The Best Pandemic Movies of All Time (If That's Your Thing)

As the worst person on your timeline might have reminded you back in March, a lot of great art has come out of pandemics past. William Shakespeare apparently wrote King Lear during the bubonic plague. Countless iconic artists painted their way through the Spanish Flu; Edvard Munch even painted a self portrait to document his survival of it. Good for him. In a way, it only makes sense that these periods, marked by isolation and immense suffering, would push artists to seek outlets of expression and escapism.

And, it also makes sense why artists who aren’t living through a pandemic would gravitate towards the subject for source material. The drama, the paranoia, the suspense… it’s a blockbuster waiting to happen. From zombie outbreaks to alien infestation and everything in between, filmmakers have covered a lot of ground when it comes to pandemic possibilities.

So, whether you’re looking for some pandemic-ridden storylines to make you feel less alone, or something to make you grateful that you’re at least not a lone post-apocalyptic survivor, there’s plenty of cinematic antidotes for your quarantined woes. Put that COVID-19 screenplay you’ve been meaning to write on bedrest, and watch one of these best pandemic movies of all time.