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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World War Z (2013)

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Based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks, World War Z stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening humankind itself. Unlike most zombies in pop culture, the zombies featured in the movie move fast and are capable of running towards their would-be victims with extreme ferocity.

Though the Marc Foster-directed movie was praised for Pitt’s impressive performance and for reviving the zombie genre on the big screen, it received negative reviews for its anti-climax, outdated CGI, and lack of faithfulness to the source material. Despite the criticisms, World War Z was a box-office success, grossing over $540 million against a production budget of $190 million.

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.”