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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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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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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.
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.
