Top 30 Pandemic, Epidemic & Virus Outbreak Movies

Set in medieval Sweden, 'The Seventh Seal' follows knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) and his loyal squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) as they return home after the brutality of the Crusades.

Their anticipated reunion with home is overshadowed by a devastating plague sweeping through the land, leaving death and despair in its wake. Antonius faces not only external turmoil but also his own spiritual crisis, most notably symbolized by a chilling encounter with Death (Bengt Ekerot) personified.

Desperate for meaning and a chance to outsmart fate, Antonius challenges Death to a high-stakes game of chess. The outcome will determine not only his fate but possibly the survival of others close to him.

Haunted by doubts about faith and the existence of God, Antonius searches for answers as he questions why such suffering befalls the innocent during the plague.

Driven by the belief that he has a vital task to accomplish before meeting his end, Antonius journeys onward with his squire. Along their path, they encounter a traveling actors' troupe staging vibrant performances despite the prevailing gloom.

Moved by compassion, Antonius offers the troupe sanctuary in his castle, ensuring their safety. The camaraderie and time spent with the actors provide Antonius insight into his own fears and hopes.

He especially learns from the family at the heart of the troupe: Jof (Nils Poppe), Mia (Bibi Andersson), and their young son Mikael, gaining moments of solace amidst the darkness.

James Cole (Bruce Willis), a patient in a mental institution, claims to be a time traveler from the year 2035. His story is dismissed as fantasy, especially since he’s confined to an asylum in the 1990s.

Despite widespread disbelief, Cole is determined to prevent the outbreak of a deadly, unstoppable virus poised to decimate humanity. His only ally is Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), the psychiatrist willing to consider his implausible warnings true.

Inside the institution, Cole encounters Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), a wildly unpredictable fellow inmate. Their meeting sparks a chain of unsettling events that push the boundaries of reality and reason.

As Cole digs deeper, evidence points to a shadowy group called the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, an extremist organization whose heartless plans threaten to unleash a catastrophic pandemic.

Prince Prospero, portrayed by Vincent Price, is a ruthless nobleman who witnesses the devastation caused by the deadly Red Death plague in the village of Catania.

Determined to protect himself, Prospero orders the village to be burned and targets villagers like Gino (David Weston) and his father-in-law Ludovico (Nigel Green), threatening their lives.

When Gino’s wife, the beautiful Francesca (Jane Asher), begs for their mercy, Prospero brings all three to his castle, secretly intending to exploit Francesca for his own desires.

An open worshipper of Satan, Prospero pretends to offer the family sanctuary from the plague, but his motives are anything but noble.

He organizes a lavish masked ball within the castle, where he encounters a mysterious red-hooded stranger, believing him to be Satan himself.

Yet, the stranger’s true identity harbors a chilling twist that spells doom for the arrogant prince.

Deep within a secluded forest, Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), and their son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) have sealed themselves in their home, self-quarantining to escape a deadly and mysterious illness sweeping the land.

Contact with the outside world is kept to a strict minimum. However, when a desperate family arrives seeking refuge, Paul is faced with a difficult decision and chooses to let them in.

The fragile peace inside the house quickly unravels as tension and suspicion mount. The hope for shared survival gives way to fear and mistrust, where the threat from within becomes just as terrifying as the virus outside.

In this charged atmosphere, paranoia can become more dangerous than any disease, putting everyone’s life at risk.

Regarded as a benchmark in the pandemic genre, "Contagion" follows the sudden death of Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her young son Clark (Griffin Kane), both victims of a mysterious illness.

Beth’s husband, Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon), finds himself under quarantine amid his grief, facing the terrifying reality of a rapidly spreading pathogen infecting thousands worldwide.

As the epidemic escalates, both the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization struggle desperately to trace the virus's origin, unable to find a cure or stop its relentless spread.

Fighting to contain the outbreak, authorities launch a worldwide search for "Patient Zero," even as they contend with riots, opportunistic prophets, spiraling deaths, and a collapsing global economy.

The highly contagious virus shows no mercy, transmitted through touch and the very air, leaving humanity desperate for hope as no cure exists.

When Kitty (Naomi Watts) meets the reserved yet brilliant Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton), she has no inkling that his expertise in infectious diseases will soon be called upon in unimaginable ways.

Their relationship, rooted more in convenience than passion, leads them to China for Walter’s professional work. It’s here that Walter discovers Kitty's affair with the charming diplomat Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber).

Despite their crumbling trust and a marriage devoid of true affection, Walter faces the urgent challenge of combating a deadly cholera outbreak. Their personal struggles unfold amidst a backdrop of peril as disease ravages the lives of the region’s innocent inhabitants.

The Painted Veil explores not just the toll of an epidemic, but also the resilience of two people searching for meaning, hope, and connection in the midst of chaos.

Set a decade after a devastating pandemic, "Light of My Life" follows a father and his child as they navigate the perilous remnants of civilization.

Amidst empty, decimated landscapes where entire populations have disappeared, the pair must rely on wit and resilience to survive unseen dangers.

The father faces profound challenges trying to protect his child in a bleak, almost post-apocalyptic world, where every step tests the boundaries of love, trust, and humanity.

Some days are worse than others, but for Derek Cho (played by Steven Yeun), this is the worst day of his life.

Fired without cause from his job, Derek soon discovers that his law firm's building has been placed under strict lockdown.

A deadly and mysterious virus is spreading rapidly, triggering chaos and uncontrollable violence among those infected.

The infected are overtaken by their wildest, most reckless urges. Forced to survive, Derek joins forces with Melanie Cross (Samara Weaving), a former client with her own unresolved grudges.

As the infection spreads, Melanie's thirst for payback is unleashed, and Derek finds himself battling through madness to reach the executives on the top floor.

Infected himself, Derek is determined to take revenge for his unjust firing as survival and vengeance collide.

The year is 1918, and the United States is deeply embroiled in World War I. Suspicion runs high, as German immigrants are often viewed as potential traitors or saboteurs during this turbulent period.

Amid rising patriotism and widespread propaganda, crucial liberty bonds are stolen, further fueling national tension.

Horace Robedaux (William Converse-Roberts) quietly lives in Texas but feels the mounting pressure to enlist. This decision means possibly leaving behind his wife, Elizabeth (Hallie Foote), and their young daughter, Jenny.

Elizabeth, left at home, must endure the presence of her overbearing younger brother (Matthew Broderick) and her stern father, who disapproved of her marriage to Horace. Despite his misgivings, her father steps up, promising to care for Elizabeth and Jenny, allowing Horace to serve his country.

Amid all this upheaval, a deadly influenza epidemic sweeps across the nation in relentless waves, threatening to upend plans and irrevocably alter the lives of everyone touched by it.

Set in the year 1348, England is in the grip of the devastating Bubonic Plague. Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), a young monk, urges his beloved Averill (Kimberley Nixon) to escape with him to an isolated village near Dentwich Forest, hoping it has remained untouched by the disease.

However, circumstances force Osmund to remain at the Staveley Monastery, while Averill heads out alone. Soon after, Bishop Ulric (Sean Bean) dispatches his envoy to recruit a devout companion for his journey to the same mysterious village.

Bishop Ulric suspects that a necromancer resides there, raising the dead and somehow protecting the villagers from the plague's reach. The group's journey is fraught with danger—bandits and the dense forest threaten their mission at every turn. During one violent encounter, Osmund makes a grim discovery: Averill's bloodstained clothing, a sign she tried to keep their plan.

Upon arrival, they find a seemingly thriving, healthy community of atheist villagers, led by Hob (Tim McInnerny) and the enigmatic alchemist Langiva (Carice van Houten). The newcomers receive an apparently warm welcome, but both sides are hiding their true intentions.

After a satellite returns to Earth, the small town of Piedmont, New Mexico, is suddenly found lifeless, its residents mysteriously dead. The incident leaves the head of the U.S. Air Force's Project Scoop no option but to declare a state of emergency in response to the baffling crisis.

Years earlier, Dr. Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill) and a distinguished team of scientists had advocated for the creation of a high-security laboratory, designed to contain any alien biological organisms that could arrive via space missions.

Now, Dr. Stone and his colleagues – Dr. Charles Dutton (David Wayne), Dr. Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid), and Dr. Mark Hall (James Olson) – rush to this state-of-the-art facility, known as 'Wildfire'.

The team must identify and contain an extraterrestrial microbe believed to be responsible for the deadly outbreak. However, they are confronted by the mystery of two survivors: an elderly drunk and a six-month-old baby, spared when the rest of Piedmont perished.

As the scientists examine the alien microorganism, they discover it has already mutated — escalating the danger and threatening everyone inside the lab.

If the deadly virus-creature were to escape, the Wildfire facility is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct mechanism, which may become their last resort.

After a military plane crashes near Evans City, a dangerous, weaponized bacteriological agent called 'Trixie' begins leaking into the environment, threatening the lives of the town’s residents.

Colonel Peckem (Lloyd Hollar) quickly leads the Army to cordon off the entire community in an urgent attempt to contain the spread of the virus.

This pathogen has no known cure, causing violent madness or death in those infected, heightening the desperate atmosphere.

Amid the chaos, pregnant nurse Judy (Lane Carroll), her husband David (Will MacMillan), their friend Clank (Harold Wayne Jones), acquaintance Artie (Richard Liberty), and Artie’s daughter Kathy (Lynn Lowry) make a dangerous bid to cross the quarantined border.

The Army responds aggressively, determined to prevent any escape, and relentlessly hunts them down.

Meanwhile, scientist Dr. Ralston Watts (Richard France) races against time, analyzing infected blood samples as he searches desperately for a cure.

Colonel Dr. Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman) is navigating a difficult divorce from ex-wife Robby Keough (Rene Russo), who holds a distinguished role at the CDC.

Sam’s life takes another turn when his superior, General Billy Ford (Morgan Freeman), assigns him to investigate a deadly outbreak in an African village. He is joined on this hazardous mission by scientist Casey Schuler (Kevin Spacey) and Major Dr. Salt (Cuba Gooding Jr.).

Fearing that the virus might make its way into the United States, Daniels urges Ford to implement strict safety measures. Despite these precautions, an African national successfully smuggles a monkey—an unsuspected carrier of the disease—across the U.S. border.

When customs worker Jimbo Scott (Patrick Dempsey) fails to sell the infected monkey on the black market, he releases it into the California woods.

Soon afterward, a dangerous virus outbreak occurs in a small California town, rapidly escalating. Sam, Robby, and their team must race against time to contain the crisis before it spirals out of control.

As the situation intensifies, Sam uncovers disturbing secrets from General Donald McClintock (Donald Sutherland) about the true origins and intent behind the virus.

Rabies, itself a deadly virus, is at the heart of this chilling film, which reimagines the concept of being 'sick' through the tragic transformation of a once-gentle St. Bernard into a rabid, monstrous threat.

Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace), a frustrated suburban housewife, is caught in an affair by her husband, Vic (Daniel Hugh Kelly), straining their already fragile marriage.

Simultaneously, young Brett Camber (Billy Jayne) finds companionship in his loyal dog, Cujo, who is Brett’s only true friend.

After Cujo is bitten by a rabid bat, the once-lovable dog descends into madness, unable to recognize or protect his own family.

While Vic leaves town for business and to contemplate his marriage, Donna and their five-year-old son are left on their own. They soon cross paths with Cujo, taking their car to Mr. Camber’s auto shop.

When Cujo’s rabid fury erupts, Donna and her son become trapped, engulfed in terror as survival seems increasingly impossible, and the phrase 'beware of dog' takes on a horrifying new meaning.

Adapted from Stephen King’s bestselling novel, the film delivers a tense and relentless exploration of fear fueled by an invisible viral menace.

Paul (Rider Strong), Jeff (Joey Kern), Marcy (Cerina Vincent), Bert (James DeBello), and Karen (Jordan Ladd)—a tight group of college friends—escape to a secluded cabin in the woods, hoping to enjoy a carefree week together and make lasting memories.

Their plans unravel when a mysterious stranger, ravaged by a gruesome disease, stumbles upon their cabin and desperately pleads for help. In a panic, the friends accidentally set him ablaze, and he tragically falls into the local water reservoir.

Unsure of the body's fate and fearful of water contamination, all but Karen switch to drinking beer as a precaution against infection. Defiant and skeptical, Karen drinks from the tap—and soon succumbs to a horrific, flesh-eating virus.

As Karen's illness worsens, the group spirals into terror. Meanwhile, nearby locals learn of the outbreak and are determined to ensure that no one from the cabin leaves alive.

When a corpse washes up on a New Orleans dock, police quickly determine it was a homicide. However, a sharp-eyed police surgeon notices unsettling symptoms on the body.

Lt. Commander Clinton Reed, a doctor with the U.S. Public Health Service (portrayed by Richard Widmark), suspects something far more terrifying: a deadly, highly contagious pneumonic plague.

Despite his urgent warnings, Clinton struggles to rally local authorities, who are slow to recognize the imminent danger. Even with some support from the mayor, skepticism remains among the police and other officials.

With the victim's identity uncertain, Clinton estimates there are only forty hours left to prevent a catastrophic outbreak. He works to contain public panic while trying desperately to trace all who may have come in contact with the diseased body.

While Police Captain Tom Warren (Paul Douglas) handles crucial paperwork, Clinton races against time to track down those responsible for the killing—and stop the deadly virus from tearing through the city.

During a late-night shift with a Los Angeles fire crew, a TV reporter and her cameraman believe they’re covering just another routine assignment.

But when a 911 call leads them to an apartment, they encounter police dealing with terrifying screams coming from one of the rooms. Inside, they find a woman exhibiting bizarre and violent behavior, and she soon attacks the other residents.

As panic spreads, the journalists desperately search for an escape, only to realize that the entire building has been sealed off and quarantined, with all contact to the outside world cut off.

Now, as fear and chaos rise, the reporter’s footage becomes the sole evidence of the mysterious and deadly virus spreading within the building.

In the film Blindness (2008), a mysterious epidemic suddenly causes widespread 'instant blindness,' plunging an entire city into chaos. Authorities swiftly quarantine those first affected, confining them to an abandoned mental hospital.

Inside, a fragile 'society of the blind' emerges, only to deteriorate under the weight of desperation and fear. The strong and ruthless take control, hoarding the meager food supplies and exploiting others to maintain power.

Amidst this collapse, unspeakable acts are committed as the fabric of morality unravels. One woman, whose vision remains mysteriously untouched, hides her secret to stay safe. She had entered the quarantine to remain with her infected husband.

Choosing courage over fear, she quietly helps strangers — some now like family — guiding them through the dystopian nightmare. With her aid, they escape the asylum, venturing into lifeless city streets where what’s left of civilization teeters on the edge of extinction.

Screenwriters Lars von Trier and Niels Vrsel, who play fictionalized versions of themselves, set out to create a script centered around a devastating plague outbreak.

Lars von Trier portrays Dr. Mesmer, a respected epidemiologist who decides to leave the Faculty of Medicine. He travels to the city outskirts, determined to help the local community.

Soon after, a mysterious illness begins to spread worldwide, blurring the line between fiction and reality. Amidst this chaos, the writers travel to Germany to meet their producer.

In Germany, they encounter a hypnotized, ailing woman, further complicating their unsettling journey.

A mysterious pandemic sweeps across the globe, causing people to succumb to their deepest fears—especially a crippling terror of open spaces.

The outdoors become deadly, forcing survivors to remain locked indoors for safety. Society quickly grinds to a halt as humanity retreats inside to avoid the danger lurking outside.

Set in Barcelona, this Spanish-language thriller plunges the city into silent chaos where life is confined to concrete walls.

The story follows Marc (Quim Gutiérrez), who is desperate to find his missing girlfriend, Julia (Marta Etura). However, to reach her, Marc must face his fears and risk venturing into the hazardous world outside.

Empty and silent streets define Paris now, because many have fled the capital. Among those who remain are seven families under lockdown. They are inside a building on Rue de l'Humanité.

They include a self-made man desperate to be as smart as his 8-year-old son, a café owner who repurposes pear alcohol as hydroalcoholic gel, a geeky online sports coach who gets chubbier by the week, and his pregnant singer fiancée who is anxious about going to the hospital on her own.

Three months of lockdown cover the families' dramas, joys, and fears. Just because they're all stuck together does not mean they will reconcile, but there is hope that they will.

A deadly disease infects all passengers aboard a European train. The motley group is forced into quarantine and denied any chance of leaving the train so the disease won't spread and claim more lives.

The Cassandra Crossing already has a legend acting in it, namely Sofia Loren. Add international smuggling and government intrigue to the mix, and this ahead-of-its-time virus-themed movie has a lot going on that is deserving of appreciation.

Brian (played by Chris Pine) and his girlfriend Bobby (played by Piper Perabo) are experiencing what amounts to a devastating viral outbreak that is also, apparently, affecting the whole world.

Hoping to find some measure of safety, they make for their childhood beach-vacation spot.

But when their vehicle breaks down mid-way, they find themselves with a man named Frank (played by Christopher Meloni). He seems to be stranded out there as well.

Frank tells them how anxious and eager he is to get his daughter Jodie (played by Kiernan Shipka) to the nearest hospital. She seems to be infected with an unknown disease.

The unwitting group decides to travel together. Soon, moral dilemmas arise and threaten their already fragile alliance.

Ordinary middle-aged man Jae-hyeok (played by Myung-Min Kim) is employed as a medical supplies salesman. His job sees him hassled by doctors on a routine basis.

His brother Jae-Pil (played by Dong-wan Kim) works as a detective who's self-centered and mostly interested in the stock market.

Before long, a series of gruesome skeletal corpses are found all over the country, sparking public hysteria. CCTV footage of people jumping into water bodies as though forced to commit suicide does not sit well with the police commissioner.

Soon, hundreds of similar reports come in, prompting the police to up their investigation even though none of them are aware of the actual cause of the madness.

The government is left with little choice but to declare a national emergency, one that sees Jae-pil meeting the mayor of a small town to learn more about the time he witnessed several men wearing work uniforms and dumping infected dog corpses into streams.

The detective realizes that a serious conspiracy is at work, not to forget a potential viral outbreak. The disease spreads far and infects Jae-hyeok's wife and kids, who start to show the same self-killing symptoms as the other victims.

Jae-hyeok grows desperate for medicine to help them while Jae-pil learns that a possible cure resides in a warehouse.

Lee Barrett (played by George Maharis) used to be a security officer at a top-secret government laboratory known simply as 'Station 3'.

Insubordination led to his immediate dismissal, but he is later called back to duty by the high-ranking General Williams (played by Dana Andrews).

The reason: dangerous bio-warfare agents have been stolen from the lab complex, one of which is the dreaded Satan Bug.

The latter is a powerful virulent bacteriological weapon that, if unleashed, has the potential to annihilate all humankind in months, if not weeks.

The thief makes contact and threatens to release the virus strain in a public place.

The dire responsibility of stopping this maniac falls to Lee, who is at his wit's end as to how he's going to stop something this fatalistic without the world also coming to know about it.

Bundang is a suburb in Seoul, and it is host to their worst-recorded epidemic.

A man called Byung-woo (played by Lee Sang-Yeob) perishes from an unknown viral infection a short while after he started helping illegal immigrants cross the border.

Before long, several residents display fatal infections that apparently sourced from the same mysterious airborne virus.

A city of half a million people is later sealed off when the government orders a total lockdown. 

Infectious disease specialist Kim In-hae (played by Soo Ae) and rescue worker Kang Ji-Koo (played by Jang Hyuk) enter the city hoping to extract a special blood sample.

With a sample from patient-zero, they are partially confident they can come close to developing a vaccine to fight the fast-spreading disease.

High school science teacher Elliot Moore (played by Mark Wahlberg) engages his students in an active discussion about the mysterious and rather abrupt disappearance of bees.

He bases his talk on a recent NYT article. With Nature doing something unexplained, and with only theories about what might be happening to cause it, Elliot and his students are at their wits' end.

Before long, an urgent dilemma unravels all over the world. Scientists are left with little to no solid evidence, let alone an explanation, as to what flora (plant life) may have to do with this bizarre and silent event.

It begins in New York's Central Park where people suddenly start to behave in strange and frightful ways. Like several others, Elliot attempts to hide.

He is accompanied by his wife Alma (played by Zooey Deschanel) and Jess (played by Ashlyn Sanchez), the young daughter of a friend.

An invisible pathogen that exclusively targets humans is spreading far and fast and it looks like nobody has the time to find an answer that can help them survive.

Sheila Bennet (played by Evelyn Keyes) makes her way from Cuba to New York with around $40,000 worth of diamonds, a result of illegal smuggling operations.

In her body, though, she carries the vestiges of a devastating smallpox virus that has the potential to trigger an unstoppable epidemic.

Treasury agent Johnson (played by Barry Kelley) is on her tail, only he keeps losing her. He's also ignorant of the real danger Sheila poses.

Meanwhile, Public Health Doctor Ben Wood (played by William Bishop) is eager to find the unidentified person who is the apparent source of a deadly disease that's begun to spread. He has no clue that it is Sheila he is looking for.

Sheila, on the other hand, is growing increasingly ill and has her own problems to resolve, like how her husband Matt Krane (played by Charles Korvin) aims to abscond with the diamonds and leave her behind.

Dr. David Krupien (played by Val Kilmer) has courted his fair share of infamy. He is currently leading a research team in the Arctic assisted by Jane (played by Anne Marie DeLuise) and Edward (played by John Callander).

They are studying the impact of global warming on polar bears when David's daughter Evelyn (played by Martha MacIsaac), along with his students Federico Fulce (played by Kyle Schmid), Ling Chen (played by Steph Song), and Atom Galen (played by Aaron Ashmore), are about to come over to help with the research team's efforts.

Before long, David realizes that a dangerous prehistoric parasite from inside a mammoth's corpse has thawed. 

It spreads fast, and alarmingly so, prompting him to contact helicopter pilot Bart (played by Viv Leacock) and demand that he keep the others away from the research base.

They arrive regardless, only to learn that Jane has become terminally ill from the mystery virus. Moreover, the parasite has made her go berserk and sabotage the base helicopter before shooting at Edward and David.

Quarantine measures are enforced if only to keep the virus from getting out. The surviving members of the team try to contact the CDC, but among this group are some who refuse to see sense no matter the urgency.

Most of the global population has been decimated due to a deadly virus, which scientists have observed remains dormant at sub-zero temperatures.

Those who are working at a polar station in Antarctica are thus unaffected. It now falls to them to help rebuild humanity.

Around this time, a seismologist discovers a potential earthquake is about to strike Washington.

Military personnel from America, England, and Russia soon learn that the quake will trigger a series of retaliatory events that will end in Russia launching an attack on the polar station.

A team of two men is immediately dispatched to Washington to help keep the quake from escalating diplomatic matters at a time when a deadly virus is already rampant in the world.