The rage virus is back – and evolved – this week with 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland‘s 28 Years Later, releasing in theaters on Friday. It serves as a potent reminder of how intense and chilling viral outbreak horror movies can be; it’s difficult to fight against, let alone evade, microscopic germs that spread with ease.
Leave it to horror to exploit viral fears with monstrous contagions that wreak havoc on the human population. This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to viral outbreak horror movies that bring the intensity but avoid heading down the familiar zombie path. These five horror titles unleash supernatural or bioweapon contagions that induce violence and leave you on edge.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
28 Weeks Later – Hulu, Tubi
Six months after the rage virus ravaged Great Britain’s population, the US Army helped to secure a small area of London for the survivors to resume a post-apocalyptic life. After a carrier of the highly infectious pathogen gets brought in for testing, however, the virus takes root in the quarantined city and threatens to destroy them all. Introducing a whole new set of characters, 28 Weeks Later frames an intense cat-and-mouse thrill ride around a family splintered by the initial outbreak. Robert Carlyle makes for an unnerving antagonist as a father whose guilt marks the impetus for this viral nightmare.
The Crazies – Fandango at Home, Hoopla, Fawesome, Kanopy, Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Starz
This update to George A. Romero’s 1973 classic goes heavy on the suspense and dread. Set in small-town Iowa, residents start turning inexplicably violent. Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant), his deputy Russell (Joe Anderson), David’s wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), and her assistant Becca (Danielle Panabaker), band together to survive against the onslaught of crazed citizens and the military that’s arrived to snuff out the outbreak. It’s a harrowing race to escape for the foursome, dodging armed forces and infected alike.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers – Kanopy, Max
Strange pods land on Earth, grow, and invade San Francisco like a virus in this update on the 1956 sci-fi classic. They take over humans while they’re asleep, creating emotionless duplicates to take over the world. It’s a story that should feel quite familiar at this point, considering it’s been remade so many times, but it’s hard to shake the imagery from this version. The cast is stacked here, too: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Art Hindle, Leonard Nimoy, and Jeff Goldblum star. The viral nature of this alien invasion makes for a bleak journey.
Pontypool – AMC+, Shudder
Stephen McHattie is a commanding presence in this atypical outbreak horror movie. The actor plays shock jock DJ Grant Mazzy piecing together an outbreak in Pontypool, Ontario, from his radio station booth as events play out in real-time on air. That means much of the action happens via audio, with reports and town residents calling into the station. Yet, none of that detracts from the suspense. It’s an unusual yet effective take on an outbreak, and winter serves as an excuse to keep its main character trapped inside and feeling secluded.
[REC] – Tubi
Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza’s outbreak horror film follows reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo, played by unseen actor Pablo Rosso, as they cover the night shift of a local fire station for their television series “While You’re Sleeping.” It begins as a quiet evening but spirals into abject terror when they become trapped in quarantine with a deadly outbreak. [REC] gives the subgenre a new, bone-chilling twist, making for a non-stop horror assault that puts the viewer right in the thick of the terror.