Blame it on the mad scientist: Pandemic books and movies

During the past two years, I have had enough time on my hands to read books and to watch moves. I have naturally drifted towards stories about pandemic as we go through the COVID-19 pandemic in real time.

Here is a summary review of two books and three movies about pandemics.  A frequent theme is a deadly virus unleashed on an unsuspecting world by a mad scientist. Parallels to the current world situation in 2022 are present but inexact. No mad scientist, as far as I can tell, designed COVID19.

BOOKS

• “Inferno,” by Dan Brown, 2014:  A mad scientist unleashes a possibly deadly virus on the world.  The book is thought provoking. There is a movie version but it pulls its punches and is not as good as the book..
• “Pandemic,” by A.G. Riddle, 2017: A consortium of definitely mad scientists unleash a potentially deadly virus on the world. This was a pleasure to read. The plot was formulaic, but interesting.

MOVIES

• “Resident Evil” series. Zombies take over the world!  The back story involves a mad scientist who unleashes a virus which gives rise to the zombie pandemic. My 9-year-old grandson forced me to watch #6 in the series, “Final Chapter,” released in 2017.  The action movie gets a solid 4 stars from the 9-year-old. I give it a solid 2 stars.
• “I am Legend,” released in 2007.  Will Smith stars as one of the few survivors of a Zombie apocalypse. A lab-designed viral vector that was supposed to cure cancer unfortunately caused Zombie-ism instead. See “Resident Evil” above. While it is always delightful to watch Will Smith – and he carries the movies almost entirely by himself, since New York City is devoid of people because they have all turned into zombies – the science is absent. Curious minds want to know, how does an anti-cancer virus induce all the myriad changes seen in Zombies? Not to worry, though. By the end of the movie, there is a cure in the offing.
• “Contagion,” released in 2010. This movie shows a worldwide viral pandemic, but there’s no mad scientists in this one. The scientists are all good guys. A novel virus arises spontaneously from a market in China. It is  highly contagious and causes a visually dramatic  death within days.  The movie includes all sorts of scenes that look awfully familiar to  us such as  mass burials and overwhelmed hospitals. Jude Law plays a huckster who is promoting an herbal cure on the internet that is reminiscent of the Ivermectin craziness.  I enjoyed this movie. The cast, which also includes Matt Damon and Kate Winslet, give stellar performances. It even has a hopeful ending.

The mad scientist theme found in “Inferno,” “Pandemic,” and “I am Legend” has a long and storied history, going all the way back to Dr. Frankenstein and the monster he created. I am somewhat grieved by this theme because I have known many scientists and physicians — and they have all struck me as entirely sane and mild-mannered.   But I do concede that it makes for an interesting narrative arc.