The Overlook: Viral

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Recently, I wrapped up a list of best outbreak horror films. Mostly hefty in subject matter and rarely easy on the eyes, the movies listed included pandemics like the ones seen in Contagion and 28 Days Later. In fact, finding a pandemic horror movie that is suspenseful and scary, but still has air to it, is difficult, Movies like Cabin Fever 2 may provide some form of this but these are typically too cheesy and foolish to matter, which is why finding Viral on Netflix is pretty great. Serious, but ultimately easy to engage with, Viral is a teen horror film that works.

Viral follows two sisters, played by Analeigh Tipton (Project Almanac) and Sofia Black D'Elia (Warm Bodies), who must face an oncoming pandemic without their parents. D'Elia's Sofia is the more serious, level-headed of the two and Tipton's Stacey is reckless, often choosing her boyfriend, played by Machine Gun Kelly (Nerve), over safety, Each of the three are particularly effective at conveying the young spirit of negligence, even if at times they try to take the outbreak seriously. A party scene in particular, fully captures this immature essence as even Sofia, breaks and decides to participate in the evening's events.


With the exception of the name "Stacy" joltingly called out one too many times early in the film, the film is pretty heartfelt and entertaining. The characters are all strong in their choices and work effectively off of one another. The movie's last scenes where one of them contracts the sickness are effectively moving and never cheap or over-the-top and its short runtime definitely ensures that the audience won’t be too bored.

Viral probably won't impress diehard horror fans, but it is in no way as bad as some of the industry's most annoying teen horror movies. Whereas movies like Ouija and The Bye Bye Man strongly adhere to a middle ground; incapable of truly scary moments in a dedication not to fans, but instead to making money, it's clear that Viral wasn't afraid to take chances. Viral is effective because it draws on tropes but never allows those to supplement for story.

Viral is a pretty great low-stakes pandemic film; its lightning- fast pace making it a speedy, but suspenseful watch. The film benefits greatly by feeding on and then overcoming the typical hallmarks of teen horror; dumb decisions, a pair of snarky sisters, a dumb boyfriend and no parents in sight, all work in tandem to create an atmosphere that's youthful and buoyant, providing a typically unseen point of view for outbreak films.

 

Best in Show: Outbreak Movies (Part II of II)



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5. Flesh-eating Virus (Cabin Fever)
Cabin Fever and the later sequels each made my stomach legitimately turn. With gross-out effects and gore and a flesh eating bacteria that makes viewers skin feel weird, this is probably the most difficult endeavor to swallow on this list. This movie serves no other purpose than to make its viewers cringe. And, thanks to the disgusting sickness at the center of it, it works; what starts off as a trip to a cabin quickly spirals out into a gore fest of torn up legs and decomposing bodies. Cabin Fever is a pandemic classic and a must see.

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4. Trixie Virus (The Crazies) The Crazies is the type of movie that is less concerned with the logistics of its virus and more with the need to terrify its viewers. It's an effective horror movie regardless of how the outbreak spreads and is definitely scary. One of the best things this movie has going for it is laid out steps made quarantining the sick. With the ability to place you in the shoes of the characters, The Crazies offers a suspenseful and insane trip. The added dimensions of infected water supplies and the hopelessness the victims of this movie face, all work well together,

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3. Flu-like Virus (Contagion)

By and large the most realistic on the list, the virus outbreak of Contagion feels like a real-life telling of a pandemic. Well-executed and scientific, Contagion feeds into the fear of its audiences through grounded realism. The virus at the center of this movie, spread like any typical sickness, is one that holds similar symptoms to the flu, but with the potency of something far more dangerous. Contagion is dark and even when the cure is discovered; viewers will be sufficiently freaked out. Washing your hands matters, people.



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2. Mutant Parasites (The Bay)

While unsure if the found-footage style of this film or the way the parasite makes its victims succumbs to its symptoms, but the nasty sickness at the center of The Bay felt way too close to home. From the smaller seashore town to the everyday people who were exposed, this outbreak should be reserved to those with strong stomachs and a heart that doesn't easily attach to idyllic opening scenes. Like a superior The Happening, The Bay tosses around the impact of humans on the environment and doles out plenty of punishments for the small village that comes face-to-face with a deadly outbreak. The parasites caused by a bird plant leaking heavy levels of waste into the bay, quickly become a decimating problem as the creatures eat away at the families who call the area home.

1. Rage Virus (28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later)

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Like the sicknesses of Quarantine, The Crazies, I Am Legend and World War Z, the zombie-like super rabies virus at the center of 28 Days Later and its sequel is horrifically aggressive in that it turns its victims into hungry monstrosities. But unlike those films, there is something innately troubling about the rage virus. The way it transforms those exposed and the lightning quick nature of the creatures it creates is truly nightmare-inducing. Between bloodshot eyes and the type of viciousness usually reserved for wild animals, the crazed hosts of this violent disease provide enough stamina and scares to warrant this number one spot. Pair that with the sheer scale and lack of containment prospects and the rage virus quickly becomes one of the most effective pandemics on this list. 

Best in Show: Outbreak Movies (Part I of II)

Pandemics and outbreaks are something that everyone seems so interested in, yet fears so much, No matter what it is, these sicknesses glue people to their TVs as world news reports help the stories unfold. Today, we're focusing on the scariest pandemic films out there. With flu season hopefully soon behind us, these movies are each meant to instill the fear that an epidemic is more than likely coming. In an attempt to define these outbreaks, note the absence of zombie films that specifically raise people from the dead. However, the exact nature of diseases isn't perfect so this list is somewhat broad in spectrum, but all are undeniably horrific.




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10. Reaper Virus (Doomsday)

While the vast majority of this film takes place post-pandemic, the fact remains that the damage done by the virus and eventual world restructuring are both pretty terrifying. Filled with gore and Mad Max-like biker who happen to also be cannibals, Doomsday was an over-the-top action-horror film that was meant for geeks and nerds. It's the type of film that's world is entirely parallel to ours and for it to work, you need to invest yourself. At the least, the idea to have Scotland completely done over after a pandemic with two warring factions who exist in secrecy to the outside non-quarantined world is at the very least, pretty original.

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9. Plant-spread Neurotoxin (The Happening)

The Happening by no means, is a good movie. It's poorly acted, thinly written plot all culminate into something rather underwhelming. But, decidedly, the one thing that does work for this film is its terrifying fictional sickness. Spread through the air at the hands of plants, the movie's central themes of global warming are a little too blatant, but ultimately effective. It's the type of film that makes the audience feel hopeless at the hands of the illness and while the movie was a bore, the idea that plants have the ability to readjust our world to survive, is pretty fantastic.



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8. Super Rabies ([REC]/Quarantine)

The outbreak of a type of super rabies in an apartment building and the quarantine that results is the stuff of claustrophobic germaphobes' nightmares. While small in scale, the outbreaks of the original [REC] and later American-remake Quarantine struck a spine-tingling cord in the souls of audiences. Between the dark, dank apartment settings of the two films that feels much more realistic than some of the glossed-over looks of modern horror films that surround it and a pension for creating spooky atmosphere, these movies are truly terrifying entries into the outbreak subgenre.

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7. Re-engineered Measles Virus (I Am Legend)

By far one of the most well-known and identifiably crossover films on this list, the mainstream I Am Legend features a virus with a disturbingly sad backstory and a disturbingly dark forward. Originally created as a cancer cure, the virus featured in this movie kills most of those infected and leaves others as raging creatures with a sensitivity to sunlight. I Am Legend is a terrifying endeavor in human nature and intervention and between the plenty of sad moments (RIP Max and fam), this movie features plenty of scary ones.

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6. Zombie Plague (World War Z)

I really tried to avoid straight up zombies on this list. I really did, but the scientific aspects and constant referral of the virus in World War Z as a curable disease makes it worth the inclusion. World War Z came out at a time when zombies oversaturated the industry and for that it is especially commendable. It's terrifically action-packed, suspenseful and well-made. From the opening escape scenes in the red-lit apartment to the attempts to find a cure are all equally compelling and scary.