Horror Films About Epidemic Diseases

The Happening (2008) - This flick is another of M. Night Shamalayan's weird creations.  He always creates something disturbing, whether I like the film or not, I have to hand it to the guy.  I didn't love it, but it was ok.   Marky Mark portrays a science teacher, Elliot Moore, who tries to outrun an assumed plant-borne disease that's sweeping the East Coast of the United States with a few pals.  Its sort of like they are running from zombies, but its more that they are running from the afflicted and their behavior, weird.

The Masque of Red Death (1964) - Obviously, this is adapted from Edgar Allen Poe's famous work, the short story of the same title.  A mysterious illness plagues Prince Prospero's Kingdom.  He decides to throw a party in the safety of his home, where nobody is afflicted, but forgets that he invites guest who come from outside, duh!  They have a little masquerade party, all the rich nobility in the kingdom.  There are seven rooms in the abbey, where they are partying, all themed in a different color.  Some a-hole impedes the party and is dressed in red and symbolizes the red death and all that crap.  We all know what happens, blah blah.  Its just fun to see it in a film adaptation.  Death is inevitable b*tches and hoes!  You can watch the 1964 version on Veoh for free here, but I think there is a newer version as well.

 

Black Death - Obviously this film is about The Bubonic Plague in Europe.  Its set during the first outbreak in England.  It stars Sean Bean.  A young monk is charged with getting intel about reports of people being brought back to life in a small village after dying of the affliction.

Masters of Horror - The Screwfly Solution - This short story was adapted into a one hour feature film on the series Masters of Horror.  The film features a scientist who must leave his family to find the cure for a virus that plagues the entire human male population, turning them into murderous psychos, who try to kill all the females in the world.  The scientist has to leave his wife and daughter while he tries to solve this issue.  You can watch this one on Hulu for free here.

 

Season of the Witch -  Similar in theme and the time period of Black Death, this film occurs during Europe's Black Plague Era, but other than the this film is completely different than Black Death as the theme centers around an accused witch.  These 14th-century knights are charged with the transportation of a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague.

The Plague (2006) - Clive Barker's The Plague stars Dawson, I mean, James Van Der Beek, but seriously, its not a bad flick.  Ten years have passed since the world's children have all fallen into random comas.  One night just as they lapsed into these said comas, they all wake up and havoc ensues, kids against adults!  You can watch this one for free on Crackle here. 

I thought you guys might be interested in Typhoid Mary, because this chick caused a huge Typhoid outbreak in New York at the turn of the century.  How much does she suck?  Anyway, you can check out this subject on Dark Matters here.  Yup, you can watch it for free on YouTube.

I am pissed that I can't find anywhere to stream this or watch it online for free, but f*ck, do I want to watch The History Channel's Scourge of the Black Death so if any of you guys know where I can find it, feel free to comment or write me on Facebook, please for the love of all that is good and holy!!!!   I know where to buy the DVD new and used, but yeah, I wanna watch it now, really!?  I'll list it below in case anyone cares.

The Wicker Man & Christopher Lee

Ok, first of all, Christopher Lee is the man! Christopher Lee was one of the Draculas.  He is in many films that are terrifying, and is going to get his dues credited right now.  I love you Mr. Lee!

Christopher Frank Carandini Lee is six foot five.  He's hot in a creepy sort of way and quite English.  Not only is he the best Dracula EVER..., but he was always "the bad guy", and I like it.  I like his deep scary voice (he's not playing), and his ominous, terrifying characters!!!  Its like oh snap, Christopher Lee is here, and some bad shizits will be happening!  

The ever handsome and debonair, Mr. Lee starred in these killer films!

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

The Horror of Dracula (1958)

The Mummy (1959)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

To the Devil a Daughter (1976)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Tales of Mystery & Imagination: Berenice

Tales of Mystery & Imagination: The Black Cat

Tales of Mystery & Imagination: The Fall of the House of Usher

Tales of Mystery & Imagination: The Masque of the Red Death

Tales of Mystery & Imagination: The Oval Portrait

The Resident

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

The Corpse Bride (2005)

Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Howling II

Dracula A.D. 1972

The Satanic Rites of Dracula

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Taste The Blood of Dracula (1970)

Count Dracula (1970)

Crypt of the Vampire (1964)

The City of The Dead (1960)

The House That Dripped Blood

And not to mention, well, yeah, actually I am mentioning it, and talking about it alot in this post, actually.  He is Lord Summersdale in The Wicker Man, a creepy as hell culty film.  You will be creeped out.  

The Wicker Man (1975), not 2006 is a film about a British police officer going to a remote island to investigate the disappearance of a little girl. Pay attention, because there will be a festival going on (for May Day, I gather), and on this little island people do things just a little bit differently here.   

MWAH HA HA HA!

Oh, Mr. Lee was also in Season of the Witch, which I watched and blogged recently.  

His next masterpiece will be Dark Shadows, 

to be released in 2012!!!

YES!!!!!!

The Plague & Season of The Witch - Similar, But Different

At long last somebody has covered the Black Plague in Europe and has applied a supernatural horror concept to it, and it has been done more than once this year, and both flicks are quite unique, and I would say equally good.  I must say I enjoyed Season of the Witch a bit more, but I really liked both films, the other being Black Death. 

Black Death - The Black Death was probably more psychological than anything else, and heralded less special effects.  It relied on the creepiness of witchery and Pagan evil more than anything else.  And when I say Pagan evil, I mean actual evil Pagans.  Most Pagans are peaceful and practice nice and helpful Wicca, not straight out hurting people and casting plagues among their peoples.  These guys were a bit more sneaky, and weren't as fun as the girl in Season of the Witch, but that's what I liked about it.  Its worth watching!  I was very surprised.  I had not idea how the film would approach their fight of evil, but I found out.  It was quite suspenseful, and not what I expected, wholly. 

Black Death - Trailer

Season of the Witch - Season of the Witch had great special effects, a seriously strong, and scary little teenage witch.  She had personality.  She was manipulative, and actually did nice things every so often, but they were all for her own purposes.  It had an interesting host of characters, not much different from that of The Black Death, but still it was fun, and super suspenseful.  The plagued dead were gross, and had bugs buzzing all around them.  The crusty corpses added a nice effect.  There was also a "holy war" plot and showed all the battles the two main characters had engaged in.  They desert their cause, and to spare their own lives are charged with another "holy mission", to see "The Black Witch" to an abbey to be dealt with supernaturally, neat!  I dug the way the witches were executed in the beginning, too.  You will have to watch, authentic.  The one thing that bothered me was the absence of a Medieval accent or way of speaking, and the fact that everyone spoke in an American accent.  It took away from things, but it was still a good flick.

Season of the Witch - Trailer