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Viral Load: There’s a Surplus of ‘Virus Movies’ to Stream on Amazon Prime During Quarantine

By Kiko Martinez on Thu, May 7, 2020 at 12:17 pm

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 films 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 filmmaker Buddy Calvo, whose last film, 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.”

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 end-of-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 film 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 films,” 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.”

Here are 20 non-zombie “virus movies” streaming on Prime that you can see right now.

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Containment (2015)
A group of Brits in an apartment building awake to find that they have been sealed into their flat with no communication to the outside world. Patrolling the grounds around the building are people in Hazmat suits.
Photo by Vision Films

Diverge (2016)
A survivor of a deadly virus is sent back in time by a scientist to stop the outbreak from ever happening.
Photo by Gravitas Ventures

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.
Photo by Slamdance Presents

Light of My Life (2019)
Oscar winner Casey Affleck 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.
Photo by Saban Films

What Still Remains (2018)
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?
Photo by Gravitas Ventures

Flu (2013)
The South Korean film follows the citizens of a city near Seoul where a lethal, airborne virus infects the population.
Photo by CJ Entertainment

93 Days (2016)
Based on a true story, the Nigerian thriller stars Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon) as Benjamin Ohiaeri, a Nigerian doctor on the frontlines of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Lagos, Nigeria, a city with a population of 20 million people.
Photo by Natives Filmworks

Weaverfish (2013)
A group of teenagers is left to fend for themselves when an infection attacks them during a trip to a condemned lake.
Photo by Entertainment One

AB Negative (2019)
Set in a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by a blood infection, the Belgian film tells the story of two brothers fighting for survival against a dark syndicate known as the Leeches.
Photo by Indie Rights

Cold War (2017)
A young couple move in together and contract the “raccoon virus.” Sick at home, they find out how difficult living under one roof really is, especially when both occupants are not feeling very well.
Photo by Spaceship Town

Domain (2016)
After a deadly plague kills most of humankind, a group of survivors is placed into underground bunkers where they can speak to one another through a network of video communications.
Photo by GVN Releasing

Extinction: Patient Zero (2014)
A group of scientists, who might be infected with a deadly virus, must decide if they should risk escaping a safe room and exposing more people.
Photo by Alchemy

Refuge (2013)
After a plague kills off most of the population, a family hunkers down in a house hoping that a group of marauders don’t come to kill them for their food and supplies.
Photo by Passerby Films

The Lotus (2015)
A young biochemist begins the process to wipe out the entire human population with a biochemical attack.
Photo by Black Wolf Media Group

Virus (2019)
The Indian film is based on the real-life account of the deadly Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala in 2018.
Photo by OPM Cinemas

Rotor DR1 (2015)
A teenager sets off on a journey with a drone to find his father after a deadly plague kills 90 percent of the world’s population.
Photo by Cinema Libre Studio

The Infection (2018)
A found-footage film that follows a virologist who goes into quarantine at home after getting infected by a prehistoric bacterium.
Photo by POV Horror

The Town Inside (2014)
A father and daughter try to survive as a new strain of what is known as the South African “Lujo” virus hits the U.S.
Photo by Amazon

Toxin (2015)
Glover’s second film on this list follows a pharmaceutical company that hires a scientist to create a vaccine to eliminate a deadly virus.
Photo by Alchemy

The Virus (2014)
A group of college students discover a quarantined virus developed by the government that forces the infected to tell the truth.
Photo by Borderlands Media