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Viral Load There’s a surplus of ‘virus movies’ to stream on Amazon Prime during quarantine
BY KIKO MARTINEZ
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If the only “virus movies” you’ve watched so far while in quarantine are Outbreak and Contagion and you’re looking to keep your blood pressure elevated during the real-world pandemic, you’re in luck.
A quick journey into the untapped fringes of Amazon Prime will reveal a wealth of independent virus-themed fi lms you’ve probably missed.
“I think watching movies about viruses during a pandemic is very similar to watching scary movies in October or Christmas movies in December,” said San Antonio fi lmmaker Buddy Calvo, whose last fi lm, 2018’s Stage V, followed a group of kids fending for themselves after a deadly virus spreads worldwide. “It’s just a theme for the state of mind we are currently in.” (For more on Calvo, check out this issue’s story on his band Phonolux.)
Once the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us — whenever that will be — Calvo thinks screenwriters and directors are going to gravitate to more virus-themed projects.
“Filmmakers will never stop making endof-the-world movies because audiences will never stop watching,” he said. “After all of this is said and done, I think there’ll be an uptick in this genre. We want to know or fantasize about how this will all end, and we’ll always line up to see the next fi lm that gives us a preview of our own destruction.”
Since there’s no way we’d be able to list the scores of virus movies currently streaming on Prime, we selected a few that stand out. We’re not including any zombie narratives and only picked movies about the virus itself, its impact on society and the people who are infected.
“I don’t think there is any need for more zombie fi lms,” Calvo said. “What always interested me is how people might react during the apocalypse and how the average person could be much more dangerous than any zombie or monster.”
Below are fi ve of the be er non-zombie virus fl icks streaming on Prime. For an extended list of these kinds of movies — but with a much broader range in quality — visit sacurrent.com.
Containment (2015)
A group of Brits in an apartment building awake to fi nd they have been sealed into their fl at with no communication to the outside world. Patrolling the grounds around the building are people in Hazmat suits. In a short and steady 77 minutes, the story fi nds an interesting albeit familiar hook as the residents team up to escape the forced quarantine. Despite the humdrum ending, the moral questions presented are thoughtful, and the talented cast makes for a nice collection of sympathetic characters.
Diverge (2016)
A survivor of a deadly virus is sent back in time by a scientist to stop the outbreak from ever happening. Early on, most of what viewers witness is the man and his infected wife trying to survive outside of the quarantine zone. When the time travel narrative kicks in, the fi lm hits a few unique strides and crosses over into some unnerving storylines that the most fervent sci-fi fans will enjoy.
Embers (2015)
A decade after a global epidemic that causes retrograde and anterograde amnesia, survivors are forced to go through life without recalling the past or creating new memories. Broken into fi ve separate stories, the most fascinating of these is about an unnamed couple who wake up not knowing who one another is, but still knowing they love each other. Another features a young woman
Embers - Slamdance Presents
who’s been quarantined with her father for more than nine years. Each narrative presents humanity in a distinct way.
Light of My Life (2019)
Oscar-winner Casey Affl eck stars as Caleb, a father surviving in the solitude of the wilderness with his young daughter Rag, whom he disguises as a boy. His actions come after a global plague has decimated most of the female population. The sense of dread that permeates the fi lm never lets up, much as in John Hillcoat’s 2009 dystopian thriller The Road. Affl eck, who also directs, has created an intimate fi lm — one that speaks on parental responsibility and the great lengths to which a father would go to protect his child.
What Still Remains (2018)
While it doesn’t do much to separate itself from these types of post-apocalyptic fi lms, a feat that is incredibly hard to do these days, the fi lm will be passable for fans of The Walking Dead who actually like the human stories more than the zombies. After a plague spreads across the world, a young woman ends up at a nearby sanctuary run by religious zealots who are defending themselves from a faction known as the Berserkers. But who are the real monsters?
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Find more fi lm stories at sacurrent.com
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