Any good viral/outbreak films and fiction.

I'm a big fan of the genre and wondered if people knew of any good but lesser known films or books. Preferably not around zombies though, unless it's very cleverly done.

Two books I enjoyed recently were Terri Tylers Tipping Point and Patient Zero, and an audible Drama called Resistance by Val McDermid.

a reply to: fastzombie

Shivers - an old movie about a mysterious "outbreak"/contagion in a building. It's by david cronenberg.

a reply to: fastzombie

The andromeda strain was a great movie.
The 1971 version not the new one.

I want to say it was a book first but I dont remember.

The stand is pretty good but not lesser known.

I started reading a series a few years ago about all electricity being shut off and also gunpowder didnt work. Not a virus but similar results.
S.M. Stirling
Dies the fire.

a reply to: fastzombie

If you don't mind subs then check out Kingdom, although it is zombies, it has an historical setting, and the quality of S.Korean shows is exceptional

a reply to: fastzombie

Contagion. I watched it with my mom and her best friend. Her best friend is a doctor of infectious diseases and said the movie was pretty sound on it's premise.

The film Contaigon from 2011 was pretty solid, realistic and worth watching.

Although you said probably no about zombie Last Train To Busan is a pretty solid Korean film about well zombies.

a reply to: fastzombie


Right at Your Door

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: fastzombie

Stephen King's The Stand is a really good one. It was also made into a really good TV miniseries in 1994.

The recent National Geographic miniseries based upon the non-fiction account in Richard Preston's "Hot Zone" was pretty good considering it was done by Hollywood. The book is more detailed and the mini-series combined a few of the book characters into one, and changed a few things to enhance the female lead role (a.k.a. PC crap). But, overall it was done well. Especially in light of the latest Ebola outbreak in west Africa that began in Jan 2019 and still rages on today.

It is available at NatGeo On-Demand now.

a reply to: fastzombie


Back in the 1970's BBC TV had a 38 episode series " Survivors " Here is a synopsis.

Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction drama television series created by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC, that broadcast from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an apocalyptic plague pandemic, which was accidentally released by a Chinese scientist and quickly spread across the world via air travel. Referred to as "The Death", the plague kills approximately 4,999 out of every 5,000 human beings on the planet within a matter of weeks of being released

en.wikipedia.org...(1975_TV_series)


I believe that all episodes are available on You Tube.

Here is episode 1

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: fastzombie

The andromeda strain was a great movie.
The 1971 version not the new one.

That would be my choice. I especially liked how they detailed the procedure for isolating the virus and finding the cure. It seemed very realistic.

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

archive.org...

12 Monkeys, which has elements of time travel too (The film not the series i'm talking about)

Or The Andromeda Strain as previously mentioned (and the original not remake as also previously stated)

I think I've seen almost Al of them apart fron the Nat geo series il take a look at that one. Survivors is one of my all time favourites.
a couple of others I liked were Smallpox 2002, carriers and a drama documentary about the plague of London. CNnot find a full copy of the smallpox one on you tube though.

originally posted by: fastzombie
I think I've seen almost Al of them apart fron the Nat geo series il take a look at that one. Survivors is one of my all time favourites.
a couple of others I liked were Smallpox 2002, carriers and a drama documentary about the plague of London. CNnot find a full copy of the smallpox one on you tube though.

Keep in mind the NatGeo "Hot Zone" is based upon a REAL story. There really WAS a strain of Ebole Zaire in the U.S. minutes from the United States Capital. If not for the single mutation of eVP24 in it's protein sequence, it might have been a different ending for us all.

I actually read the book the series is based on. Yes it was a scary situation. Not least because it seems to indicate that the virus can alter in a way to make it airborne.

I mean could it go airborne?

a reply to: fastzombie
I am currently reading The Nothing Within by Andy Giesler . It's a dystopian, post-apocalyptic story and I find it totally compelling. It's been a long time since I read A Canticle for Leibowitz, but that's come to mind more than once as the story unfolds. I'm not done yet...but I recommend the book!

.Rec is a good movie.
The spanish version is the best not the crappy American remake.

a reply to: fastzombie


World War Z

originally posted by: opethPA
Although you said probably no about zombie Last Train To Busan is a pretty solid Korean film about well zombies.

Thanks for a great recommendation. Solid movie: great characterization, acting, WWZ-type zombies. Best I've seen in a while.