From Contagion to Rise of the Planet of the Apes: List of cinematic viruses and diseases Hollywood bestowed upon us
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting our everyday lives, let's check out diseases Hollywood cooked up for us earlier without knowing that they'll get a real-life example in 2020
The film in everyone's quarantine list, Contagion is about an airborne virus that kills its victim within days. The virus is a mix of various genetic materials including that of bats. Sounds Familiar?
Outbreak is not just another film on a fictional virus (called Motaba). It speculates how far military and civilian agencies might go to contain the spread of a contagious disease. Lesson = stay home
Despite getting mixed reviews, 2008's Doomsday, which is about the repercussions of a virus named Reaper, is an interesting take on how an outbreak can affect a country socio-political status
Cabin Fever is the story about students who rent a cabin in the woods and end up becoming victims of a flesh-eating virus. Staying at the comfort of your own house isn't that bad, is it?
Carriers is a film on what would happen if we didn't go into lockdown. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, made so because of an infectious virus, the film is about four survivors trying to... survive
One of the best film adaptations of a dystopian sci-fi novel, the three-part Maze Runner franchise revolves around the Flare virus that turns people into blood-thirsty cannibals called Cranks
Who can forget Mission: Impossible 2's Chimera, a virus for which Ethan Hunt ran faster than usual to save everyone. Fortunately, there was a cure called Bellerophon, to save people and the franchise
Stephen Hawkings said contacting aliens won't end on a good note for us. The Andromeda Strain, a film about how an extraterrestrial organism spreads disease to humans makes us feel that he's right
Rise of the Planet of the Apes' viral-based drug ALZ-113 that makes chimps lead an ape uprising is proof that there's a limit to how far one should go to save their father from Alzheimer
The 2006 film The Plague is about a plague that puts children in a coma. Not intriguing enough? The film's plot is so, for the lack of a better word, twisted, that you should see it to understand it
Zombieland is one of best comedy zombie flicks from Hollywood. Unlike the classic Shawn of the Dead, this film mentions a disease as the reason for the zombies. The name of it? Mad Zombie Disease
I am Legend is also a post-apocalyptic film - this time on a virus named Krippen. But some edge of the seat scenes makes it a good watch. Check out the Director's cut ending - a personal favourite
Based on a video game, Resident Evil's T Virus turns people into zombies. Though our saviour Alice takes care of it, the franchise is 6 films long, making Milla a household name in due process
In between the Resident Evil franchise, Milla Jovovich played Violet, a woman infected with hemoglophagia, a vampire-like disease in 2006's flick Ultraviolet -- a film that's best left unspoken about
The idea behind Inferno Virus in Inferno, based on Dan Brown's novel of the same name, is to kill 50% of the population to make the earth a better place for the rest. Thanos would've been happy
1997's Batman & Robin is a fiasco, but it had a brilliant cast list. One of my favourites is Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr Freeze who works on a cure for MacGregor's Syndrome to save his affected wife
The killing of Stannis Baratheon's daughter Shireen due to Greyscale in The Game of Thrones is a gruesome one. Thankfully, Jorah Mormont is saved by Samwell Tarly who finds a cure right in time
28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later is about a virus that turns people into Zombies. The film's iconic shots of deserted famous London roads is more of an unintentional homage to current times