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Contagion poster

Movies that feel likeContagion (2011)

As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.

If you loved Contagion, the closest films we have are Side Effects (2013), Under the Skin (2014) and Primer (2004). All three share Contagion's contemplative and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Fracture (2007).

🍅 85% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Steven Soderberghcontemplativetensecerebralmelancholy
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If Contagion hit the spot, these will too

Side Effects poster
Side Effects
2013 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 82%★ 7thriller · crime · dramaPrime VideoParamount+

Both are Steven Soderbergh's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Takes it somewhere less cerebral than Contagion does

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.

Under the Skin poster
Under the Skin
2014 · dir. Jonathan Glazer
🍅 83%★ 6.3thriller · science fiction · dramaNetflix

Both land stillness and tension at once

The difference: Easier on the melancholy than Contagion

A seductive stranger prowls the streets of Glasgow in search of prey: unsuspecting men who fall under her spell.

Primer poster
Primer
2004 · dir. Shane Carruth
🍅 72%★ 6.7science fiction · drama · thriller

Drama built on ideas, twice over

A group of fledgling inventors discover a complex method to manipulate reality. At first, they successfully game the stock market with it, but the consequences of the invention start to catch up with them.

The Platform poster
The Platform
2019 · dir. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
🍅 81%★ 7drama · science fiction · thrillerNetflix

Contemplative thriller, and it commits to that

A slab of food descends down a vertical facility. The residents above eat heartily, leaving those below starving and desperate. A rebellion is imminent.

Silent Heart poster
Silent Heart
2014 · dir. Bille August
★ 7.1drama

The same preoccupation in both: terminal illness

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother's decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes poster
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011 · dir. Rupert Wyatt
🍅 82%★ 7.6thriller · action · dramaHulu

Science fiction with a pulse of melancholy, in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into action than Contagion does

A highly intelligent chimpanzee named Caesar has been living a peaceful suburban life ever since he was born. But when he gets taken to a cruel primate facility, Caesar decides to revolt against those who have harmed him.

Knowing poster
Knowing
2009 · dir. Alex Proyas
🍅 35%★ 6.2science fiction · thriller

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

A teacher opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions -- some that have already occurred and others that are about to -- that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.

The Happening poster
The Happening
2008 · dir. M. Night Shyamalan
🍅 17%★ 5thriller · science fiction

Cerebral science fiction in both cases

When a deadly airborne virus threatens to wipe out the northeastern United States, teacher Elliot Moore and his wife Alma flee from contaminated cities into the countryside in a fight to discover the truth. Is it terrorism, the accidental release of some toxic military bio weapon -- or something even more sinister?

Self/less poster
Self/less
2015 · dir. Tarsem Singh
🍅 18%★ 6.5science fiction · action · thriller

Both are built on the same subject: terminal illness

An extremely wealthy elderly man dying from cancer undergoes a radical medical procedure that transfers his consciousness to the body of a healthy young man but everything may not be as good as it seems when he starts to uncover the mystery of the body's origins and the secret organization that will kill to keep its secrets.

Fracture poster
Fracture
2007 · dir. Gregory Hoblit
🍅 72%★ 7.2thriller

Drama with a pulse of melancholy, in both cases

A husband is on trial for the attempted murder of his wife, in what is seemingly an open/shut case for the ambitious district attorney trying to put him away. However, there are surprises for both around every corner, and, as a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse is played out, each must manipulate and outwit the other.

The Flu poster
The Flu
2013 · dir. Kim Sung-soo
🍅 33%★ 6.6action · science fiction · thrillerPrime Video

Both are working the same pair: quarantine, lethal virus

A case of the flu quickly morphs into a pandemic. As the death toll mounts and the living panic, the government plans extreme measures to contain it.

Hard Candy poster
Hard Candy
2006 · dir. David Slade
🍅 67%★ 7drama · thriller

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

Hayley’s a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff’s a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff’s place. Jeff thinks it’s his lucky night. He’s in for a surprise.

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The best-reviewed films that share Contagion’s defining feeling.