Best movies like Variola Vera
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The subject of the film is the 1972 outbreak of smallpox in Yugoslavia, more specifically the events related to the epidemic and the subsequent quarantine at Belgrade's General Hospital. The film follows the journey of a Kosovar pilgrim on his way back to Belgrade from the Middle East. While at a bazaar, the pilgrim buys a flute from a man who is visibly ill. Upon his return to Belgrade, the pilgrim starts to show signs of illness and is transported to the city's General Hospital. His disease is initially misdiagnosed and the smallpox virus starts spreading through the hospital very quickly. Once the disease is correctly identified, the authorities attempt to subdue the outbreak by declaring martial law, enforcing quarantine and enlisting the help of the World Health Organization. Eventually, these measures prove to be effective to subdue the epidemic.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, Horror
Country: Yugoslavia
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: retro, apocalyptic, scary, bleak, serious, suspenseful, disturbing
Best tv shows and movies like Variola Vera (1982):
Similar in 77%
Epidemic (1987)
Plot Summary:
The second of Trier's films known collectively as the Europa trilogy. The other two films in the trilogy are The Element of Crime (1984) and Europa (1991). Co-written by Niels Vørsel, the film focuses on the screenwriting process. Vørsel and von Trier play themselves, coming up with a last-minute script for a producer. This story is intercut with scenes from the film they write, in which von Trier plays a renegade doctor trying to cure a modern-day epidemic. In an ironic twist, the doctor discovers that he himself has been spreading the virus.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: Denmark
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, cynical, stylized, scary, postmodern, black and white, art house, surreal, disturbing, controversial
Similar in 86%
Zombie Undead (2010)
Plot Summary:
A car roars through the darkened country roads. Inside, a distraught Sarah, holding her stricken dad, Mark, is desperately trying to stem the flow of blood. Having been re-directed to an Evacuation facility on the edge of town, Steve, an off-duty Paramedic is in a race against time fully aware that Mark's chances of survival are rapidly slipping away. The scene that greets them on arrival is one of chaos. The floor, awash with blood, is covered with the bodies of the dying and injured, doctors dart back and forth, clearly overwhelmed. A violent convulsion causes Mark to lose consciousness, heart stopped he slumps to the floor. As the adrenalin needle slams into her Fathers heart Sarah stumbles back and her world fades to black. Upon regaining consciousness Sarah is greeted by the uneasy silence of a seemingly deserted building. Bleeding and dazed she stumbles through the darkened corridors unaware of the fate that awaits her.
IMDB Rating: 2.4
IMDB Votes: 496
Genere: Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, suspenseful, tense, scary, rough
Similar in 75%
Infection (2004)
Plot Summary:
Infection takes place in a dark, isolated hospital, where one doctors mistake has led to dire consequences for a patient. In a hospital death is just a breath away.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: scary, rough, realistic, suspenseful, serious, disturbing, mind twisting, surprise ending, slasher, medical horror
Similar in 84%
Colin (2008)
Plot Summary:
Our hero Colin is bitten by a Zombie; he dies and returns from the dead. We follow him as he wanders through suburbia during the throes of a cadaverous apocalypse.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, exciting, captivating, splatter, scary, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
The Plague (2006)
Plot Summary:
All the worldwide children of less than nine years fall in coma at the same time. Ten years later, Tom Russel is released from prison after killing a man in a fight, and returns to his home town, more specifically to his older brother home, who has a son in coma. Tom intends to rebuild his life, but his ex-wife Jean Raynor is hurt and does not want to see him.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, rough, suspenseful, suspense, dark, apocalyptic, cult classic, scary, tense
Similar in 90%
Exit Humanity (2011)
Plot Summary:
A decade after the American Civil War, Edward Young returns home from a hunting trip to find a horrific reanimation of his wife and that their son Adam has disappeared. He must battle his way through an unexplainable outbreak of the walking dead.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: Canada
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: suspense, rough, bleak, serious, tense, scary, dark, apocalyptic, independent film, wild
Similar in 87%
Anger of the Dead (2015)
Plot Summary:
In a world ravaged by a rabies virus that turns people into hungry cannibals, Alice a pregnant survivor, along with two other men, struggles to reach an island unaffected by the plague. Meanwhile a dangerous man is on the trail of a mysterious girl, and Alice soon discovers that zombies are not the only threat.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 850
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: Italy, Canada
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychotronic, scary, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 79%
Plague City: SARS in Toronto (2005)
Plot Summary:
The once clean and healthy city of Toronto becomes the pariah of the western world when a deadly chain of infection lands in the city. Panic spreads as the number of SARS cases increases as there are no effective treatments.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Warning Sign (1985)
Plot Summary:
An accident occurs in an ultra-secret government biological weapons laboratory spreading a sinister bacteria.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: slasher, sad, tech noir, scary, rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful, weird, disaster movie
Similar in 75%
The Dead 2: India (2013)
Plot Summary:
The Sequel to the Ford brothers The Dead. The action moves to India.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, suspense, rough, bleak, scary, atmospheric, apocalyptic
Similar in 76%
Days of Darkness (2007)
Plot Summary:
When a comet strikes Earth and kicks up a cloud of toxic dust, hundreds of humans join the ranks of the living dead. But there's bad news for the survivors: The newly minted zombies are hell-bent on eradicating every last person from the planet. For the few human beings who remain, going head to head with the flesh-eating fiends is their only chance for long-term survival. Yet their battle will be dark and cold, with overwhelming odds.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, serious, suspenseful, apocalyptic, suspense
Similar in 86%
Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (2005)
Plot Summary:
In 1968, in the Ravenside Military Hospital in a military facility in Pennsylvania, the army loses control of an experiment of a lethal bacteriologic weapon that changes the DNA and transforms human beings into zombies. A group of soldiers is sent to the hospital to eliminate the infected staff and interns but private DeLuca steals a test tube with the virus and hides it inside a vacuum flask. He is transformed into a zombie and killed but the vacuum flask falls in the grass. In the present days, a group of patients in the mental institution Ravenside Memorial Hospital finds the vacuum flask and later when one of them opens the vessel, the culture tube drops on the floor of a bathroom contaminating the group and their Dr. Donwynn.
IMDB Rating: 2.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: rough, scary, serious, suspenseful, psychotronic, retro, suspense, hilarious, independent film
Similar in 90%
Zombie Apocalypse (2010)
Plot Summary:
There is a new evil, and you have no idea what's coming... When college roommates Mark and Tom go out for a night at the bar, the last thing they expected to find was a machete wielding stranger and a horde of the undead. With the help of amateur photographer and video store clerk Raven, the unlikely party fights their way into an epic conflict between the living... and the dead.
IMDB Rating: 2.5
IMDB Votes: 234
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, scary, rough, serious
Similar in 77%
Mutants (2009)
Plot Summary:
A nasty virus has spread throughout the human race turning the population into something ...else. After a brief setup (and a messy hit and run) we’re introduced to an ambulance and its four occupants. Sonia (Helene de Fougerolles) and Marco (Francis Renaud) are together and riding with two police officers. Tensions rise between them as they head for a mythical research facility called NOAH that is reportedly infection free and working on a cure, and circumstances lead to Sonia and Marco holing up alone in an abandoned building. She’s pregnant, in love, and apparently immune to the virus… and she realizes that he’s been infected. He slowly transforms but her love for him refuses to give up on a cure, so she sets out to survive the onslaught of infected, attacks from still-human marauders, and the growing threat from her baby’s daddy.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: scary, tense, bleak, atmospheric, rough, emotional, suspense, disturbing, enigmatic, grindhouse
Similar in 80%
May 18 (2007)
Plot Summary:
The citizens of Gwangju lead a relatively peaceful life, until one day the military takes over the city, accusing the residents of conspiracy and claiming that they are communist sympathisers preparing a revolution against the current government. Seeing as the soldiers beat defenceless people, mainly students, to death, the citizens are in for retaliation and form a militia.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, touching, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Contagion (2002)
Plot Summary:
In the 21st Century, terrorists have developed a new way to strike: disease. Not only have they created a deadly Level Four Ebola virus, their first victim is the President of the United States. The virus is particularly contagious and is spreading. If a cure cannot be found, the only chance for saving the world from epidemic is for the army to destroy the hospital and the town where the victims, including the President, are currently contained. The clock is ticking. As doctors search for a cure the military seeks to annihilate them all in a race to stop the deadly path of the contagion. Can the spread be stopped before its too late?.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 801
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, bleak, intellectual, disaster movie
Similar in 75%
Dead Within (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set six months after a deadly outbreak has all but ended the human race, a man and woman have survived by isolating themselves in a remote cabin and never opening the door. Now they don’t have a choice. Starved for resources, they must confront the horrors that threaten them… but what’s inside may be even more toxic than what remains outside. When it all ends, this is what remains.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: scary, suspenseful, serious, suspense, grindhouse, cult classic
Similar in 82%
Edges of Darkness (2008)
Plot Summary:
Three interconnected tales of terror set against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 898
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, scary, serious, futuristic, anthology, exciting, splatter
Similar in 89%
Pulse 2: Afterlife (2008)
Plot Summary:
The world has been reshaped by the invasion of ghosts via the wireless internet. Cities are deserted, technology has been destroyed and the few remaining human beings eschew anything electrical in order to avoid a confrontation with the soulless ghosts that now wander the planet. Most of the ghosts are doomed to a repetitive loop of something they did while they were still despairing humans (a man repeatedly hangs himself, for example), but there are some ghosts so locked in denial, they do not know they are dead. They continue to haunt their homes, wrapped in fear that their souls will soon be torn from them.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, South Africa
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: bleak, suspenseful, scary, serious, psychological, suspense, apocalyptic, surprise ending, futuristic
Similar in 90%
Virus (2019)
Plot Summary:
A real life account of the deadly Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala, and the courageous fight put on by several individuals which helped to contain the epidemic.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags: suspense, rough, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, exciting, offbeat, disaster movie
Similar in 82%
Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America (2006)
Plot Summary:
An outbreak of avian flu mutates into a virus that becomes transmittable from human to human.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 924
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: New Zealand, USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, suspenseful, disaster movie
Similar in 87%
Toxic Skies (2008)
Plot Summary:
A doctor must find a cure for a viral epidemic that is spreading through vapors from jets.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: scary, exciting, serious, suspenseful, apocalyptic, suspense, disaster movie
Similar in 82%
Extinction: The G.M.O. Chronicles (2011)
Plot Summary:
A Retrovirus, which was conceived as a tool for industrial genetic engineering, has gotten out of control and is spreading rapidly. While it crosses all organisms within our ecological system completely indiscriminately (mixing plant with animal and humans) most plants prove more resistant because of their complex DNA. However, the simple genes of the plants lead humans to become grotesque mutations, in most cases even to death. Within one week, 90% of mankind are either extinct or no longer human. However, a small fraction of the earth?s population remains immune to the virus and must survive in this new and constantly changing ecological system. Tom cellar is one the survivors and on an old military base in the Eifel he has entrenched himself. Further survivors come together and succeed in carving out a life in this new world. But the GMOs - the ?genetically modified organisms? - constantly develop themselves further, and soon the fence of the base offers no more protection.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, scary, bleak, suspenseful, apocalyptic, exciting, disaster movie
Similar in 90%
The Returned (2013)
Plot Summary:
In a post-zombie world, where the infected live normal lives, their retroviral drug is running out.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Spain, Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, bleak, scary, psychological thriller, apocalyptic, grindhouse
Similar in 83%
Maggie (2015)
Plot Summary:
There's a deadly zombie epidemic threatening humanity, but Wade, a small-town farmer and family man, refuses to accept defeat even when his daughter Maggie becomes infected. As Maggie's condition worsens and the authorities seek to eradicate those with the virus, Wade is pushed to the limits in an effort to protect her. Joely Richardson co-stars in this post-apocalyptic thriller.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Switzerland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: scary, touching, suspenseful, bleak, emotional, atmospheric, heartbreaking, suspense, cult classic, apocalyptic
Similar in 79%
Autumn (2009)
Plot Summary:
The virus came so fast no one had time to prepare. Before the day was over, entire towns were decimated, and large cities became monumental tombs. Left with nothing but fading hope and the will to live, reclusive software consultant Michael (Dexter Fletcher) and temperamental mechanic Carl (Dickon Tolson) lead a small group of survivors into the country in hopes of riding out the coming winter. But now the decaying victims of the plague are reanimating, growing more smart and vicious with each passing day. Now, the only hope for the survival of the human race is Phillip (Carradine), a man who refused to leave the city, and has somehow avoided becoming food for the flesh-eating masses.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, bleak, serious, apocalyptic, suspense, interactive
Similar in 77%
A Capital dos Mortos 2: Mundo Morto (2015)
Plot Summary:
Five years after the events of "The Capital of the Dead", Lucas joins forces with the traumatized Denise. Together they attempt to keep their sanity while fighting off the undead in a world where zombies are not the most dangerous beings.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: Brazil
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: scary, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 81%
Chernobyl: Abyss (2021)
Plot Summary:
The film tells about the firefighter, heroically eliminating the consequences of the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: rough, depressing, thought provoking, serious, dark, disturbing, sad, bleak, disaster movie
Similar in 80%
The Zombie Diaries (2006)
Plot Summary:
In the early part of the 21st Century, an unknown virus began spreading among the populous. Within weeks it had engulfed the entire planet, from the smallest communities to the greatest cities. Upon the death of its host, the virus would reanimate the corpse until it was no longer able to support itself. Soon the planet was infested with a new threat - the undead. So begins our journey into the dystopian world of the zombie diaries.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, suspenseful, apocalyptic, scary, mockumentary, suspense, futuristic, fake documentary
Similar in 85%
Stake Land (2010)
Plot Summary:
Martin was a normal teenage boy before the country collapsed in an empty pit of economic and political disaster. A vampire epidemic has swept across what is left of the nation's abandoned towns and cities, and it's up to Mister, a death dealing, rogue vampire hunter, to get Martin safely north to Canada, the continent's New Eden.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, road movie, suspense, tense, rough, suspenseful, apocalyptic, brutal, futuristic