I washed my hands about seven times during the credits. You can never be too safe.
The virus in Carriers, Contagion and Outbreak were definitely not making the infected return from the dead or crave the sweet sweet taste of human flesh. They died a horrible, but relatively normal death. No reanimation, no groaning and dragging a limp leg behind them as they peep through a cabin window. Like its genre predecessors (insert any George Romero classic here), 28 Days Later takes the virus to the next level. The infected are zombies, but not quite. Instead of death followed by reanimation, the virus rapidly spreads through the system immediately transforming your everyday Tom, Dick and Harry into a violent, enraged monster devoid of emotional connection.
The post-apocalyptic world into which Jim, played by Cillian Murphy, awakens is confusing, desolate and barren of any information to enlighten him on why he is being chased by these high-speed civilians with the rage virus. To me, there is something far more sinister about 28 Days Later than there is about your classic zombie film: the infection spreads quickly, the infected even faster. Without the pause of death and reanimation, the virus becomes more realistic to the audience. If you can catch a cold, why couldn’t you catch the rage virus? Again, we are revisited by the fight for survival, and Jim’s band of misfits on the run build and break the kinds of bonds we ourselves would likely build and break in our own post-apocalyptic world.
Watching the group thin out and fall apart, we question our morals, our humanity and the strength of our stomachs. Could we orphan a child for the survival of the rest of the group? Would we die for the ones we love? Who is truly the enemy, the ill and enraged or the oppressors that remain uninfected? And honestly, can we predict how quickly dangerous apocalyptic cult-like behavior would kick in? I have never really been able to sort that one out myself but apparently it takes about 28 days.
Jim wakes up to a desolate London in 28 Days Later (2002)
Classic zombie films stir similar fears of deadly pandemics, but the chances of such an outbreak ever occurring are zero to zero (famous last words). This makes this genre a bit easier to digest, unlike a big pot of brains, when we are living in quarantine. Detachment from victims of a zombie bite comes easily, as they tend to die for a bit before they reanimate. This gives us some time to accept their fate and distance them from the living breathing human they once were. Without normal cognitive abilities or sincere emotional responses, writing the undead off as monsters relieves you of emotional attachment to the soon-to-be-beheaded no matter how much we loved their character before they were bitten. But in a world where a virus this bananas could exist, could you, would you, run through the street of your city wielding a baseball bat, smooshing in the skulls of your former-but-now zombified classmates? If yes is the answer, I’m pretty sure I am joining your crew, and I promise to do all of the grocery runs.
Although films like Zombieland, Cabin Fever and Shaun of the Dead make us laugh, the underlying idea that we are all vulnerable to biological change, whether plausible or not, is unnerving, and you can’t help but wonder in between giggles if a world like this is what’s to come. So, as you munch through two weeks of panic snacks in one day, despite these lighthearted ruminations, please take the current viral pandemic seriously, just in case. Wash your hands, be kind to others, keep on top of your mental health, cough into your sleeve, stay inside, be good to yourself and be grateful you are probably well. After all, you could be craving brains instead of burgers.
Here is a list of pandemic films (and a series!) to binge while you quarantine for the foreseeable future:
Cargo (2017) – An absolute must see, and one of my recent favorites. Stranded in rural Australia in the aftermath of a violent pandemic, an infected father desperately searches for a new home for his infant child and a means to protect her from his own changing nature.
Children of Men (2006) – I have loved this one for a long time, and I am positive it will always be in my top five viral pandemic movies. In 2027, 18 years of human infertility have left society on the verge of extinction. When one woman miraculously gets pregnant, Theo, a bureaucrat, must transport her to safety.
Pandemic (2016) – This one is quite fun. After a devastating virus outbreak, the world is plunged into a state of chaos. Zombies roam the streets, while survivors fight to stay alive. With the human race under threat, an armed rescue team target the undead.
Kingdom (2019) – I cannot get enough of Kingdom. I spent a whole year twiddling my thumbs waiting for season two, which is out now on Netflix! A South Korean horror series about a deceased king who rises from the dead and a mysterious plague begins to spread; the prince must face a new breed of enemies to unveil the evil scheme and save his people.
World War Z (2013) - Gerry, a former United Nations employee, unexpectedly finds himself in a race against time as he investigates a threatening virus that turns humans into zombies.
Maggie (2015) – I quite liked Maggie, despite its mixed reviews. Honestly, Arnold Schwazenneger was pretty good! In the film, he takes extreme steps to protect Maggie, his daughter, who is slowly turning into a cannibal after a zombie attack. He spends time with her, reminiscing about her childhood, dreading the future.
Train to Busan (2016) – So. Much. Fun! Seok-woo and his daughter are on a train to Busan on the latter's birthday to see his wife. However, the journey turns into a nightmare when they are trapped amidst a zombie outbreak in South Korea.
The Omega Man (1971) – Possibly the most iconic of all viral pandemic films, you really can’t miss The Omega Man. Dr. Neville has to develop an antidote to a virus that has destroyed humankind in a biological war and left infected humans as zombie-like creatures while trying to survive attacks by the creatures.
The Andromeda Strain (1971) - A satellite crashes near a tiny Arizona town. After everyone in the community dies within days, a few scientists are called upon to study and defeat the alien virus that accompanied the satellite.
Flu (2013) - Chaos ensues after a lethal, airborne virus infects the population of a South Korean city less than 20 kilometres from Seoul.
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