With the Coronavirus affecting thousands of people across the world, there’s a great deal of panic as various public places have closed and governments urge people to stay home. Thus, we’re left wondering how things are ultimately going to turn out, and we look to fiction for a sense of comfort.

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Though in this case, many people have been watching movies about fictional pandemics with Contagion and Outbreak being the most popular among them. While most of these have dark endings without much hope, there are a few that offer a reassuring sense that we will survive our current predicament.

The Seventh Seal

Every now and then, a film comes along that’s so iconic that people may recognize the imagery though not necessarily the plot. One such example is The Seventh Seal, which was made by renowned Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.

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Set in the Middle Ages during the Plague years, it stars a young Max von Sydow as a knight who plays a game of chess with Death over his own life. Yet the stakes heighten as Death threatens to take the lives of an innocent family, forcing the knight to choose which is more important. Though the ending is dark in tone, there is a positive silver lining.

Carriers

Before Chris Pine became a recognized actor following his performance as Captain Kirk in the 2009 Star Trek movie, he had starred in another movie filmed three years earlier called Carriers. Released the same year as Star Trek (2009), the movie follows four survivors of a viral pandemic who make their way to an isolated hotel in the hopes of waiting things out there.

On the way, they encounter many obstacles and try to follow a strict set of rules set up by Pine’s character Brian to avoid getting infected. While the rules end up creating tensions in the group and costing a few lives, they ultimately do work.

28 Days Later

While it’s unclear when pandemics became associated with zombies, or zombie-like creatures in general, the concept was arguably popularized by films like 28 Days Later. Taking place in Britain, it follows a man who wakes up from a coma only to find the country afflicted by a deadly virus.

From there, it’s a tale of survival as this man goes from one situation to the next with his life constantly hanging by a thread. He even meets people who either aid him or not depending on their reactions to the virus itself. Fortunately, there is hope given towards the end despite all the tragedies that happen.

Pontypool

A radio DJ wears headphones and sits in front of a mic

In the plethora of mediocre zombie movies, there is an occasional hidden gem with Pontypool being a perfect example of one. Named after a small town in Ontario, Canada, the movie takes place in a radio station where a local DJ and his colleagues end up dealing with a sudden viral outbreak.

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But unlike other fictional viruses that turn people into zombies, this one is not biological and is spread through language. Specifically English, as certain words trigger zombie-related symptoms. Now even though the virus isn’t stopped, our protagonists accidentally find a way to cope with it, which is revealed towards the end of the film.

Blindness

Prior to the Apple TV+ show See where sight is lost to a majority of the human population, there was a film that came out in 2008 with a similar concept called Blindness. But unlike SeeBlindness explains that the loss of sight is caused by a virus instead of being left unexplained.

Also, Blindness takes place in a modern setting as opposed to the distant future. So we see how society would be affected if many people suddenly went blind and how they would deal with it. Starring a pre-MCU Mark Ruffalo, the movie presents a bleak tone overall, but a miracle occurs at the end.

Contagion

Inspired by the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s, the 2011 Contagion movie has drawn a lot of attention recently for its depiction of a fictional virus. Particularly the parallels between the fictional virus’ symptoms to the current Coronavirus, and how people respond to it.

From depicting riots at pharmaceuticals to the spread of misinformation, Contagion’s scenario is soberingly realistic and intriguingly relevant to what’s happening today. With that said, it does take some creative liberties, such as having a particularly high death rate when a vaccine is found. But Contagion serves to remind us of what not to do during this crisis.

The Andromeda Strain

Arguably a precursor to many of the current pandemic films, The Andromeda Strain movie from 1971 follows a group of scientists tasked by the US government to investigate a mysterious virus. However, its source is an alien organism that came from space and thus is dubbed ‘Andromeda.’

So the scientists make a lot of discoveries as they uncover the secrets of the organism, while also being surprised by its unexpected mutations. On top of that, the government isn’t entirely honest about their intentions. Nevertheless, the scientists do manage to stop ‘Andromeda’ from afflicting millions of people despite the film ending on an uncertain note.

World War Z

Though World War Z derives greatly from its source material, it was still considered entertaining in the zombie film genre. Starring Brad Pitt, the movie follows a man and his family surviving a viral zombie outbreak that affects the entire world while also finding a cure for it.

However, the solution is unexpected as it goes against what most people would think in terms of dealing with a zombie-related virus. Plus, the World Health Organization (WHO) play a major role in the movie’s story as a vaccine is developed that gives the survivors a fighting chance against the zombies.

I Am Legend

A pale vampire stares at Robert Neville in I Am Legend

Compared to prior versions, the 2007 film adaptation of I Am Legend is more optimistic in its portrayal of one man surviving in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by vampire-like creatures. This is despite the fact that the main character lost his family during the viral outbreak that created the vampire-like creatures in the first place and is alone for most of the film.

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But he does run into other survivors and discovers a cure using his own blood. While the ending is a point of contention, it shows humans overcoming their dire situation through the power of survival and science.

Outbreak

Outbreak

Like Contagion (2011), Outbreak has resurfaced and become ironically popular during the present Coronavirus situation. Yet Outbreak’s fictional pandemic has worse symptoms than the one in Contagion, being similar to the Ebola virus instead of SARS.

There’s also the additional element of intervention by the US military, who want to use this virus as a bioweapon, which is a relevant issue even to this day. So the scientists at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) become the heroes as they not only find a cure for the virus but also keep it out of the military’s hands.

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