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15 Horror Movies to Watch During the Coronavirus Quarantine
Written by Chris Shamburger
With most of the world on lockdown due to the unprecedented spread of the coronavirus, there's a chance you'll find yourself stuck at home with plenty of time on your hands. Maybe you'll finish that DIY project you've been putting off. Maybe you'll finally organize that sock drawer. But as hours become days, and days potentially become weeks, you might get a little stir crazy. But don't worry! If you're bored and out of options, here are 15 perfectly appropriate horror movies to enjoy during your self-isolation.
Note: This list is limited to movies categorized as horror/thriller, so don't expect to see movies like Outbreak or Contagion on this list.
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15) Magic (1978)
This might seem like an unusual choice, but hear me out. In Richard Attenborough's Magic, a ventriloquist on the brink of securing his own television show suddenly gets cold feet and secludes himself in the mountains. He tells his agent he's afraid of success, but really, he just doesn't want to take the medical exam, fearful his agent and the rest of the world will learn he has severe mental issues. If movies about disease and viral plagues hit a little too close to home for now, this underseen slice of self-isolation is a great alternative. |
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10) REC (2007) / Quarantine (2008) A news reporter, her cameraman, and some firefighters find themselves quarantined to an apartment building after the residents start to go batshit crazy. The found footage angle is a huge benefit to both the original film ([REC]) and its American remake (Quarantine). By putting us behind the camera, it makes us feel like our own lives depend on the actions of the characters. |
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9) Slither (2006) Listen, any great comedian will tell you, the best jokes stem from sadness and tragedy. And if there's any way we're going to see our way to the other side of being isolated, it's with laughter. And Slither, about mutant slugs that turn a small town's residents into mindless zombies, is hands down one of the funniest horror movies you'll ever see. Laugh. It's okay. |
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3) 28 Days Later (2002) / 28 Weeks Later (2007) Outside of non-horror movies Outbreak and Contagion, 28 Days Later is probably one of the first movies you expected to be on this list. It's that successful in its portrayal of life following a viral plague. Its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, is a worthy follow-up that continues the story of the military trying to secure an area for survivors to repopulate and start anew. But like any horror movie, not everything goes according to plan. With everything going on today, can a 28 Months Later be expected in the near future? |
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1) Romero's "Dead" Franchise (1968-2009) This one's a no-brainer and the perfect choice for binge viewing. Start with George Romero's 1968 black and white classic, Night of the Living Dead, where a brother and sister's annual trip to place flowers on a cemetery plot turns into a race for survival as hoards of the flesh-eating dead rise from their graves. The lone survivor of the duo reaches a farmhouse where others have taken shelter. And it's these strangers who unknowingly pose a bigger danger than the impending threat outside. The film's nihilistic portrayal of what people will do out of instinct to survive is raw and unmatched. Then follow up Night with Dawn of the Dead, where we find out how quickly the epidemic has spread in just a few weeks. Some survivors decide to hole themselves up in a shopping mall, where even in the middle of an apocalyptic event, our living heroes can't help but admire "all the great stuff" right at their fingertips. It's a perfect nod to consumerism's grasp on America, even when it shouldn't matter. And then there's Day of the Dead, where the dead now outnumber humans 400,000 to 1. We follow the day-to-day activities of a group of survivors who have barricaded themselves in an underground military bunker. Romero himself described the film as a "...tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society." Finally, in Land of the Dead, the division between the dead and the living becomes more of a division of class and power, with the wealthy residing in a luxury highrise skyscraper called Fiddler's Green, and the impoverished living at their feet in the slums of Pittsburgh. In a timely paradox, a Trump-like ruler sits at the throne of Fiddler's Green, buying his way out of trouble and using his blue-collar inferiors to get what he wants. And, while not official sequels (but still part of the same universe), you can check out Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead, which separately touch on themes of tribalism and society's desire to stay relevant in the age of social media. Zombies are everywhere, but no one did them like Romero. |