The most terrifying pandemic-themed movies

Quarantining at home? Here are films about viruses and widespread diseases that you can watch

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Outbreak (1995)

The most terrifying pandemic-themed movies 1

Based on Richard Preston’s 1994 nonfiction book The Hot Zone, Outbreak centers on a fictional ebolavirus and orthomyxoviridae-like Motaba virus that spreads in a small town in California after a monkey from Zaire carrying the lethal virus is smuggled into the U.S. To control the spread of the disease, a team of doctors including a contagious disease expert (Dustin Hoffman) and his ex-wife (Rene Russo) are brought in. But after the army intervenes to handle the situation, the doctors must fight against the clock to save the town and its residents.

Though the residents of the town are ultimately cured from the deadly contagious disease, Outbreak is considered as one of the most terrifying pandemic-themed movies ever, partly because a real-life outbreak of the Ebola virus was occurring in Zaire when the film was released.

Interesting facts about BTS
  • The group name, “BTS” stands for the Korean expression Bangtan Sonyeondan which translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. Band member J-Hope said that they chose this name because it represents BTS’s desire “to block out stereotypes, criticisms, and expectations that aim on adolescents like bullets.” But that isn’t the only meaning behind the name. In 2017, BTS said, as part of their new brand identity, that their name would also stand for Beyond the Scene” which extended their name to mean “growing youth BTS who is going beyond the realities they are facing, and going forward.”
  • BTS was originally intended to be a hip-hop group, similar to YG Entertainment’s 1TYM. This was because Big Hit Entertainment CEO Bang Si-hyuk met with RM and was very impressed by his rapping talents. However, Bang Si-hyuk changed his mind and decided that today’s youth needed “a hero who can lend them a shoulder to lean on, even without speaking a single word.”
  • BTS has said that all of the following musicians have inspired their music; Post Malone, Eminem, Seo Taiji and Boys, Nas, Kanye West, Drake, Charlie Puth, Danger, and Queen.
  • The band’s first English-language single, “Dynamite”, was released on August 21st. Its video broke the YouTube record for the most viewed music video premiere, grabbing the attention of three million viewers, and it set a new record for the most viewed video on the first day of release. “Dynamite” is also the first music video on YouTube to surpass 100 million views in less than one day.
  • BTS has been often labeled as “easily the biggest and most successful name in K-pop in the world” that can “do things no other name in their genre can.” Time magazine has gone as far as calling them the “Princes of Pop.”