14. Contagion (2011)

By far the most grounded portrayal of a disease outbreak on this list, 2011’s Contagion is terrifying for two reasons.  The first being pandemics are really scary in their own right, but also because of just how plain realistic it is.  While watching the disease spread and spread, you can’t help but feel like this is what it would actually look like if such a thing were to happen in the real world.  There aren’t any explosions, packs of marauders raping and pillaging, a total government collapse, but rather, a government exhausting every resource to maintain order and find a cure. 

It focused on the little things, like no food in the grocery store and a riot breaking out as survivors wait for care packages being given out from the back of military vehicles.  In a lot of movies, the riot would lead to an overthrow of the military and a band of apex survivors rounding up the food.  But here, the incident is able to be settled down, the starving population able to regain their sense of humanity.  That is the root of the terror in this story – if it ever happens, you can bet it’s going to look a lot like this.

 Jude law wears a bio-hazard suit to avoid contamination. (Contagion, 2011)