Posted on 05/05/2009 1:08:16 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Call me sick or just a little morbidly curious, but I’ve always been fascinated by end-of-days entertainment, with one notable (and ironic) exception: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “End of Days.”
There is just something about various post-apocolyptic scenarios that makes me happy. Maybe it’s the fact that in a planet decimated by disease, everyone’s bad credit will likely be wiped out. Or I won’t have to wait as long for a table at my favorite lunch spot. Or maybe it’s everything that the big screen and small screen has taught us goes along with deadly outbreaks of disease that has humanity teetering on the brink: Romance, action and utter lawlessness.
Anyways, as we realize swine flu isn’t going to have billions fearing the reaper as it was first broadcast, it’s time to look at the most dangerous viruses to have stalked our favorite B-list actors. We’ll run down the top five by title…
5. “The Stand” Sure, the massive Stephen King book-turned-TV miniseries was a bit cheesy and overdramatic. But the opening scene alone, in which the Captain Trips virus leaks out of a military base while the Blue Oyster Cult bangs the cowbell in the background is an uber-errie montage.
4. “Shawn of the Dead” “Dawn of the Dead,” “28 Days Later” and countless other zombie flicks have scared the bejesus out of us with a mixture of slow-moving terror and gory flesh feasts. But this British import starring Simon Peg also elicits some giggles and guffaws while flirting with disaster. Oh, those crazy Brits...
3. “12 Monkeys” The powerful virus in this time-travelling actioner wipes out 99 percent of the world circa 1996, and it’s erroneously believed that Brad Pitt’s middle-finger-flipping character and his PETA-esque Army of the 12 Monkeys is responsible. Oops. At least Bruce Willis is there to save the day.
2. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” This classic story has been told more than once on the big screen, usually whenever it’s a fitting metaphor for the politics of the day. While this UFO strain didn’t kill people, it did give an extreme makeover to their medulla oblongata once they dozed off. And the symptoms could have been worse; it could have caused everyone to talk like Jeff Goldblum.
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